FAIRFAX, Va. — The Fairfax County Police Department provided a behind-the-scenes have a look at its Actual Time Crime Heart (RTCC), an almost two-year-old facility that has performed a key position in fixing over 6,500 circumstances with the assistance of built-in expertise and reside intelligence instruments, WUSA reported.
Working 24/7 with a workforce of 10 workers members, the RTCC combines three main parts: a countywide community of license plate readers,, community-based digital camera feeds, a tip-based Crime Solvers program and an increasing system of license plate readers.
“We wish to present a digital layer of officer security for our patrol officers which can be understanding on the streets,” stated Captain Hudson Bull, who helps oversee the middle.
Bull referenced a latest incident the place an officer shot and killed a driver who was accused of opening fireplace throughout a visitors cease. As a result of the officer’s holster was geared up with a sensor that mechanically triggered the physique digital camera, RTCC workers had been in a position to livestream the scene because it unfolded.
The division’s digital camera community consists of footage from the Virginia Division of Transportation and privately owned surveillance methods registered by means of the Join Fairfax County initiative, in response to the report. Householders and companies can voluntarily register their cameras, permitting officers to request footage after an incident. In some circumstances, companies grant regulation enforcement direct entry throughout emergencies.
“There’s a circle with a digital camera,” Bull confirmed WUSA. “If I had been to click on on it, it’ll inform me that particular person’s identify and get in touch with data in order that I can e mail or name them and request footage and see if they will examine their cameras for footage of an incident that occurred of their space.” Presently, 350 non-public cameras are registered throughout Fairfax County.
Among the many RTCC’s handiest instruments are LPRs, which had been launched in 2023. To date, they’ve contributed to 1,073 circumstances, together with the restoration of 374 stolen automobiles, 650 arrests and the seizure of narcotics in 128 incidents. Bull cited two circumstances by which witness pictures of suspect automobiles had been matched utilizing license plate reader knowledge, permitting officers to shortly find and apprehend suspects.
“This made them way more efficient and environment friendly of their jobs than they’d have been with out using expertise,” Bull stated.
The RTCC additionally processes ideas submitted by means of the county’s Crime Solvers program. So far, 180 ideas have been acquired, with $5,250 awarded to tipsters.