BINGHAMTON, NY, -- Police across the state are uniting with the ultimate goal of working together to solve crimes thanks to the opening of Crime Analysis Centers over the past few years. There are currently ten of these centers where information is being shared daily to track suspects who travel throughout our regions.

“This little device holds a shell casing from the scene. They're going to bring it in, they come over to this machine, they’re going to turn it on, it turns on, they're going to turn the computer on, this tray pops out, they're going to set this and it's going to go back in. And then this computer is going to take thousands of photographs,” said David Bidwell, captain of intelligence with the Southern Tier Crime Analysis Center.

It’s a new tool that could solve statewide crimes in an instant. Every casing police recover will soon be logged into a system, and shared across over 300 agencies.

They’ll be able to track where bullet came from, and even if the gun was used in other parts of the state during other crimes. Police are finding that’s not as uncommon as you might think.

“When guns are recovered, shell casings are recovered, we're seeing that they're using multiple events. So just because there's a shooting in a local area, what we're finding is that shooting in the local area, that gun use is also being used in larger cities and across the state and across the country,” said Bidwell.

What You Need To Know

  • There are currently 10 of these centers where information is being shared daily to track suspects who travel throughout our regions

  • Real time statistics give police on the street an extra set of eyes, both locally and around the state

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced the opening of a New York City location which would mark the eleventh crime analysis center in the state

It’s helping crime analysis centers across the state crack down on repeat offenders in major crimes. Bidwell captains the Southern Tier location, one of 10 intelligence centers in New York. They’ve become a focus under Gov. Kathy Hochul, who’s looking to connect as many departments as possible.

“We need to keep working together from the local, county, state and federal level to make sure that we are united in our effort to stop criminals from perpetrating crimes on our citizens,” said Bidwell.

In the two years the center has been open, Bidwell says there have been several cases where he in Binghamton is working with agencies around the state to track down a suspect, and due to the shared intelligence, it’s now easier than ever before. Real time statistics give police on the street an extra set of eyes, both locally and around the state.

“If you look across law enforcement, nationwide, numbers are down, so police departments are struggling to get numbers. So that also means detectives are down ,and special investigations in itself are down. Were just there to supplement and help any law enforcement agency that needs it,” said Bidwell.

Hochul recently announce the opening of a New York City location which would mark the eleventh crime analysis center in the state.

Currently, there are locations in the Southern Tier, Central New York and Capital Region.