The future of crime fighting lies with the Real Time Crime Center. They support high levels of awareness, rapid decision making, and strategic moves for public safety officers. A study published by Rand in December 2019 found these types of centers reduced crime by 3-17% in 10 categories, including shootings and sexual assault. But what is a real-time crime center, and when did they enter the scene?
What is a Real Time Crime Center?
A real time crime center is a mission critical technology hub that combines numerous data sources to provide public safety officials with comprehensive intelligence to identify patterns and fight – even prevent – crime. The end result of these integrated solutions is more proactive policing with advanced capabilities.
The first real-time crime center opened in New York City in 2005. With a goal of identifying and stopping emerging crime, the center features billions of records that officers could access within minutes rather than days or weeks. Since then, the idea of a real-time crime center has begun to spread – not only to departments in major metropolitan areas, but also to county and town police departments.
As technology continues to advance, so does the potential for law enforcement and investigations. Real time crime centers make use of tools like gunfire detection systems, video surveillance cameras, license plate recognition technologies, and more.
Real Time Crime Centers allow for advanced detection, rapid communication, and efficient response. In these types of environments, where seconds can make a difference, it is vital that the solutions and design are reliable. Working with an expert firm like Constant Technologies—which offers design, integration, project management, installation, and service—will ensure that your real time crime center meets the unique needs of mission critical.
Constant Solutions for Real Time Crime Centers
No two solutions are exactly the same, even for the same type of room. So when Constant meets with each client, we carefully consider their goals, needs, and wants to create a custom tailored solution to exactly fit their needs. When creating a Real Time Crime Center, here are some of the considerations we take into account:
Video Wall Displays
A video wall is the focal point of any real-time crime center. It combines information from a wide array of sources such as video feeds, sensors, alarms, crime databases, and even social media. It is important for the RTCC video wall to be carefully designed because it serves as the central hub of information in the center.
When designing the video wall for your RTCC, Constant considers environmental factors such as the ambient light and spatial constraints of the operations center. We also make sure that the technology used to create your video wall system has the appropriate resolution and the resiliency to hold up under 24/7 use.
For more details about how we approach the design of mission critical video wall systems, read our blog series on video wall design.
Control Systems
As part of our turnkey services for videowall and AV systems, we integrate easy to use control system hardware and our team of in-house programmers create the ideal graphical interface. When choosing which product will work best within your system, we consider the number of video walls the controller will support, the quantity and types of content sources, and how many sources will need to be displayed and controlled at once.
Operations Center Consoles
The furniture in a real-time crime center serves both a functional and an aesthetic purpose. Constant’s consoles are built to spec, which means that every detail can be customized to fit your operation and its unique requirements. When planning your console solution, Constant will consider factors such as how many monitors will be mounted at each station, needs for storage capacity and cooling, cable management, and durability, as well as aesthetic considerations such as the colors in relation to the design of your RTCC.
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If you are looking to implement a solution for your real time crime center, contact Constant today for a complimentary design consultation.
About Constant:
Constant Technologies, Inc. provides AV integration for 24/7 video walls and custom operation center furniture. With 30+ years of experience, we can work with sensitive environments in the public and private sectors. Constant designs and installs projects of all scopes and sizes around the world. We also offer long-term service and support. We create solutions with the highest levels of security, aesthetics and functionality in mind.
