We live in a video age, so whether someone is stealing lawn ornaments, or breaking into cars, there’s a chance it’s caught on a surveillance camera.
“Clearly technology is changing everything in the world today and law enforcement is no different," said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.
Sheriff Snyder says perhaps no bigger recent case was broken open thanks to video than the 2016 murder of Tricia Todd. Within thousands of hours of surveillance video, a 3-second clip showed Todd’s ex-husband Steven Williams walking along US 1 in Hobe Sound when he claimed to be elsewhere.
“We reviewed business video clips along the route that we suspected the offender took from the scene of the crime," said Sheriff Snyder.
Now the sheriff plans to tap into many of the home security cameras that dot the landscape.
Thursday, the sheriffs of Martin and St. Lucie Counties will announce a new partnership with Ring, that will bring thousands of new crime-fighting eyes to the Treasure Coast.
There’s a realization that there’s so much evidence out there on peoples’ video cameras out there at home," said Sheriff Snyder.
The sheriff says its important for voluntary participants to know that their privacy will be respected.
“Trusting the sheriff’s office with this delicate information so that we can collectively push back against property crime and sometimes crimes against persons,” he said.