New York Fights Crime With Super Help Desk
New York City’s Real Time Crime Center, located in lower Manhattan, quickly provides police officers at crime scenes with a great deal of information about the crime scene. Among other things, the center provides officers with all the information the city’s Police Department has about a given area, including “what crimes have taken place there, what types of crimes, what kind of lascivious parolees might be in the area,” says Jim Onalfo, the department’s chief information officer.
The center uses a Web-based system that provides access to records that were previously isolated in separate systems, including arrest information, warrant records, 911 call records, and complaint records. Inside the center, a two-story video system displays maps, data, and other information. Staff members are working in the center at all hours of the day.
Officers and detectives have responded well to the crime center’s technology, says Onalfo, who is a big believer in the technology, explaining that it could be used to suppress crime across multiple U.S. cities. “I believe we should have it across the country, so it’s seamless and transcends borders,” he says.
At present, the New York City Police Department is only using the center for homicides and shootings, but it eventually will be used for other types of serious crime as well.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from Washington Technology (09/12/05) Vol. 20, No. 18, P. 24; Beizer, Doug.