WASHINGTON — D.C.'s newly revealed Real-Time Crime Center is being credited for speeding up investigations in recent violent crimes, according to police.
Following a shooting in the Carver Langston neighborhood, DC Police Chief Pamela Smith said officers at the crime center began investigating and provided images from the cameras in the area to aid responding officers in the investigation.
A spokesperson with DC Police told WUSA9 that the responding officers had a description of the car they were looking for as they were arriving to the shooting scene on 1100 block of 21st Street, NE.
Investigators say armed suspects exited the car and fired toward a group of people and then fled the scene. Less than an hour after police received calls for the shooting, they released images of the suspected car involved.
A video captured by a D.C. resident shows a D.C. cruiser chasing what appears to be the suspect's car almost two miles away near Lincoln Park in Northeast.
The Real-Time Crime Center has been in use since mid-February and is currently only staffed by members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
The crime center is tasked with gathering and analyzing data from various sources, including CCTV cameras and emergency calls in real-time.
The crime center is expected to remain live 24/7 and run out of MPD headquarters. It will partner with nine federal and local agencies to monitor of 300 CCTV cameras throughout the city with the goal to reduce crime. The technology will also be able to help officers identify and stop emerging crime activity.
During a tour of the center, MPD Officer Kim Sims told WUSA9's Delia Gonçalves that the center is a game changer when it comes to disseminating information.
"To be able to have the eyes in the sky type thing, along with what's happening in the street, in tandem, come on, that's beautiful," Sims said.
Sims says officers will no longer have to wait to get to the scene to get information about the case they're working on.
"The time that it takes for the people to go from a place to a place once we figure out what's going on. It's just going to quicken everything up," Sims added.
A police spokesperson told WUSA9 that prior to the use of the center, officers would have to arrive to the scene, interview witnesses, and then relay that information to investigators who would have to search through video footage.
Following the announcement of the Real-Time Crime Center, ACLU-D.C. Executive Director Monica Hopkins criticized the new tool saying, "A center where police watch what people do in the District every hour of every day is an alarming expansion of government surveillance. With no oversight, the real-time surveillance center leaves serious questions about our safety and our rights unanswered."