New high-tech-tools working to help police fight crime in Jacksonville

$3.1 million high-tech crime center ties in cameras, microphones and more

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – High technology alerted police to the latest homicide in Jacksonville. Shot Spotter picked up the sound of gunfire in Northwest Jacksonville, that l;ead police to find a man wounded in his car. He died later at the hospital.

Shot Spotter is now part of the real-time crime center in Jacksonville.  The $3.1 million investment works to tie in surveillance cameras and microphones to help police track crimes.

In the center, you can hear gunfire from when the man was shot last night. This time there was just sound to help police pinpoint a crime, but now officers can tie in nearby video cameras, which will automatically turn on when gunfire is detected.

Sheriff Mike Williams and Mayor Lenny Curry toured the new crime center, which features 20 cameras plugged into the system, mainly on the Northside.

"It’s one of the tools we invested in in the last four years. To see all of this consolidated and coordinated together, it’s a building block," Curry said.

According to the sheriff, by the end of the year, 100 cameras will be in place where the majority of crimes occur - downtown, on the Westside at the 103rd Street corrodor and in Northwest Jacksonville.

He said the goal is simple but needed.

"Allowing us to respond quicker, more efficiently. So we get more out of the officers we have by operating more efficiently. And ultimately, getting the bad guys off the street quicker," Williams said.

Eventually, the center will be tied into any internet-based camera, from businesses and homeowners that allow it.

Williams said that expansion will happen soon. 


About the Authors:

Jim Piggott is the reporter to count on when it comes to city government and how it will affect the community.