How It Works
StreetCam.ca connects camera owners and investigators for specific, authorized incidents — not for open-ended surveillance.
1. Camera owners register, voluntarily
A resident, business, or organization registers a camera with an approximate location, direction, and field of view — then chooses a participation level: Registry Only, Request and Upload, or (in a future release) Local AI Search.
2. An investigator opens a verified case
A verified law-enforcement officer or approved investigator creates a case with a case number, incident description, legal authority, and a bounded search area and time range. Overly broad requests require supervisor approval.
3. Only overlapping cameras are notified
The system identifies cameras whose approximate location and field of view may overlap the case's search area — and notifies only those owners, with the case number, requesting agency, reason, and exact requested timeframe.
4. The owner decides
The owner can approve, partially approve, or reject the request, and upload only the specific segment asked for. Nothing is shared automatically.
5. AI assists, humans decide
Investigators can search uploaded footage using filters like vehicle color, clothing description, or direction of travel. Results are ranked possible matches for human review — never an automatic identification.
6. Everything is logged
Every request, approval, search, view, and export is recorded in an append-only audit trail that owners, investigators, and oversight can review.