MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — As more people move into the area, the Murfreesboro Police Department (MPD) is using cutting-edge technology to cut down on crimes in real-time. It’s brought the term “eye in the sky” to new heights.
“This is our real-time crime center,” MPD crime analysis supervisor Ryan Lawrence, said. “This is where we use our license plate readers, our public safety cameras as well as our gunshot detection system.”
The Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) is a department of four people who watch an entire city and wait to help police stop crime as soon as it happens.
“In most cases, we have found that we are well ahead of any potential first callers as well, so the sooner that we can get in the area and find that evidence and locate those victims the better,” Lawrence said.
News 2 first learned about the technology when it launched in summer 2024. Already, it’s lived up to its name. As of publication, the system has produced what police called more than 400 success stories that have led to arrests or warrants issued.
Originally, the department deployed 85 gunshot detectors across different areas. As of publication, 234 sensors are now up and running.
The technology is quite simple, gunshots, or something that sounds similar, would be picked up by these devices. The devices would then immediately notify the police. The notification would show a timestamp, the approximate area where the sound came from (within an approximate 100-foot radius), an audio clip of the sound for officers to analyze, and other bits of information.
“All you have to do is look at any number of the recent successes we’ve had, such as the Sunglass Hut organized retail theft group,”” explained Lawrence.” Lawrence said.
One of the latest major crimes stopped with the help of the RTCC had to do with suspected members of a South Florida crime syndicate accused of stealing more than $1 million in high-end sunglasses. They targeted stores from Florida to South Carolina to Tennessee.
“Using license plate reader technology, we were then able to identify a suspect vehicle that had been in the immediate area at all the dates and times of the burglaries that we knew about,” an analyst told News 2. “From the time of us identifying the suspect’s vehicle until they were detained in Smyrna was less than 2 hours.”
As of publication, the MPD uses:
- 234 gunshot detection devices
- 50 license plate readers
- 15 public safety cameras
The MPD added that license plate recognition technology has helped to recover 55 stolen vehicles and helped clear 200 cases, including hit-and-run crashes and homicide investigations.
