Atherton police are now offering residents a chance to link their home security cameras to the department, allowing officers to provide a "virtual response" to alarms.

Residents who sign up will be added to the same Internet camera network police use to surveil public areas. Dispatchers will have the ability to instantly tap into video footage when a residential alarm is tripped.

Atherton police Detective Sherman Hall, who has overseen development of the system, said Atherton may be the first city in the United States to offer the service to citizens. It was created in response to public outcry for beefed up security, he said.

"It occurred to me, 'Wouldn't it be cool to use the Internet to feed cameras around town back to us?'" he said.

The system has been tested in one residence for the past year. With no alarms triggered, police haven't had a chance to use it to monitor an actual break-in, but they are ready to offer the service to all residents, Hall said.

As with the 15 cameras already in place around town, police will be able to beam video footage from residences onto a big-screen monitor at the department.