The Irvine Police Department is beefing up its crime fighting technology. It revealed a new real-time crime center on Thursday, designed to help solve crimes more quickly and in some cases, in real time.
The $2 million investment is designed to track and solve crime in real time even before criminals are aware police are watching
Irvine Police say the center has helped solve dozens of crimes in just it’s first month.
“We’ve been able to locate an elderly missing person’s family using RTCC” said Kyle Olderp, Public Information Officer for the Irvine Police Department. “We had a woman who was suicidal…[and] 15 years old that we were able to locate quickly.”
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Officers do that by accessing a live feed of every camera – nearly 1000 in total – across the city paired with a fleet of drones.
“They’re able to fly overhead and be on time before our officers even arrive,” Olderp said.
The department said the center will help curb crime trends like burglaries and retail theft which it says are being committed in Irvine by criminals from outside the area.
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According Irvine Chief of Police Michael Kent approximately 75% of arrests made within the city are not Irvine residents.
“Technology is evolving in law enforcement and these are going to be very common – and its helping us solve crime and prevent crime – so we see this as a very very valuable asset, “ Olderp said. “We understand the data is very important and we’re only accessing that data when necessary.”
