Anne Arundel County police open ‘transformative, high-tech’ crime-fighting tool to monitor video

By Kate Amara

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    SEVERNA PARK, Maryland (WBAL) — Anne Arundel County police opened what officials believe is a transformative, high-tech crime-fighting tool in a highly secure location, and 11 News got a peek inside.

The $1.5 million, 1,300-square-foot Real-Time Information Center (RTIC) is housed inside a highly secure facility in Millersville.

“(We’re) changing the future of policing and (how) our patrol officers love it,” Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad said.

County authorities said the RTIC is designed to collect, analyze and share information and video as it happens.

“I think it’s one of the best investments we’ve made in public safety in a very long time,” Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman said.

Live video comprises a major component of the RTIC, as evidenced by three monitors apiece at workstations that face a massive video wall that can simultaneously play livestreams from 12 different inputs. Video sources include the police helicopter, a closed-circuit video camera on the ground, as well as live security camera video from county businesses that sign up and grant that kind of access.

“(When) we get a call for service at that location, the cameras go live,” Awad said.

And, if conditions are met, the RTIC can take in live feeds from county police officers’ body-worn cameras.

“It’s only for if there’s an incident where their safety be in jeopardy, and you know, if there’s a critical call, we would need to have that information. So, that ability has been available in the department; however, we brought it to another level with the RTIC,” said Anne Arundel County police Lt. Brian Carney, the RTIC’s commander.

“We know there may be concerns about privacy. We want you to know the RTIC is not big brother.”

Following a successful, soft launch over the summer, police said Tuesday marks the start of their Community Connect program that allows people with home security cameras to voluntarily register with the RTIC , giving detectives a list of residents who may be willing to share recorded videos, if asked.

“We know there may be concerns about privacy. We want you to know the RTIC is not big brother,” Awad said.

Aware of privacy and civil liberty concerns, the police department said it will not have live access to residential camera feeds, will not use facial recognition technology with any video feeds and will not routinely monitor shared community video.

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