Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has unveiled the Metropolitan Police Department’s real-time crime center and launched CameraConnect DC — a program that allows residents and businesses to share their security camera footage with the police directly through the new crime centre.
The MPD’s real-time crime centre — which has been running and staffed since mid-February — serves as the “nerve centre” for local, regional and federal law enforcement agencies to monitor and respond to criminal activities in real time, officials shared in a news release. Data from technology such as CCTV security cameras and emergency calls is fed into the centre, and then consolidated and analysed to provide officers with more situational awareness in emergency situations.
When plans for the investigative outpost were first shared last year, officials said the center would be staffed 24/7 with officers from nine local law enforcement agencies, as well as support from federal investigative partners at the ATF, FBI, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Funding for the centre was secured through Bowser’s FY25 budget, which includes $8.7 million to fund 40 new community safety officers, helping to free up about 50 police officers for crime-fighting tasks, officials said. The budget also includes $3.4 million for MPD to procure and maintain crime-fighting technology, and $13 million for the department to nearly triple its CCTV camera inventory and replace license plate readers.
Also fed into the real-time crime centre will be video footage through the new CameraConnect DC program, which allows residents and businesses with video cameras to register their cameras with the police, officials said. If a crime occurs near a residence with a registered doorbell or CCTV cameras, the center will send an alert to that resident requesting any relevant footage that could help the investigation of the crime.
Businesses, apartment complexes and commercial facilities in the area can fully integrate their footage with the crime center, which would provide MPD with instant access to camera footage should a threat or incident occur nearby.
While real-time crime centers have expanded in recent years, drawing concern from watchdog groups that worry about unfettered surveillance by law enforcement, D.C. has run a grant program for private security cameras since 2016. The program helps residents, businesses, nonprofits and religious entities buy security camera systems, and then install them on their property and register them with MPD. It has allowed the district to deploy nearly 28,000 private security cameras throughout the city since its establishment.
“The policies and strategies we’ve put in place to rebalance our public safety ecosystem are helping us drive down crime, and the Real-Time Crime Center is part of those efforts,” Bowser said in a news release.
“We have been focused, for many years now, on how we expand our network of cameras, because we know that video plays a key role in investigating cases and successfully prosecuting criminals. Now, we are calling on residents and businesses to partner with us through CameraConnect DC to help us build a safer, stronger DC.”
