GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston police want the public's help in streamlining their criminal investigations.
Residents and business owners are being asked by Galveston police to voluntarily identify if they have any security cameras within the city.
According to a statement released Wednesday, police said they are currently compiling a "confidential list" of known surveillance and doorbell cameras that can be quickly accessed by investigators during a crime.
The department also said it won't share the information outside of its department and that it would only be used if investigators think the cameras may have captured a crime.
Police said the list would assist them in speeding up the process of gathering digital evidence of crimes that occur in the city.
If you want to share the information with the Galveston Police Department, you're asked to email them at investigations@galvestontx.gov and provide them with a contact name, number, and the address of the surveillance cameras.
The ask comes after Galveston's police chief Doug Balli was suspended earlier this year after a SWAT raid on a home as police searched for a murder suspect earlier this year. Balli was placed on administrative leave because of a failure to communicate details about the search, according to Galveston City Manager Brian Maxwell.
"The communication failure was mine and I fully understand that and just want to move past that," Balli said. "I will ensure that that doesn't happen again. I trusted the process that the city conducted, as far as an investigation and I was very happy to be able to return to work."
