A new technology will be implemented in the city, to help fight crime in real time.
The Oklahoma City Police Department is making it harder to commit crimes in the city and to get away with it. The department revealed on Friday a new crime fighting tool and explained how it works.
In a room at the downtown police headquarters eyes keep watch on what is happening around the city. “All of our current cameras are in public spaces within public view,” said Major Jason Samuel, Oklahoma City Police Department.
Major Jason Samuel is over the Special Operations Division and said hundreds of cameras are placed around the city at major intersections, interstates, businesses and even homes. The Real Time Information Center is manned by Crime Analysts who stay in contact with officers on the streets and watch the cameras. The center allows police to keep citizens safe. “We had an Alzheimer’s patient leave in a vehicle, they didn’t know where they were,” said Samuel. “The Alzheimer patient was ultimately found at a safe location.”
Analysts can read car tags and use cameras to catch suspects. The technology helped officers locate an Amber Alert suspect in September. Police said the man stole a car with a child inside. The real-time information has been useful in identifying hit-and-run suspects. In addition, built into the data are maps of metro schools. “If an officer is responding to a disturbance or an incident within a school and it’s in room 32,” said Samuel. “We can pull up that information, send a map to officers and we can get to that room as quickly as possible.”
Chief Wade Gourley said the technology is not “Big Brother,” rather it is a necessity for a department struggling to recruit and maintain officers. “You have to learn to do more with less and technology allows you to do that,” said Chief Wade Gourley, Oklahoma City Police Department.
Gourley said the real-time information gives investigators an edge in solving cases. “We still have to follow the lase in how we develop those cases,” said Gourley. “But if it can help guide us in the direction of building our case, it’s going to cut down on those man hours it would normally take to do that.”
Details about the Real Time Information Center and how to register home and business security cameras can be found at ConnectOklahomaCity.org