MINOT, N.D. (KXNET) — A new prevention program aims to help police gather evidence for neighborhood crimes like home invasions and property crimes.

The Safe Williston Project partners with locals and businesses to solve crimes through their home cameras. The system’s work begins when people go to the program’s website and register outdoor or doorbell security cameras. If a crime occurs in that area, police are notified that a home security system is nearby. Officers will then be able to contact the owner of the registered security system in that area, and ask to obtain the footage of the specific day or time they believe the crime was committed.

Members of the Williston Police Department say that this new investigative tool will allow law enforcement to get evidence quickly, and help hold the people who commit these crimes accountable.

“It gives us a sense of hope to actually be able to solve them,” says Williston Police Department Public Information Officer Heather Cook, “because maybe that resident that’s a victim of a crime doesn’t have cameras. But three neighbors down, you have cameras there that caught the vehicle pulling in. “It just gives us more avenues and more opportunities to be able to solve these crimes.”

Cook says it’s important that people know this program doesn’t give the department access to your cameras — rather, it acts as a database and notification system for officers to see where a camera is located.