WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina police department started a new initiative to combat violent crime by gaining access to security cameras from local businesses and residents. A business owner in Winston-Salem feels this initiative is helping keep people safe.

Darrell Garner is the owner of ByGood Coffee, and he wants his coffee shop to be about more than just coffee.

“Come in to buy good coffee, they want to make sure that they’re safe, and, you know, they want to make sure when they come in with their friends or their furry friends or a family member that they feel safe here in the coffee shop,” Garner said.

He has cameras all around the shop to ensure his customer’s safety.

“Having cameras in the store and outside the store is very important to me, because there’s been a lot of unsolved crimes here in the city. And I believe that’s going to help the police department solve more crimes if they have footage. And, you know, in a particular business,” Garner said.

Garner is one of many business owners taking part in “Get Connected Winston-Salem,” a new initiative by the police department to help combat violence in the city.

“Crime has been uptick lately involving a lot of small businesses. And I think this initiative would help a lot of businesses that want to participate, help solve crimes quicker and faster and bring the perpetrators to bring them to, you know, bring them to justice,” Garner said.

The initiative is based on conditional camera sharing, meaning the camera owner decides if they want to share their camera feeds with police, which cameras to share and when to share them.

“I believe it is for the safety of everybody. I think it’s a great program. I think it’s a program that that should have been started a long time ago,” Garner said.

If business owners decide to share their camera feeds they simply connect a small cord device, called a fusus, right into the security camera. This will allow the department to see the location of your camera and request access if they detect a crime, need help to solve a crime and in some cases hopefully prevent crime.

“Police departments have access to your cameras. That may have people think twice,” Garner said.

The Winston-Salem Police Department has 829 registered cameras, and 1,462 integrated cameras participating in the program.

If you would like to participate you can go to connectwinstonsalem.org.