CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With improvements in home security systems, police have been able to solve more crimes like car and home break-ins. However, if police aren't made aware of the crime, there's not much they can do.
"Technology is great because it instantly alerts you to things that are going on, but if we don't know about what's happening to you it's hard for us to do anything about it," Senior Officer Travis Pace said.
Pace said more people have taken to social media and websites like Nextdoor to post videos, pictures and reports of crimes in their area. He said while it's great that neighbors are alerting the area, police also need to be notified.
"We wanna do what we can to help you but you have to help us help you and that's by good quality video, being able to download it, not leaving stuff in your car, locking your vehicle," he said.
The best way to stop crime, he said, is to prevent it. This includes keeping all doors locked, placing valuables in a safe place and making sure you know how to work your security system.
"Just ensure that you do your due diligence if you buy a product know how to be able to extract that information that we need to help you," Pace said.
By providing CCPD with surveillance footage and reporting crime, Pace said they can do more on their part to patrol the targeted area.
"To be able to go 'ok we need to emphasize patrol in this particular area' or the beat officers know that 'hey we're having a rash of crimes in this neighborhood,'" he said.
Residents can always call CCPD to file a report or request an officer to come to their neighborhood.
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