A camera-monitoring hub that would give authorities real-time access to hundreds of live video feeds across the Washington metropolitan area, including the Virginia and Maryland suburbs, is the latest law enforcement initiative rolled out by local officials struggling to stem a surge of lawlessness in and around the nation’s capital.
District Mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials who presented the Real-Time Crime Center plan on Thursday said facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence would not be used in the effort, but declined to say how many personnel would be involved in monitoring the thousands of cameras involved in the effort.
Ms. Bowser said the Real-Time Crime Center will be staffed 24/7, year-round inside the municipal Marion J. Berry Building when it becomes operational in February, with a stated goal of streamlining police reactions to crime.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said the center would become “the nerve center” of law enforcement in the region.
“It will monitor and analyze data from various sources, including CCTV cameras, emergency calls, and other technology products. Our ultimate goal is to enhance situational awareness, facilitate quick decision-making and improve the overall efficiency of our crime prevention and response efforts,” she said.
Nearly every law enforcement agency in the region is signing on to the crime center.
That includes federal police forces such as the U.S. Park Police, the U.S. Secret Service uniformed division and the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as local departments such as Prince George’s County and Montgomery County police in Maryland, Fairfax County and Arlington County in Virginia.
Metro transit and Amtrak police have also committed to working with the crime center, as have the U.S. Marshal Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI.
The new initiative comes as shootings, muggings and armed car thefts have ravaged the District this year.
MPD data shows violent crime is up 40%, largely due to year-over-year jumps in homicides (up 32%), robberies (up 70%) and carjackings (up 107%).
But the District isn’t alone.
Neighboring Prince George’s County is also seeing a 10% increase in violent crime, according to police data. There’s been a 6% increase in homicides and a 20% increase in robberies (which carjackings fall under) in its communities.
The Big Brother-esque implications of police personnel having access to so many live camera feeds — an estimated 300 with plans to procure more — could be far-reaching, but officials are under enormous pressure to rein in street crime.
Chief Smith said in her prepared remarks during Thursday’s press conference that police will rely on reports from a victim or witness, not images captured on the cameras, before dispatching officers, though she seemed to backpedal later, telling a reporter that police wouldn’t need to wait for a report if the crime center observes what appears to be a criminal act.
The privacy concerns related to the new crime center have put some organizations on high alert about the government interfering with individual privacy.
“A center where police watch what people do in the District every hour of every day is an alarming expansion of government surveillance,” said Monica Hopkins, the executive director of the D.C. chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“With no oversight, the real-time surveillance center leaves serious questions about our safety and our rights unanswered … What behavior will police be watching for? What will they do if they think they see it? How will police use what they see, and who will they share it with? And will anyone be there to ensure that police don’t violate people’s rights?” she said.
Chief Smith said no officers will be pulled from patrol duties to staff the crime center. The 3,332 officers the department counted as of Monday are the lowest MPD has seen in half a century.
Still, Chief Smith wouldn’t elaborate on who will be running the crime center come early next year.
“I will not talk about staffing … and tactics with regards to the Real-Time Crime Center,” she said.
Real-Time Crime Centers, or RTCCs, aren’t a new concept.
New York City first launched its crime center in 2005. Other major cities followed suit, from Newark, New Jersey to Atlanta, Georgia. Now even small cities have their own RTCCs, with Hampton, Virginia, and Pasco County, Florida, operating centers.
Abuses have been documented by the surveillance apparatus before.
Pasco County was the subject of a 2020 investigative report from the Tampa Bay Times that found the sheriff’s office harassed people it deemed “likely to break the law,” according to the newspaper.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that a list of people was compiled based on “arrest histories, unspecified intelligence and arbitrary decisions by police analysts.”
With that information in hand, the newspaper reported deputies would be sent to “find and interrogate anyone whose name appears, often without probable cause, a search warrant or evidence of a specific crime.”
On Thursday, Chief Smith suggested collaboration between RTCC-participating agencies could help with investigating suspects who crisscross jurisdictions.
MPD said they arrested 16-year-old Ashton Inabinet on Tuesday in Alexandria, Virginia. The boy was charged with murder in the District in connection to a deadly October shooting in Northwest.
The chief said having a functioning crime center would help “tighten up” all kinds of investigations.
