Crime Analysis Center severs 65 police agencies
State and local law-enforcement officials have launched the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center, which will serve 65 police agencies in Ulster, Dutchess and Orange counties.
The state spent $410,000 to renovate a space in the Orange County Emergency Services Center for the new initiative.
The center is one of nine across the state that will work as a network. The operation is overseen by an 11-member board of directors, with representatives from the police departments in the cities of Kingston, Middletown, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie;
the district attorney’s offices and sheriff’s offices of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties; and the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Access to a real-time feed of public surveillance cameras, a state-of-the-art video wall, myriad state databases and social media mining programs at the center are expected to provide law enforcement new capacity for intelligence and evidence gathering.
Michael Green, deputy executive director of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services and the person who oversees the nine centers across New York, said the technology is advanced, but the most important element of making the centers successful is police agencies working together.
“It really is the collaboration,” Green said. “It’s places like Newburgh and Middletown saying, ‘Yes, we’ll feed our cameras in, so that the cameras are up there. We’ll feed ‘Shot Spotter’ in. It’s agencies agreeing we’ll provide manpower to the center; we’ll allow access to our records management systems, so that we can be part of the network and share information.”
Kingston Police Chief
Egidio Tinti, in a prepared statement, lauded the “state’s willingness to foster and strengthen partnerships and fund technology, personnel and training at the local level.”
Although the center has just become fully functional, local agencies already have reaped benefits from its use, officials said.
City of Newburgh Police Chief Douglas Solomon said that due to the types of crimes in Newburgh and limited police manpower, his department is constantly getting help from other departments and already has seen results from the center.
“Back a couple of months ago, in its infancy, we were already able to solve a bank robbery with the assistance of the center in a very expeditious manner, so it’s already proven itself to be effective,” Solomon said.
City of Poughkeepsie Police Chief Thomas Pape said the center aided his department in a homicide investigation this week.
Law-enforcement officials agreed the center is proving valuable in all areas of the criminal justice system, from the beat to the courtroom. They thanked the state for its investment and assured the public it will make law enforcement more streamlined and successful across the region and New York.