Establishments urged to surrender CCTV footage of crimes

In order to hasten the investigation of reported crimes in the city, the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is urging business establishments to help in the gathering of evidence by turning over closed-circuit television or CCTV footage that they may possess related to an incident.

This call came after the supposed lack of surveillance videos to supplement data on several high-profile criminal cases was questioned on social media.

DCPO spokesperson PMaj Catherine Dela Rey, in an interview with the Madayaw Davao program aired over the Davao City Disaster Radio on Monday, admitted that there is still no law that compels civilian parties to turn over CCTV footage of a criminal incident

City Ordinance No. 0407-12 mandates commercial, industrial, or financial institutions in Davao City (with capitalization of not less than P3 million) to install, operate, and maintain CCTV cameras in public areas. It does not include provisions compelling private entities to turn over CCTV footage to the police in an event of a crime.

“Sa atoang city ordinance, mao lang tong pag-butang og mga CCTV. Isa sa atoang mga concerns kay naay mga establishment na dili muhatag, mangayo pa daw og permit didto sa ilang headquarters. (Our city ordinance only covers the setting up of CCTVs. One of our concerns is there are establishments that refuse to hand over the surveillance footage without the permission from their business’s headquarters),” Dela Rey said.

Because of this, Dela Rey said that without a law that obligates establishments to turn over CCTV footage, acquiring essential evidence will be unnecessarily prolonged and can cause delays in the entire investigative process.

“Kasagaran baya sa CCTV nga mga one week, or pinakataas na ang 15 days, na masapawan na siya kay gamay lang ang iyang memory so mag-apas gyud ta sa adlaw (Most CCTVs have only one week, the longest being 15 days, because it will be lost because the systems usually have small storage so we really have to think about time),” she said.

The DCPO called on private establishments to turn over requested surveillance footage to the authorities as soon as they can, said Dela Rey.

She added that the DCPO is also trying to find ways to amend the law to compel establishments to surrender footage that may provide additional information about a criminal incident.

“Kung pwede ma-amend nato or unsa ang buhaton sa atong city ordinance na i-apil na didto sa law enforcement na kung naa gani’y mga ingon ana, obligado ang mga establishments na muhatag sa ilang CCTV footage (If we can amend our city ordinance to include law enforcement for certain cases, establishments will be obligated to turn over their CCTV footage),” she said.

Th DCPO spokesperson assured citizens that their handing over of surveillance footage to the police will not hinder their right to privacy.

“Tutal ang mutan-aw lang man sa CCTV kay ang pulis lang man, walay laing tao. In aid man pud siya sa investigation, dili man siya for personal consumption (Only the police will have access to their CCT, nobody else. This is only to aid in the investigation, not for personal consumption),” she added. CIO