BILLINGS Billings police are pushing for more residents to join Project Eyes on the Block, a program that helps officers know where to look for security camera footage to solve crimes.The program enters the addresses into a dat abase, which is only shared with officers, assisting them in knowing who to ask for security cameras during an investigation. Currently, 368 businesses and residents are signed up.Click here to learn more: Billings police seeking owners of doorbell cams to join database"It's just streamlining so it doesn't take quite as long," said Lt. Samantha Puckett with Billings Police on Wednesday morning.Puckett said it has helped in the past two years since the project was created. Incidents caught on camera include masked criminals looking to steal from vehicles, gunfire outside of homes, merchandise stolen from stores and suspects fleeing law enforcement.Brian O'Loughlin installed cameras on his door after an incident at his previous house where someone ran into his garage door, and he had no video evidence."Actually, the reason why is from the previous house where we didn't have a camera and I wished I did. I had come out and someone had run into my garage door," O'Loughlin said.O'Loughlin's friend Travis Lander also recently captured video of masked suspects appearing to break into Lander's car."That was interesting to see, but I don't consider it scary, I guess. It's just information to have," O'Loughlin said. "People are clever. They'll see those things, plan ahead and wear a mask whatever."Puckett said that video evidence can make a huge difference in certain cases."It's invaluable to us," Puckett said. "So, it's really important that if people do have video that they do share it with us. It really just helps our cases immensely."Puckett emphasized that it doesn't give police the ability to look through footage without the homeowner's consent, but rather tracks what homes officers could have luck finding video. She said the department is looking to improve the current database to make the map more efficient for officers."We can look at this map and see how many cameras we know of that are in the program that are in the area so we can go directly to those people," Puckett said.The lack of video evidence in the Arizona kidnapping case of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, has delayed that investigation, serving as an example of what Puckett said her department is looking to avoid."Any sort of surveillance would aid them in their investigation," Puckett said.All are reasons why O'Loughlin supports the program and is willing to participate."I wouldn't mind signing up for it and I'll gladly show them what I've got if they think it'd be any use," O'Loughlin said. ...read more read less