Technology Used by Law Enforcement to Keep You Safe
FOLEY Ala.
By Rick McCann
January 20, 2025
If you had a business and wanted to stay on the cutting edge of providing the best products and services while trying to stay one step ahead of your competition, you’d probably seek out ways to attract new customers, provide new services, and be sure that you and your employees have the latest information and training on how to do your jobs better and more efficiently.
Law enforcement must also stay on the cutting edge of technology in order to better protect the people that they serve. And while in recent years there’s been some push back, skepticism, debates and even protests over the use of certain technology, overall, it has been well received and proven to work in many areas.
In talking with area law enforcement, it’s obvious that there’s still a big disconnect between the public and the police on how technology is used by law enforcement to better do their jobs.
Nationwide there has been concerns by some, about invasion of privacy, misuse of intelligence, and the government spying on the people. While some concerns are understandable, the majority of law enforcement agencies using this technology are abiding by the law and using it with certain constraints.
First, when talking about this issue, we need to consider three facts.
One: law enforcement staffing is down 5-12 % from where it was ten years ago.
Recruitment has become a huge issue, while on the other hand, officer retirements are up as more officers are aging out of the profession.
And retaining officers have also added to the decrease in staffing as many in law enforcement now see it as a thankless job and one that has continued to become very dangerous, and very deadly.
Using technology has become a real game changer as it has become a force multiplier for many police departments.
The “Real Time Crime Center” is a manned 24-hour surveillance and crime analyses center that is able to monitor “public areas” and private businesses and schools with their “consent” through surveillance cameras.
This is no different than a home or business owner monitoring their security system.
The “RTTC” operators are able to monitor crime hot zones, major intersections, and high-density corridors where crimes are known to occur.
The “RTTC” operators are also able to send video of a crime in progress in “real-time” to responding police officers so that they have more insight as to what’s happening on-scene, possible dangers for them, information on fleeing suspects and an overview of the situation at hand.
This is just like having a police officer on scene giving a play-by-play of what is occurring at the location.
The Real Time Crime Center, (RTTC) or in some areas also known as the Real Time Intelligence Center, (RTIC) allows law enforcement to be in more places, see more things and in many cases prevent crimes or apprehend offenders much quicker, sometimes almost instantly.
Real Time Crime Centers has helped police agencies across America to have more eyes and ears, essentially putting more boots on the ground and providing a higher level of service to their communities.
Does Baldwin or Mobile Counties have these centers?
Are there surveillance cameras or other technologies in the hands of area law enforcement? Yes and No.
In Part Two, we’ll explain more about the importance of the latest tools and why our communities, through proper education and conversations, should support the advancement of crimefighting tools.
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