How cities can reduce crime
Reducing crime in cities starts with smarter infrastructure. Connected public safety technologies give first responders the tools to act faster, coordinate better, and prevent incidents before they escalate.
When a city wants to invest in smart city solutions, enhancing public safety is often one of the key motivators. There's also interest in using existing technology and all the data they’re collecting to reduce crime and speed up incident response.
To achieve this, cities are building real-time crime centers (RTCCs), launching new connected community initiatives, and upgrading video surveillance systems with intelligent automation.
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The challenge: how to address violent crime in a city
When facing any challenge, particularly in an urban environment, understanding the situation goes a long way. In traditional policing, when a crime occurs, someone alerts the Police Department (PD) via a 911 call and officers then arrive. Following this, a full-blown investigation requiring the PD to find, question, and follow up with witnesses. It can take days or weeks to move investigations forward and solve crimes.
The best chance any city’s police force has of preventing or stopping crime is to intervene as quickly as possible, with as much information as they can gather. When police officers arrive on a scene after the fact or if they enter a situation unprepared, it is much more difficult for them to do their jobs.
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Why video surveillance isn’t enough
While surveillance cameras can provide crucial information about what’s happening in and around any location, adding more cameras does not always help agencies respond most effectively. To fully benefit from video surveillance systems and public safety technology, operators need more:
- Built-in analytics and the option for intelligent automation
- Collaboration among community partners in a city and fast information sharing
- Real-time video and data from many security systems in one view
- Streamlined decision support and evidence request management
Having tools that support these outcomes supports smart city initiatives. They help operators identify active threats, quickly understand what’s happening, respond without delay, and close cases faster.
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How 3 cities have reduced crime with new public safety technology
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Detroit’s connected community project |
Years ago, officials from the city of Detroit, Michigan in the United States looked at crime occurrences and found that nearly a quarter of the city's violent crimes happened near a gas station after 10 pm. Wanting to target these hotspots, they reached out to local businesses and launched a connected community project named Project Green Light.
Today, the latest data shows a significant reduction in violent crime in 2024, where some intervention zones experienced a crime reduction as high as 83%.
How a connected community builds a safe city
Strengthened community partnerships: Detroit used technology to help bridge the connection between businesses and the Detroit Police Department (DPD). To begin, business owners installed HD cameras inside and outside their establishments with additional lighting to sufficiently cover all areas of the property. And the business owners collaborated with the DPD by providing them with real-time access to their cameras.
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"I believe that when you allow people that are from the community to help bring about the change in the community, then those that are from that community will be more receptive to that change," said William Nicholson, executive director of Detroit Friends and Family.”
Mike Duggan, Detroit Mayor - Source: CBS News
Faster response to incidents: If there is an issue at one of the greenlight locations, the DPD can access video from their central monitoring facility, enabling them to act in seconds. They can dispatch a patrol car and use high-definition video recordings to help the DPD on the way to the scene. Overall, this helps solve crimes faster and in many cases, deter crime.
Easy cloud setup and maintenance: The connected video platform is a cloud-based video surveillance solution. By leveraging Microsoft Azure's cloud platform, the DPD has received a highly flexible solution. They can easily scale the surveillance system's available storage capacity and eliminate the need to invest in additional servers.
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Gangneung’s smart public safety technology |
Previously, the surveillance teams in Gangneung, South Korea were distributed across many locations, which slowed communication and incident response. Monitoring video across 1,000 cameras, responding to incidents, and handling investigations became increasingly burdensome for operators. To maximize efficiency, they decided to centralize their video surveillance system and unify a broad range of video analytics.
These technologies brought relevant events to the operators’ attention and helped speed up video investigations and incident response.
How an intelligent surveillance system builds a safe city
Centralized view of city crime: Today, operators monitor all cameras from a new control center. They use the video surveillance system to handle emergencies, monitor forests and cultural assets, and spot parking violations and illegal dumping. Operators can work efficiently with video surveillance and analytics on one platform.
“Today, our team can work more quickly and effectively at identifying urgent situations in real-time and accelerating post-event investigations. We will continue to enhance the surveillance system to keep our city safe.”
Gu-min Kim, System Maintenance Manager at the Gangneung CCTV Control Center
Actionable intelligence from video: Based on deep learning and artificial intelligence technologies, analytics make video footage more searchable, actionable, and quantifiable. Operators receive alerts when there’s activity in pre-defined, publicly-restricted zones. They can also search for video using object, face, and license plate attribute filters.
Empowered operator response: Since implementing a centralized video solution, operators have been able to track suspects involved in accidents or other relevant events and solve cases faster. In one case, the control center operators used the video surveillance system and smart analytics to assist police in tracking the suspects of a phone scam.
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Chicago’s new real-time crime center |
In the past decade, decision-makers from the city of Chicago, Illinois in the United States saw a record number of shootings and murders. Though they already had a real-time crime center (RTCC), they wanted to find a better way to leverage all their existing public safety technologies and data scattered across departments. Striving for a more analytical and responsive approach to crime prevention, they implemented a public safety decision-support solution.
Today, the latest reports indicate that Chicago’s violent crime is down by 24% across the city. Furthermore, shootings are down by over 70% and murders are down by 43%.
How an RTCC with decision support builds a safe city
Better crime analysis: An RTCC allows cities to collect and centralize vast amounts of data in one place. This helps analysts identify crime hotspots, trending patterns, and process improvements. Commanders from Chicago could make data-driven planning decisions much faster and more regularly than was previously possible, helping to shrink crime rates.
Streamlined response in one view: In an instant, operators are alerted when a gunshot is detected and a 911 call is underway. They’ll get immediate access to nearby cameras, license plate reads, and historical reports, sharing all with responding officers. Operators can then monitor the situation, provide real-time updates, and compile evidence after it’s all over.
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Faster investigations: Investigators can work within the RTCC, using forensic analytics and quick search tools to find pivotal video and data or securely request evidence via email. They can also digitally share evidence and entire case files as needed. Ultimately, an RTCC saves agencies countless hours in investigative work, while increasing clearance rates.
