Real Time Crime Center revolutionizes police work

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officers on the street are the eyes and ears of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and now they have some help that they never dreamed they'd have a decade ago.

Hidden in an upstairs room at CMPD headquarters is a unit called the Real Time Crime Center where two to three officers work in shifts for 20 hours a day.

Their weapons are a thousand cameras throughout Charlotte.  Those cameras are proving their value in solving crimes.

The Real Time Crime Center has helped recover 313 stolen cars and 112 stolen car tags this year. The center also has helped find 23 people reported missing.

In total, 250 arrests have been made so far due to the center's efforts.

The technology that can read license tags has helped officers work smarter and faster.

"If your car is stolen today, your tag will go in a nationwide database, and those cameras look for those matches with the national database," Lt. Mike Barron said.

Kate Aldridge considered it a miracle when she got her car back after it was stolen on July 20 from her south Charlotte apartment.

"I woke up that morning to take the dog out, and it was gone," she said.  “The next time she saw it, it was on the news in a high-speed chase with police. I'm a waitress. So, I was at work and I have people calling me up saying, ‘Your car is on TV and it's being chased right now,’ and I'm like, ‘Stop it.’"

[Charlotte chase suspect jumps onto moving train]

Officers in the Real Time Crime Center followed the chase and told Aldridge quickly that her car was stolen and involved.

The center was also active in another chase where a man and two 16-year-old girls were inside a stolen car that hit an 18-wheeler on Interstate 77, and they didn't stop until the car spun out in Chester County.

[South Carolina Chase And Crash: 3 Suspects in Custody]

Two weeks ago, officers tracked a robbery suspect who was already on an electronic ankle monitor when he committed the crime. The center tracked him back to the robbery scene and detectives made an arrest.

Aldridge never thought she'd get her car back in one piece. She's glad to see technology is making a difference.

"Now, you can maybe feel a little bit more hopeful when your car gets stolen that there's this technology out there that might be useful, and people might actually get their cars back," she said.

Cox Media Group