LR board OKs plan for crime intel site
Information will aid field officers
The Little Rock Board of Directors at a meeting Tuesday approved a resolution authorizing the creation of a real-time crime center intended to funnel “critical intelligence” to the Police Department’s field officers and investigators.
An initial infusion of $200,000 from the city’s seized-funds account will go toward the center’s overall cost. A memo from the city manager’s office included with meeting materials put the estimated total cost for the center at $1.5 million.
“Officers and Detectives in the field do not have the time to conduct certain basic investigatory tasks because they either do not have immediate access to the tools they need, or it would be unsafe for them to do so,” the memo said.
An investigator in the center can provide those field personnel “with critical information obtained by accessing existing technology, cameras systems, information systems and databases in real-time to reduce the time taken to investigate a criminal act,” the memo said.
The resolution was adopted as part of the city board’s consent agenda Tuesday.
When it goes online, the crime center is expected to occupy space in the Police Department’s new headquarters facility. The new headquarters on West Markham Street is scheduled to open in July.
According to the memo from the city manager’s office, police officials visited real-time crime centers in Memphis, New Orleans, New York and St. Louis.
“Essentially, it’s what we would call ‘eyes on the street,’” Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said of the proposed center at a board meeting last week.
The mayor went on to suggest the center would
“beef up” the department’s ongoing efforts to be smarter on crime and leverage technology to identify persons of interest.
In concept, a real-time crime center is meant to pool technology and resources to allow the Police Department to process data and critical information in a more timely fashion, Assistant Chief Heath Helton told board members at last week’s meeting.
That information, Helton said, will then be pushed out to officers and detectives in the field in order to allow personnel “to be able to identify crime patterns” as well as to “prevent crimes from occurring.”
At the beginning of the year, then-Police Chief Keith Humphrey challenged staff to come up with ideas to better manage violent crime, Helton recalled.
One of the concepts was development of a real-time crime center, Helton said.
Humphrey resigned last month. Assistant Chief Crystal Young-Haskins has been named interim chief as the city searches for a new permanent department head.
In light of his visits to centers in New Orleans, Memphis and Jonesboro, Helton suggested that applying the method to existing efforts in Little Rock would be a “game-changer.”
Little Rock has some of the technology in place already — a lot of it is a little bit outdated, Helton acknowledged — but officials want to pull it into one location to access it in real-time, he said.
Officials plan to hire some part-time civilian personnel within the center to provide assistance too, Helton said.
Additionally, the center will be able to support other municipal departments during man-made emergencies or natural disasters, according to Helton.
In response to a question from City Director Kathy Webb of Ward 3 during last week’s meeting, Scott indicated that the cost for such a center can vary depending on its scope.
The city was examining a range of anywhere from $500,000 to $1.5 million, Scott said, taking into account the equipment as well as the individuals meant to staff the center.
Little Rock plans to seek supplemental funding from grants, Scott said.
Responding to an inquiry from City Director Virgil Miller Jr. of Ward 1 regarding the seized-funds account, Scott indicated that the account holds around $1 million.
Other purchases that are expected to come before the city board soon will be funded by the same account, Scott said.
The city received the funding from the federal government based on seizures by Little Rock police that occurred in the recent past, according to Scott.
Later during the same meeting, the city’s intergovernmental relations manager, Emily Jordan Cox, put forward a recommended slate of spending using some of the second tranche of American Rescue Plan Act funding that included $1 million for the real-time crime center.
The federal funding tied to the center would be on top of the aforementioned $200,000, she said.
City directors have yet to approve a resolution laying out a spending framework for the latest tranche of rescue money.
Plans for the real-time crime center have coalesced as the Police Department is preparing to roll out a civilian-focused app dubbed YourLRPD. Officials have said the app will allow individuals to view crimes reported in their area and submit online reports.