Is crime so out-of-control that Seattle police need sci-fi tech?

The Seattle Police Department’s latest technology is something straight out of a movie.

A giant screen tracking incoming 911 calls hangs on a wall of the seventh floor of police headquarters, which analysts, detectives and a commander use to make decisions.

The Real Time Crime Center helps the department track reported crime, making it easier to organize and quicken the response to serious calls. The technology helps police understand an active situation faster than before, KIRO Radio’s Jillian Raftery reports. Previously, connecting multiple 911 calls with a single crime was difficult; less so with the crime center.

“In the past, if more than one person called 911, [police] might not know the big picture,” Raftery says. “Now, they have analysts saying they have all these 911 calls in the same area; they put that information together and it is relayed to officers.”

The crime center will also give officers the chance to respond to crimes while they are still hot. For example, officers were recently able to obtain a warrant hours after a shooting in Belltown by combining suspect descriptions with a partial license plate number and other information. That is a process that can take much longer, Raftery reports.

It’s a technology that would have been useful when a group of tourists were attacked near Westlake in August. Police could have potentially responded faster to the crime.

Additionally, the crime center helps detect “anomalies” in crime in a particular area. So if there is a spike in car prowls in a neighborhood, for example, the commander might decide to deploy more officers, Chief Operating Officer Mike Wagers explains.

KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz wonders if there is a specific reason for implementing this technology.

“Are they doing it because crime is so out of control or do they want to better utilize their time?” Rantz wonders. “Because statistically, shootings don’t happen very often.”

The Seattle Police Department is a relatively small one, compared to the population of Seattle, Raftery explains. It wants to be as efficient as possible and decrease response times.

But the information the center receives is still dependent on people reporting crimes, is it not, Rantz wonders &#8212 pointing out that he is in full support of the new system.

That’s true, according to Raftery. The system is dependent on 911 calls.

The technology was built in-house. It’s part of Chief of Police Kathleen O’Toole’s push to streamline operations using data.

Now let’s see if the crime center can help people walking downtown feel safer.