KEY IDEAS:

• Smaller agencies with limited resources can launch real-time operations with a single operator, a laptop, and a few key solutions.
• Document your real-time crime center’s (RTCC’s) wins to prove success, earn buy-in, and secure funding to grow your operation.
• RTCCs help relieve overburdened personnel, increase officer safety, and streamline operations.
• Data integration technology makes RTCCs more efficient and effective by bringing real-time inputs and historical data into a single pane of glass.

Texas law enforcement agencies are investing in RTCCs to receive, process, and analyze live inputs, such as surveillance footage, license plate recognition (LPR) systems, and drone technology. RTCCs help agencies optimize their resources and support overburdened personnel. And with the rise of regionalized crime centers, smaller departments benefit from real-time tools and analysis from larger agencies.

Building an effective, collaborative RTCC is often a large investment in terms of funds, time, and manpower. But for many Texas agencies, that investment has paid off. To gather insights on the process, we hosted a webinar featuring public safety leaders with firsthand experience. Our panelists were:

• Detective Brandon Marshall, Pasadena, Pasadena Police Department
• Sgt. Erik Lavigne, Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD)
• Lt. Shane Chadwick, Amarillo Police Department (APD)
• Lenny Nerbetski, Peregrine (moderator)

Keep reading to learn the practical tips and essential tools that made these RTCCs a success.

READ MORE → How To Build the Best RTCC for Your Agency: 6 Tips

Launch a real-time crime center on a limited budget

“We were solving homicides. We were catching bad guys quicker, faster, more efficiently, safer,” he said. “We took that as our plug to move forward with our real-time crime center.” —Det. Brandon Marshall, Pasadena Police Department

Chadwick, who’s been building the Amarillo Regional Crime Center over the past four years, put it simply: “Crime centers aren’t cheap.” But you don’t need a full-fledged RTCC with a wall of TVs and 24/7 staff to start making an impact.

”If you have a single person, two LPR cameras, one intersection camera, and one drone, you’ve got a crime center,” Chadwick said. “Build on it from there. You don’t have to have $80 million to build these things. Just find out what it needs. I promise you’ll have success, even with small stuff.”

Document and share your RTCC wins to earn buy-in

Marshall started planting the seeds for Pasadena PD’s RTCC during his 15 years in auto theft investigations. LPR solutions sparked his interest in real-time tech. To start, he sourced two grants to place 40 LPR cameras throughout the city. But to take his department’s real-time operations to the next level, Marshall needed tangible results. So he logged every LPR-related success in a spreadsheet, making the impact impossible to ignore.

“We were solving homicides. We were catching bad guys quicker, faster, more efficiently, safer,” he said. “We took that as our plug to move forward with our real-time crime center.”

As the wins piled up, interest in real-time technology grew. Over the past three years, Pasadena PD has secured more funding to build out its RTCC, now staffed with two civilian employees, three sworn officers, and a supervisor. It’s uncomfortable to brag about yourself, but advertising your success is essential to gaining community buy-in and financial support, Marshall said.

“Don’t be afraid to sell yourself,” Marshall said. “As you’re building your center and you’re having successes, share them with everyone you can. The success is what’s going to show the growth, show that we need more of this. Don’t be afraid to brag on what your center is doing so your administration knows what they’re putting money into is making a difference.”

💡 PRO TIP: Find creative ways to advertise your RTCC’s success beyond press releases. Engage community groups, offer tours, leverage social media, and create videos to show off your wins. Consider enlisting your PIO to craft memorable, effective content.

How RTCCs act as force multipliers for public safety

With a few solid technology investments, agencies can streamline operations, increase officer safety, and work proactively to enhance community safety. And for departments still recovering from years of staffing shortages, it’s essential to invest in tech that saves time, promotes balanced workloads, and ultimately reduces burnout.

RTCCs allow agencies to stretch limited resources, acting as a force multiplier for strained departments. RTCC personnel might leverage dozens of sources and assist with dozens of calls each day. Those sources include:

• LPR systems
• Gunshot detection systems
• Drone as first responder systems
• Live 911 call mapping
• Body-worn camera (BWC) feeds
• Live camera feeds operated by the agency, businesses, or private citizens
• Agency-specific computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system and records management system (RMS)
• Historical data from legacy solutions
• Shared databases from partner agencies, such as county jail data

Say an RTCC operator notices a string of 911 calls for vehicle break-ins on a particular block. While officers respond to the scene, the operator might access surveillance feeds in that area, gather clips for evidence, use recognition technology to identify a suspect, and uncover an active warrant on that individual. Sometimes, RTCC operators even solve cases before an officer arrives on scene, Chadwick said.

“We identified a robbery suspect while [officers] got to the call, and I heard the officer in the background saying, ‘I can't believe this is even a thing,’” Chadwick said. “They can't believe that you can provide that kind of stuff on the fly. … It makes it a slam dunk for them. And the great news is we had enough LPRs and cameras that they were able to snag them up in real time, too.”

READ MORE → Fairfax County Police Department: Child Abduction Suspect IDed in 13 Minutes

Enhancing officer safety and situational awareness in real time

Real-time technology delivers life-saving situational awareness for officers entering unknown scenarios. That’s the top priority at Pasadena PD, Marshall said. When a vehicle burglary occurred near one of the agency’s security trailers, personnel monitored the situation, saw the suspect steal a pistol, and immediately relayed that information to responding officers.

”Our whole goal first is officer safety,” Marshall said. “We can jump on a call, get eyes on a location before our officers arrive to be able to explain, ‘This guy has a gun. … This guy has an active warrant. He's got a hazard on him.’”

💡 HOW DO RTCC OPERATORS SUPPORT FIELD OFFICERS?

• Leveraging historical data to alert officers of a suspect’s criminal history or previous violent incidents at a specific address
• Monitoring BWC footage to gather evidence, provide direction, or send backup
• Using drones or LPR systems to track a suspect’s vehicle and direct officers in pursuit
• Accessing neighboring agencies’ databases to get the full picture on a suspect

Data integration case studies: Fort Worth and Amarillo police departments

“Integration of data, especially done well, makes everything easier. If you can get all that into a pane of glass, that's money.” —Lt. Shane Chadwick, Amarillo Police Department

RTCC personnel have plenty of information at their fingertips. But if operators have to log into multiple systems, click through several tabs, and manually analyze fractured data, “real-time” operations are impossible. RTCCs need data integration solutions that allow them to easily find, compare, and action all of their historical and live data in seconds.

“When our analysts [did] a full-blown workup, that could be anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours to find all that information, because they would dig through 25 different systems to find it,” Lt. Chadwick said. “Integrating those all in one place turns a 30-minute, maybe two-hour workup into two minutes.”

The Amarillo Regional Crime Center uses a data integration platform that harmonizes its many sources — such as agency CAD and RMS data, surveillance feeds, and DFR (drone as first responder) data — and pulls them into a unified search.

“Integration of data, especially done well, makes everything easier,” Chadwick said. “If you can get all that into a pane of glass, that's money.”

💡 PRO TIP: Data integration increases efficiency for all personnel, not just RTCC staff. Because the Amarillo Regional Crime Center doesn’t run 24/7, Amarillo police leaders invested in Peregrine — a cloud-based, mobile-friendly data integration platform that ensures all officers, detectives, and personnel have access to real-time insights when they need them.

FWPD responds to more than 1 million calls per year in Fort Worth, which spans 365 square miles. Data integration makes it possible to respond effectively, work proactively, and coordinate effective initiatives across the entire jurisdiction, Lavigne said.

“When you are in real time and you’re trying to find information on a potential violent suspect, having something that can take all of your data … and consolidate it is a game changer,” Lavigne said. “An absolute game changer, especially when you consider it puts things together for you as well.”

FWPD relies on Peregrine, a vendor-agnostic, scalable data integration solution. With clean, unified data, FWPD has a solid foundation for its next step: launching a Level 5 RTCC. The regionalized crime center will involve more than 30 agencies and help other cities run 24/7 real-time operations, Lavigne said. Peregrine promotes seamless interagency collaboration by enabling secure, real-time data sharing, giving RTCC personnel unencumbered access to relevant, contextualized insights across jurisdictions.

💡 WHAT’S A LEVEL 5 RTCC? The National Real-Time Crime Center Association maps out five levels of RTCC maturity, with a Level 5 RTCC being the most advanced. A Level 5 RTCC has vast and comprehensive data inputs; a robust, cutting-edge tech stack; and a large, dedicated team staffing the center 24/7. Learn about the different RTCC levels in our guide, How To Build an RTCC: A Guide for Agencies of All Sizes.

Build a scaleable, sustainable RTCC

RTCCs result in shorter response times, increased efficiency, faster investigations, and better resource allocation. Those aren’t just bragging rights — they’re tangible effects that support police operations, promote officer wellness, and create safer communities.

Whether your agency is just starting to invest in real-time operations or you’re standing up a full-fledged RTCC, Peregrine ensures you get the most out of your technology. Peregrine ingests nearly any data source, harmonizing real-time inputs alongside historical and shared databases. As a result, RTCC personnel, detectives, field officers, and command staff all get immediate access to timely, actionable intelligence when they need it most.

“In Peregrine, I've got officers making 40,000 searches a month. And if they're using it that much, it's obviously a critical tool for them,” Chadwick said. "They get it in real time, that data search capability. It's money to integrate that data, and the efficiency to workflow — through the roof.”