A”Real Time Crime Center” Shaping Up in Gulf Shores
By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
September 25, 2025
GULF SHORES, Ala. “Real Time Crime Center”, something that you don’t hear much about publicly in South Alabama, but it’s something that has become one of the latest tools for law enforcement nationwide.
The “RTCC” is a central surveillance area within a local or county law enforcement agency that is staffed by both law enforcement personnel and certified intelligence analysts who monitor in “real-time”, strategically placed cameras throughout their jurisdiction. They are also watching for unusual behavior, suspicious activity, crimes in progress, and other activities such as wrecks, fires or possible medical emergencies.
The RTCC also uses a network of Automatic License Plate Readers that sit quietly and scans every license plate that passes the camera and instantly taps into numerous databases checking to see if the vehicle has been reported stolen, or if the driver is wanted for a crime or whether the vehicle has been involved in a crime.
Several local police agencies have been using APLRs for several years but now cities such as Gulf Shores are investing in license plate readers in a big way, adding 80 of them throughout the city.
Dan Netemeyer, the Interim Police Chief, said that the new cameras will help law enforcement when monitoring traffic and help officers in finding evidence from crimes, among other efforts.
His hopes are to create a Real Time Crime Center that would be staffed around the clock.
Other law enforcement agencies who have opened their own Real Time Crime Centers (RTCC) say that it has been a force multiplier and has helped prevent crimes, as well as help to solve them.
Many RTCC’s also network with private cameras from commercial businesses, individual residences that have cameras, and regularly ask owners of doorbell cameras to forward suspicious activity or information on crimes in their areas.
The Real Time Crime Center will be housed inside the new justice center, which is under construction and slated to open in the summer 2026.
The cameras allow officers to search specific areas where crimes are occurring, or search for a missing person, and even investigate crimes that have previously been committed.
The cameras cost the city around $300,000, but taxpayers won’t pay a dime because they are being paid for with asset forfeiture seizure funds.
While there are already several nearby cities including Orange Beach, that uses Automatic License Plate Readers, the new RTCC in Gulf Shores will have one of the largest such crime centers in the area.
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