The police database Camera in Picture counts 55,000 cameras reported by citizens. From companies, over 236,000 cameras are included in the database, from governments almost 23,000.
When a burglary is committed, police can use the database to see where cameras that may show something relevant. The police then contact the owners of those cameras. The police do not watch live. In 2021, the police called on owners of doorbell cameras to also report them to the police database Camera in Picture.
According to Civil Rights Movement Bits of Freedom (BoF), Camera in Picture is an extra-legal surveillance network. The foundation points out that the police themselves need permission from the mayor to place cameras in public spaces (1). Private individuals who put up cameras to secure their businesses or homes, on the other hand, do not have to.
Police advise citizens with cameras to point them at valuable objects on their own property whenever possible. "If you point your camera on your own property, sometimes you cannot escape the fact that the public road is also being filmed. This should be as limited as possible. The same rules apply to a doorbell camera as to an ordinary security camera," the police said in an information leaflet.
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2020/02/05/hoe-de-politie-haar-buitenwettelijke-surveillancenetwerk-uitbreidt/
