In the past few years security camera systems have become much more common then before, partially because the price of the electronics involved have come down significantly. These camera systems are common enough that they're recording all kinds of crimes and police agency across the state of Florida have begun to utilize this valuable investigation and prosecution tool.
Thieves broke in to a Tampa Bay family's home and stole a fair amount of goods including the parents credit cards. Investigators tracked the credit card transactions to two local department stores and requested recorded camera footage. When they reviewed the recordings, they could clearly see a couple having a good time with the shopping spree, funded by the stolen credit cards. The police sent copies of the footage to local media outlets and quickly received tips from people that lived in the suspects neighborhood. Two days after the footage was released the couple had been identified and arrested.
When elderly customers at a large hotel and casino in Tampa were mugged in January, the police department didn't have any clues other then the camera footage recorded at the establishment. From the video that was recorded by dozens of cameras the police officers from the property crime division noticed two men trailing the victims from the casino floor to the parking garage. The suspects then followed the elderly couple to their home where they beat and robbed them. With the help of the security camera footage, investigators were able to identify and arrest the two men on eleven felony charges.
Sometimes the evidence gathered by these cameras show those who are supposed to be enforcing the law, actually breaking it. Another video that was all over the internet shows a Hillsborough detention deputy dumping a quadriplegic inmate out of his wheelchair onto the jail's central booking area floor. The man in the wheel chair had been incarcerated because of a traffic violation, but received internet celebrity status after the video went viral. the correctional deputy resigned before the internal investigation was finished.
These are just few examples of how law enforcement have begun to make use of this potent tool to solve cases when ever possible. A police detective in the area said that the first thing they do when they get to a crime scene is to determine if there are surveillance cameras in the area that may have captured footage of the incident. Also Tampa Bay police detective Deanna Mullins said, "The majority of our cases are helped by video, especially when the media gets involved." Mullins also said that these days, detectives send surveillance footage to news outlets more than ever before because of the power of television and the Internet.
Source: ezinearticles.com