Miami police say they’re cracking down on crime — and they have cameras
Do you feel like someone’s watching you?
It might be Miami police.
The police department has added new cameras in high-crime areas to help officers find criminals in real time.
They also want you to know about it.
Police Chief Jorge Colina also wants people to stay aware of their surroundings and make “crime of opportunities” more difficult.
“Help us with our mission to make this a violent crime free month where people can really enjoy the holidays and love everything that Miami has to offer,” he said during a briefing on Thursday morning.
The department saw an increase in “opportunity” crimes such as retail theft, robberies and porch pirates last December and is hoping to cut the crime this December by increasing patrols, using the cameras and spreading safety awareness, said police spokeswoman Kenia Fallat.
The cameras are part of a new system upgrade to the department’s Real Time Crime Center, a room full of high-definition TV sets that are connected to hundreds of cameras.
“This technology will go a long way in helping us solve crimes, prevent crimes,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at the briefing.
Fernandez Rundle said the technology has already helped police find “fresh evidence on the scene almost instantaneously.”
Fallat said the new system had been in place “ for a while” but declined to give a more specific time frame.
Since the center was built in 2014, it has given officers the ability to monitor, zoom in, identify and follow people across the city and locate potential shootings through a GPS ShotSpotter system that is meant to identify and locate where potential gunshots went off.
The center’s creation didn’t come without its problems. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida questioned whether the cameras would invade people’s privacy and if the proper protocols were in place to prevent abuse of the system.
The police department also faced criticism for purchasing the ShotSpotter technology, the same system that Miami-Dade County and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office had stopped using because it kept mistaking random noises for gunfire.
The TVs were being fed by up to 400 cameras when the center was first created in 2014.
The cameras won’t be the only way police will be keeping an eye on the streets.
Colina said people will be seeing more officers throughout the city during the holiday season.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
