Philly Police 'Safe Cam' program asks you to help solve crimes

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- We see them nearly everywhere we go now - surveillance cameras.

Thousands are around the city, but only a couple hundred actually belong to the Philadelphia Police Department.

Surveillance footage can be a great tool for solving crimes. That is why Commissioner Charles Ramsey is pushing for more businesses and home owners to register their private cameras with the police department.

It's a program called Safe Cam.

The department doesn't take ownership of the cameras. Instead it simply wants to know where the cameras are, so if a crime happens in that area, detectives will already know a camera is nearby.

It helps save investigative time and could help police solve crimes faster.

A great example is the infamous attempted abduction that happened in 2012.

A 10-year-old girl was walking in broad daylight in South Philadelphia with her 2-year-old brother when a man picked her up and tried to run away with her.

It was a privately owned residential camera that captured it all on tape and led to the arrest and conviction of Carlos Figueroa-Fagot.

Ramsey said, "Had that camera not been there we probably never would have found out who attempted that abduction. So that goes to show how important it is. It's for your own safety and the safety of others."

There is a major incentive for business owners to register their cameras with Safe Cam.

The city will actually help pay for new surveillance camera systems - up to 50 percent.

You can see if you qualify for the grant and learn how to register your business or home camera with the city by visiting, http://safecam.phillypolice.com/.