By Glenn Rolfe

SEAFORD — Through additional surveillance, the city’s police department is seeking support to take a bigger bite out of crime.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Deputy Chief Michael Rapa spoke about the Flock Safety Community Camera Registry, which allows residents and business owners to enroll cameras set up on their property.

“What this camera registry does is it allows the community to get involved. That’s what we need. We need help from the community,” he said. “We can only do (so) much in our investigation.”

He added that one concern for potential participants, however, is what police officers will see of their personal activity.

Deputy Chief Rapa’s response: “Nothing. We will not have access to your cameras. ... All this is a portal for the community to go into to put in basic information.”

If an incident occurs in a particular area, he explained, the registry gives Seaford police “a way to work with the community and … people who feel that they don’t want to be targeted for giving information or video (because) we can discreetly do that. But we’re not coming through your door.

“We’ll be able to see who has cameras in that area and be able to reach out to them.”

Deputy Chief Rapa also noted that the effort is growing, with five participants signing up between Tuesday and Wednesday.

To enroll, a registrant needs to provide his or her name, address, phone number and email address, plus the location of the camera(s) and the views.

“Basically, what that does is, instead of going door-to-door like we used to do back in the day to see if you had cameras or witnessed anything, we can contact them by phone or email,” Deputy Chief Rapa said. “We can ... look to see if they have video at a specific date and time. If they could send it to us, we’ll email them a link, … and it will get sent right to us electronically and be entered into our digital evidence system.”

Registered cameras cannot be livestreamed, and video is only accessible by the officers assigned to the investigation.

Voluntary participation is free and can be completed at seafordde.com or refer.flocksafety.com/seaford-safe.

There are three ways to get involved. One is to simply enroll a camera. Another is to integrate your equipment, which comes with a fee through Flock.

With that option, “it comes through Flock’s portal, and it comes to us. We would have access and direct feed,” Deputy Chief Rapa said. “Generally, that is more for business.”

A third choice is to purchase a camera via Flock, and it would also directly integrate with police. The city would handle the installation.

The deputy chief said Woodland Mills, a rental community off Bridgeville Highway, purchased cameras through Flock for its entrance and elected to allow the police department access. Plus, Lowe’s is expected to soon come on-board, as the company has signed a 10-year deal with Flock for cameras at stores nationwide, he said.

Regarding cost, the Delaware HELP Initiative has obtained funding for the program for the next two years, in an effort to improve safety in Seaford communities.

The initiative is a positive approach to public safety and fighting crime, Mayor Matt MacCoy said.

“People are seeing it, and they are making comments and asking what is going on,” he noted. “So, that is a good thing, a good productive conversation.”