Meridian Police Department leadership went thorough training on the new Axon Fusus system Wednesday as the department works to ready its new Real Time Crime Center, according to the city of Meridian’s social media.

 

The Real Time Crime Center, or RTCC, will be a 24/7 monitoring center for what city officials have said will ultimately be hundreds of cameras installed throughout the city’s parks, government buildings, in high-crime areas and even in local residences and businesses whose owners have opted to share their private video feeds with law enforcement.

 

Police officials have lauded the new FUSUS system, which will allow the center to send live video feeds directly to responding officers, collect video evidence and potentially incorporate other technologies such as license plate readers and gunshot detectors further down the line.

 

Despite improvements in pay and equipment in the past several years, Meridian Police Department remains understaffed, and having additional eyes around town — albeit mechanical ones — is a welcome change. Several parks and city buildings have already been outfitted with cameras, and construction of the physical RTCC, which is attached to the south end of the police station, is nearing complete.

 

Like all technology, however, the RTCC also brings with it some serious concerns. A citywide surveillance system is likely to catch law-abiding residents engaging in private activities and record personal data that could be used by bad actors to ill effects. Once rolled out, MPD’s center will be producing an enormous amount of content, and keeping it secure will be a big chore.

 

Additionally, studies looking at the accuracy of tools such as gunshot detection equipment have found they tend to overreport incidents and make shooting reports appear more common than they truly are, a problem MPD already faces from social media influencers.

 

A large-scale surveillance network can also have an effect on how residents feel about their community, and some Meridianites, and potential visitors, won’t like knowing they are possibly being watched.

 

The final concern is one of continued investment. The RTCC is a multi-million dollar system, and continued support from the City Council and city administration will be critical to maintain and upgrade the system over time. Technology changes rapidly, and keeping the center away from obsolescence will likely require sustained funding or commitment to a strict upgrade schedule — something previous councils have struggled to do.

 

Overall, the benefits of the Real Time Crime Center far outweigh the risks, and if building such a center helps show Meridian supports its law enforcement, that is even better. Building out the RTCC, installing cameras and fine tuning the system will likely take months if not years, but the potential benefit to the police department, and the community, is well worth the trouble.