Fresno Real-Time Crime Center Helps Resolve Incidents Safely

• NCJ Number: 250516
• Journal: Techbeat Dated: November/December 2016 Pages: 9-12
• Author(s): Becky Lewis
• Date Published: December 2016
• Length: 4 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-IJ-CX-K004
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical); Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: This submission is to operate a National Criminal Justice Technology Information Resource Center (NCJ-TIRC) within the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) System.

Annotation

This article describes the features and benefits of the Fresno Police Department's (FPD's) Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC), which has the capability of providing additional information to officers responding to high-priority dispatch calls (crime in progress or life-threatening situations).

Abstract

When such high-priority calls are received, the dispatcher channels them to the RTCC staff. If the dispatch information includes an address, the RTCC staff can pull up the names and histories of persons most likely residing at that address, thus allowing staff to check for warrants, restraining orders, or a history of violence. The goal of the RTCC is to provide frontline officers with information that can help them resolve incidents safely and provide needed assistance to the public. Dispatchers create computer-aided dispatch records, and the RTCC brings the high-priority events into the system. An operator then determines what type of assistance the RTCC can offer. RTCC operators use one of the center's eight workstations, which face a 12-screen video wall. All operators have the ability to put video feeds related to an in-progress incident on the wall. The RTCC also includes three Mondopads as part of the video array. They can be linked for video-conferencing with each other, with a similar Mondopad in the department's mobile command center, and with Mondopads in the Joint Multi-Agency Command Center. Those feeds draw from about 200 departmental cameras, 1,500 cameras positioned throughout the Fresno United School District, approximately 250 Traffic Operations Center cameras, and the camera system at city hall. The FPD is working on bringing on board private camera systems, such as those used at major shopping centers and hospitals. In addition to video feeds, RTCC operators can access the records management system and the department's radio system.