ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is stepping up its use of technology with plans to go live with a real-time crime center in the coming months.
“Any critical incident that might span multiple locations, this would become our main command post and it’s already set up with everything we need,” said Monroe County Chief Deputy Sheriff Michael Fowler.
He describes it as a one-stop shop with all the information, all the video footage and all the tactical plans in one place, pulled together with high-end software.
Monroe County Sheriff Sgt. Greg Wildman describes how the technology could be used if there was an active shooter incident, “An analyst goes to pull up cameras in the area to see what’s going on.”
In a fictitious event, Wildman describes images captured from a camera at the location.
“We can see there’s a male with his face covered,” he says. “He’s holding a long gun and it appears that he’s walking toward the school.”
“So now we already have a description, right, and we know what side of the building they’re on, what direction of travel and what time they arrived,” added Fowler.
He elaborates on Monroe County’s Regional Investigative Operations Center, which is still in the process of being constructed.
“So that is combining our investigative work with our actual boots on the ground operations work. We are actually manipulating where those patrol cars set up and how they respond to calls and what information they have at their fingertips as they’re actually en route to a critical incident.”
In the mock scenario, cameras are accessed to identify the perpetrator.
“We can see that we have several sheriff’s cars close by to that school,” Wildman. “While those cars are en route they are getting live updates with suspect description. Our sergeant takes over the RIOC [and] starts giving guidance over the radio.”
“It’s a force multiplier for us,” said Fowler. “We can use technology, whereas in the past we would actually have to put a deputy or an officer at that location and actually relay that information to us. So, we’re saving on the manpower and we’re making the most efficient use of the tools we have.”
“The key component is to have the buy-in of the community,” Wildman adds. “We want to use the technology, but you have to do it ethically. You have to do it legally and you have to do it cost effectively.”
The RIOC is modeled after real-time crime centers now in use in other municipalities across the country. Monroe County's will be one of about 150 in the nation.
On March 11, 2024, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand made a significant announcement regarding the MCSO Regional Investigative Operations Center (RIOC), revealing the allocation of $940,000 in federal support through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024.
