HIGH POINT, N.C. — Thursday WFMY News 2 got an inside look at the High Point Police Department's Real Time Crime Center. The fairly new operation uses technology to help officers respond to crime quicker.
The analyst and supervisor who work the center monitor calls that come into dispatch. Staff identify the location of the call on a city map and look to see if cameras are in that area. If they do find accessible cameras, they may be able to see where a suspect is and give that information to the responding officer.
"If we can get a play by play of where they might be traveling to, where they might be going after an incident has occurred, then it helps us apprehend that suspect a lot quicker than having a detective follow up next week. So, because these rooms are able to talk to each other and different agencies depending on who has a Real Time Crime Center, that helps with the apprehension of the suspect a lot quicker," explained Real Time Crime Center, Supervisor, Keoda Brown.
Brown said the system has been up and running for almost a year now, since the end of December, but the actual space was not completed until the end of June.
Since then, Brown has been taking on new team members and the center has experienced several success stories.
"We had an incident a while back at the Walmart. The car that the suspect was in, we were able to track that in the direction it left the Walmart and find it. That lead to our officer being able to locate the car pretty quickly the same day," recalled Real Time Crime Center, Crime Analyst, Paige Eagle.
The center can access traffic and business cameras that they have partnerships with, in real time. Additionally, some residents have registered their cameras.
For the registered cameras, the center cannot access those directly, it simply contacts those residents to see if their cameras caught a nearby crime. It encourages residents to register their cameras.