License plate readers and community cameras lead to arrests in two murders in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Lexington Police Department says cameras integrated with its Fūsus program have led to two homicide arrests in the past two weeks.

The first one is fatal hit and run on Nov. 11 near Richmond Road and Squires Road. On Nov. 12, 21-year-old Logan Rogers was charged after he was caught on camera registered to the police department.

The second one murder suspect Kiarah Donque Jones, a 30-year-old escapee from Alabama. He was caught on swarm cameras and later arrested at the Lexington Comfort Inn on November 22.

Both cameras connected fusus.

“We were able to solve the crimes and remove the murder suspects from our community very quickly,” said Sgt. Guy Miller, Lexington Police Department.

The program allows traffic cameras, license plate readers, business surveillance cameras and private security cameras to be connected to the Fūsus network.

“As this system continues to evolve with more recorded cameras and integrated cameras, we will be able to keep our community safer than we already are,” Miller said.

People can register their cameras to the police so that when a crime occurs the police can see where their cameras are and send an instant message to see if there is any video that could help them.

“They can draw a circle around that area and send out a mass email to everyone who has their camera registered and say, ‘I’m looking for a vehicle or this person on this date, right now. If you’re considering it, please review your footage. If it’s relevant to this, send it to us,'” Miller said.

There are two levels of voluntary participation. One of them is to register your camera, which is free. If an incident occurs, an investigator from the Lexington Police Department will contact the camera owner via email to review the footage. Camera owners can share images with researchers via a link in the email. Recording a camera does not give the police department direct access to the footage.

The second is to purchase equipment that will allow the police department to access live broadcasts.

Click to learn about any of the options above. Here.