Privacy FAQs
How does Hill City Connect work?
The Lynchburg Police Department is partnering with Fūsus to create stronger public-private collaborations and enable businesses and community members to work more closely with law enforcement. LPD depends on neighborhoods and community members to help us mitigate and investigate crimes and be better equipped on the scene of critical incidents.
The Fūsus system is secure and serves to increase community security while maintaining personal privacy.
How does Hill City Connect help the community?
By registering your camera, you’re providing the LPD with a valuable resource. When a crime occurs, knowing where cameras are located can help officers and detectives quickly gather evidence and solve cases faster, ultimately making the neighborhood safer for everyone. Law enforcement can quickly and easily use the camera information to create a map of relevant cameras that could obtain actionable evidence for crimes and life-saving data.
What platform does LPD use to register cameras?
LPD’s Hill City Connect Program uses FUSUS by Axon to help us connect with our community. Axon is technology company that creates products and services to help police protect life, preserve the truth, and accelerate justice. The LPD uses Axon for our Body Worn Cameras and In-Car Cameras, among other services.
What is FUSUS?
FUSUS is the platform LPD uses to facilitate Hill City Connect. FUSUS and LPD respect everyone’s right to privacy and will not violate that right. We will not share, sell, or advertise your private information. Hill City Connect is for criminal justice purposes only.
How does the camera registry work?
Hill City Connect’s camera registry is a way to easily locate the nearest cameras in a specific area for an investigation, emergency event, or emergency response. In the past, detectives had to rely on eyewitnesses and piece together information over days and sometimes months or even years. The camera registry gives private residents and business owners the ability to assist LPD.
What type of cameras should I register?
Hill City Connect is only for public facing cameras. Please do not register interior cameras.
How much does it cost to register my cameras?
It’s free! Registering a camera does not require any cost or additional hardware. Registration also does not give Lynchburg Police Department access to any live streaming capabilities. The registry makes it easier for detectives to contact camera owners for a digital footage request that the owner can fulfill that doesn’t require a police visit.
Does registering mean the police can access my camera?
No. Registration only provides the police with the location of your camera. We’ll always contact you directly if we think your camera may have captured important footage. There is no direct access to any privately-owned cameras and the registry is only used to request footage if needed.
What if I register now, but later change my mind?
Participation is up to you. You can register your camera at any time here. If you would like to be removed please contact connect@fusus.com. They can adjust or delete your registration information. If you change your mind or move you can always be removed from the registry.
What if I move?
Please contact connect@fusus.com if you need to adjust your registration information. You can be removed if you move outside of Lynchburg or just update your information if you still live inside the City.
Is my camera information subject to a disclosure in a public data request?
No. Your camera registry data is protected. It is non-public data, and is only accessible by authorized users.
Will the Lynchburg Police Department have a real-time streaming option?
Yes, LPD has real-time steaming with businesses and individuals that grants them access. This access is available through the FūsusCORE device with conditional access. Camera owners have the ability to choose how and when their cameras are accessible to the police department. For example, private businesses and schools may choose to only have their cameras accessible to Lynchburg Police Department in an emergency situation and they activate the live streaming capability via a panic button. Private residents and neighborhoods can also have the option to do so or completely opt out.
Can my cameras be accessed without my knowledge?
No. Both the Lynchburg Police Department and Fūsus policies require the camera owner to give explicit written permission and consent to access cameras for any reason. Camera access and settings are also entirely controlled by the camera owner. You can opt in or out at any time.
Can the police department override my access settings to remotely access my cameras at any time?
No. LPD and Fūsus policy ensures conditional access that is strictly one-way. That means the camera owner's policy settings cannot be overridden remotely by Lynchburg Police Department officers or Fūsus.
Can the Lynchburg Police Department registry integrate doorbell cameras?
The Fūsus platform is compatible with most commercially available camera systems, but still has no access without authorization from the camera owner and the camera company as well. For example, RING brand doorbell cameras would need authorization from both RING AND the individual RING camera owner.
If I get a panic button, how does the panic button functionality work?
Lynchburg Police Department, through Fūsus, can help equip locations, upon request, with virtual panic buttons in the form of a smartphone app. In the event of an emergency, such as a fire, an active and serious crime, or active shooter situation, the panic buttons can be used to send an immediate alert to first responders and activate the streaming functionality of connected, authorized cameras. This is only accessible by users with valid login credentials to the Fūsus interface.
Does Hill City Connect use facial recognition technology?
Hill City Connect and Fūsus does not employ facial recognition technology or integrate with any facial recognition technology systems.
Does Hill City Connect utilize artificial intelligence?
Hill City Connect and Fūsus use artificial intelligence or AI to help rapidly search video provided to the system by users in order to mitigate criminal activity. All AI use cases exclude facial recognition, but may be utilized to automatically recognize weapons, vehicles of interest, etc.
Is the FūsusCORE secure?
The data is secured with AES 256-bit encryption at rest, in transit, and in the Cloud. The FūsusCORE establishes a secure connection with TLS 1.3 allowing outbound traffic to AWS GovCloud. Once data reaches the FūsusONE CJIS-compliant cloud storage location, hosted on AWS Gov-Cloud servers, data is redundantly stored in multiple, geographically separated storage locations, or zones, to ensure over 99.9999% reliability and durability of data.
Is FūsusONE Secure?
FūsusONE, the platform Lynchburg Police Department will use to compile all relevant information in one place, adheres to the highest standards of security for access to, transfer, and sharing of Criminal Justice Information according to CJIS standards. All data that is accessible within FūsusONE is encrypted at rest, in transit, and in its cloud hosted location. Access to databases is restricted by strict networking rules. All Fūsus Employees involved in CJIS-related software development undergo an extensive screening process, including background checks and fingerprinting.