Security Camera Registry and Mapping (SCRAM)
The Great Falls Police Department (GFPD) is committed to furthering their partnership with residents and businesses in our community.
Capturing surveillance video of a crime, or components of a crime, is one of the best methods for solving almost any incident. Community members are not always aware a crime has occurred nearby or that their exterior cameras may have captured valuable information about that crime. In turn, police officers are not always able to easily identify where exterior cameras are posted.
Many residences and businesses, throughout Great Falls, have privately owned exterior surveillance systems. GFPD is asking for the community’s help keeping track of these systems by registering them with the Security Camera Registry and Mapping (SCRAM) program.
Started in January 2020, SCRAM was initiated to make it faster for officers to contact owners of cameras in the vicinity of a crime to see if their system may have captured video evidence.
If a system may have captured evidence the system owner may be contacted by a GFPD officer. The officer will ask the system owner to review their camera footage to see if anything relating to the crime was recorded. If the owner’s system captured information that may be pertinent to the crime, GFPD would arrange a convenient way to retrieve the information from the owner. The system owner’s participation is always voluntary.
SCRAM FACTS
- GFPD is only seeking registrations of exterior surveillance systems
- Only systems within the City limits of Great Falls may be registered
- The camera registry is kept confidential
- The GFPD does not have the capability of accessing a private surveillance system, footage may only be captured by the system owner
- A registrant may “opt out” of the program at any time
- Registration is free
