Spokane County is known for its natural beauty, outdoor recreational activities, and rich local culture, however, the area is unfortunately fighting a higher crime rate than the national average. This is why the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office launched a Real Time Crime Center (RTCC). Lieutenant Justin Elliott has served at the Sheriff’s Office in Spokane County, Washington since 2005. He is currently the Commander of the Regional Intelligence Group 9 (RIG9) and the Sheriff’s Real Time Crime Center. His team of professionals, analysts and agency partners support field operations and major investigations through strategic, innovative public safety technology initiatives. In this Q&A, Lt. Elliott shares lessons from his agency’s recent launch of its RTCC.
What objectives should an agency aim to achieve with an RTCC? How can these objectives be best identified?
To improve service, efficiency, effectiveness, or achieve specific impacts and outcomes important to the agency’s mission, the leader of a new RTCC must identify these objectives by taking an inventory of each stakeholder’s expectations and documenting them. Our objectives were presented in an Executive Summary, which was based on numerous conversations with successful partners in similar agencies facing similar challenges who have undergone the process before.
Engage with as many peers in the industry as possible. Additionally, consult with various technology partners to determine who can be trusted and is invested in your success. Improving service is an objective we all share, and an effective RTCC will consistently deliver this result if the right combination of technology and personnel is deployed.
What data privacy policies are critical for RTCCs?
Solid policies and procedures to provide safeguards should be well thought-out and adhered to in order to maintain public trust. The perception of government over-surveillance and the fear of technologies that we do not actually use can affect the positive impacts and reputation of the RTCC. Public education is crucial, and regular messaging to community groups and various media outlets helps educate the public about the reality of RTCC operations.
Each agency needs to focus on the intersection of personal privacy and community safety, as this balance can differ between communities. This line shifts over time and between specific incidents involving technology. To make sound decisions where bright lines cannot prevail, supervisors, leadership and policymakers should constantly evaluate where specific scenarios fall in the collective good versus personal liberty intersection while carefully assessing the impacts those decision could potentially have on personal liberties.
What types of professionals are crucial for staffing an RTCC? What skills are most important?
RTCC staff at the operator level must be motivated, proactive individuals who are eager to dig deeper and find value in even the simplest public safety situations. Whether they are sworn staff, analysts, or communications operators, they must possess this proactive attribute. While reactivity is the general nature of an RTCC due to signal technology or other information sources, a true RTCC operator takes it a step (or five) further.
Recognizing the importance of the information potentially available, in relation to the priority of the case, along with the skill of searching additional systems, has the potential to solve crimes faster, save time, save money, and save lives. To be a valuable RTCC professional, one should consistently seek value, impact, and positive outcomes in each incident or case they work on.
What training should be provided to RTCC staff to prepare them effectively?
Basic training on CAD, RMS, local databases, general investigative software, radio usage, dispatcher center operations and considerations, and how to use your layered signal technology is all that is needed to operate effectively in an RTCC environment. Providing training from experienced RTCC operators to help understand real-time investigative workflows and priorities can be a game-changer if available. We introduced this advanced training, which helped our staff understand how an incident comes together and how the timeliness of RTCC-provided information solved cases faster and increased public and officer safety. At a minimum, ensure your staff is trained in your agency’s patrol and dispatch methods, identify the limits of these methods, and consider how real-time information from the RTCC can elevate both services to the next level.
What strategies are effective for managing information sharing and collaboration between an RTCC and other agencies?
Information sharing is where almost all of the RTCC’s success relies. However, audits are important to ensure that policies are followed and trust is maintained. With inter-agency agreements, this often involves MOUs or other contracts. Your legal advisors and grants/contracts coordinators are a huge advantage if involved in the inner circle of your project.
What metrics are useful for measuring the effectiveness of an RTCC?
Successes and wins are the best way to share the value and effectiveness of your RTCC. Other metrics, such as crime statistics and trends, may also have value. We are always conservative when considering the correlation versus causation approach to statistics. To maintain trust in the RTCC and the Sheriff’s Office, we rely on solid data to support our effectiveness. Metrics might show a decline in crime statistics, but they can also be reflected in community and inter-agency surveys of perceived safety and improved engagement. Decide what is important to your constituents and keep your focus pointed in that direction.
How should an agency involve the community in RTCC operations?
Regular and positive messaging through your PIO and media contacts is essential. Educating deputies, community outreach, and other stakeholders has been helpful to inform and demystify the RTCC, whose purpose is to use the information we already have access to and make it available in real-time. Allow all the tours, interviews, and questions that are requested. Encourage involvement, such as third-party video integration and other connections to your RTCC from businesses and the community. There’s no public outreach and involvement in the RTCC project that is not valuable.
What are common challenges faced when establishing an RTCC, and what solutions have proven effective?
Support from your chief executive is key. If the top leader is consistently committed to seeing the RTCC become a reality, it will be. However, each agency will face its own unique challenges in establishing an RTCC.
Getting patrol, investigations, dispatch, special projects and administrative services passionate about the RTCC is crucial, though commonly challenging. The RTCC exists to support and enhance all these functions, so it is essential to get our stakeholders excited.
Other challenges include construction, procurement, balancing current operations while creating the RTCC, budgetary issues, and getting staff trained while keeping the RTCC functioning. The most provenly effective solutions are buy-in from all levels, trustworthy technology partners, exceedingly competent staff and strong command support.
What would you say is the biggest misconception you come across from other PDs about real time crime centers?
That at the basic level, an RTCC might seem financially unobtainable. However, every PD has the ability to start an RTCC with what they have currently. I promise, just ask.
