Police: Poor surveillance video, photo quality made worse by masked criminals

Credit: Provided

Credit: Provided

Police departments often call upon the public to help identify criminal suspects, but many times the video or photos provided are of poor quality.

And Fairfield Twp. Police Sgt. Brandon McCroskey said what is more frustrating is suspects are now wearing masks.

“One of the most frustrating parts right now, especially in this day and age of coronavirus, mask-wearing time, when we get poor-quality photos and/or videos, or businesses with neither, and especially when people are wearing masks, it makes our job exponentially more difficult to identify suspects,” he said.

Credit: Provided

Credit: Provided

Fairfield Twp. police are looking for a person who stole from a locker at LA Fitness a wallet with $300 and four credit cards on Feb. 11, and then used one of the credit cards to make a $400-plus purchase at the Kroger on South Erie Boulevard. The suspect is facing charges of theft, misuse of credit cards and criminal damaging,

But poor quality has been a consistent police problem, said city of Fairfield police spokesman Doug Day.

“It’s rare that you see good quality and it’s always from the most unexpected businesses because some of your banks have poor quality (video and photos),” he said.

It’s especially frustrating when technology is more affordable than it once had been, adding video from Ring doorbell cameras is better than many surveillance systems, he said. But Day said police investigators hope there are other clues and evidence that will help, and social media has helped.

“I get people have masks on, but I can’t tell you how many people have responded to our Facebook page and identified bad guys for us,” he said. “It’s a problem but it’s workable.”

McCroskey said the suspect township investigators are seeking could be connected to other crimes in the region.

“Multiple jurisdictions have had similar problems,” he said of the crime. “We’re still working on it, coordinating (with other departments).”

Credit: Provided

Credit: Provided

McCroskey said township police investigators will meet with other agencies next week.

Investigators say the suspect wore a grey Nike hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants, white tennis shoes, and a black mask when he walked into LA Fitness at 1:41 p.m. on Feb. 11 He left 10 minutes later, according to the report. He did not check in, but spoke with an employee before walking to the locker rooms.

The second victim said nothing was stolen from his locker.

On Feb. 12, investigators reviewed the security footage at Kroger and saw the suspect using one of the stolen credit cards.

Anyone with information, contact Detective Emma Edens at 513-887-5841 or Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.

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