Victims will be able to pass doorbell videos on to police

VICTIMS of crime will be able to upload doorbell videos of incidents as part of their report for the first time, according to police chiefs.

Olivia Pinkney, the lead for local policing at the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said forces aimed to have a standard online platform by next year that would allow victims to submit video when they reported an incident.

The move aims to capitalise on the rise in video technology, such as doorbell cameras, dash cams in cars, CCTV and mobile phone images, to enable the public to report crimes from thefts and burglaries to dangerous driving and anti-social behaviour.

Ms Pinkney said a pilot by her force with traffic offences drew 250 submissions from the public, of which a third resulted in police action.

The value of doorbell video was shown this summer when, in one of the first convictions of its kind, footage from one helped identify a would-be burglar in Lowestoft.

Jason Whitaker was caught on the doorbell camera tampering with a lock when he was disturbed by the owner of the house. He evaded police officers who had been passing in a car but was subsequently identified by the footage.

The video plan is part of a major shift by the police to encourage the public to submit crime or other reports online if they do not need to be handled as emergency or urgent calls to 999 or 101.

The system, known as Single Online Home, aims to standardise the way crimes are reported digitally, with 19 forces already signed up. The number of reports filed has risen by 48 per cent to 67,000 in the month to Nov 15.

Ms Pinkney said: “My anticipation is that some time in 2021 [video uploads] will become possible. It will be of enormous benefit to us because we will have the evidence at source.”