The center makes data from multiple surveillance technologies deployed throughout the city available to "virtual patrol officers" in order to aid in the prevention of crimes and the apprehension of suspects.
"It's going to enhance the way that we view and execute public safety in the city of Gary," said Mayor Jerome Prince, backed by an array of monitors showing maps and video feeds from around the city. "This is a culmination of a number of initiatives that we've engaged in since the beginning of our administration."
In June 2022, Gary launched Operation Safe Zone, a collaboration with the Georgia-based software company Fusus that allows the city's residents and businesses to aid law enforcement by granting access to privately owned surveillance cameras. Participants can register cameras with the program, letting the Gary Police Department know their location and expediting the process of requesting and accessing footage when a crime occurs nearby. They can also opt to have their cameras integrated into the police department's network, granting real-time access to video feeds by staff at the crime center.
Gary Police Chief Anthony Titus called the technology a "force multiplier" for the department.
"This allows law enforcement to use technology to be in places that we may not have physically been able to be in times past," he said.
Gary is one of two Indiana cities to partner with Fusus, a company representative told the Post-Tribune. Hammond, which launched its BlueNET program in April, is the other.
So far, 1,455 cameras in the Gary have been registered with the program and 546 have been integrated. Prince acknowledged that some Gary residents might have privacy concerns about the program, though he said that residents he has spoken with "overwhelmingly" support it as a means of improving public safety.
Gary's gas station owners, Prince said, have been far more supportive of Operation Safe Zone than they were of an earlier plan to require armed guards at stations open overnight, which Prince first proposed in 2020. The plan failed to pass the Gary Common Council after station owners and employees complained about its cost and questioned its efficacy.
"They certainly balked at the initial idea," Prince said. "Once we introduced the concept of Operation Safe Zone and the camera network, which also requires an investment on the business's part, there was absolutely no resistance."
Chief of Staff Joy Holliday added that only public-facing cameras are included in the program, "so there is no ability for us to pry into people's homes."
The center's staff also have access to data from license plate readers, either mounted on police cars or installed at key locations throughout the city. The readers were purchased by the city with funds from a series of grants from the United States Department of Justice. Corporal Larry McKinley, who has led the development of the crime center, said that the technology monitors all roadways leading into and out of Gary. Anyone vehicle of interest entering or leaving the city, he told reporters, should be spotted by the readers, allowing staff at the crime center to inform officers in the field.
In October, the Gary Police Department marked two years since the first license plate readers were introduced in the city. The department released a data table recording 375 total investigations stemming from license plate reader data. Over the two year period, license plate readers facilitated the recovery of 206 stolen vehicles, the seizure of 21 firearms, and the issuance of 43 felony warrants, according to the table.
Funded through a combination of city, state and federal funds, the center will be attended 16 hours a day by three employees. McKinley said the schedule is subject to change as the department gathers data on when the center's staff can be most useful.
©2023 the Post-Tribune, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
