The Minority Report: Real Time Crime Centers and the Future of Crime Fighting
By Lorraine Cochran-Johnson
In the science fiction movie The Minority Report, a Washington D.C. police department utilizes AI technology stop crime before it happens. That technology, although not quite as futuristic, is coming to DeKalb County – soon.
Urban planners and public safety officials agree that an individual’s perception of security is based on a combination of environmental cues. Personal experiences, sector appearance, visible security, and media influence. When we see images of blighted neighborhoods, dilapidated buildings, and police cars cruising dark streets, we are likely to assume – rightly or wrongly – that danger is looming, and incidences of crime are more prevalent in those areas. We’ll avoid driving through the surrounding neighborhoods, shopping in nearby business districts and visiting entertainment and cultural venues because we believe those environments are unsafe and put us at risk.
In DeKalb County and the Atlanta metropolitan area, crime is more than a notion or a matter of perception; it is a stark, troubling and persistent reality. It is a pressing issue for any member of our beloved communities from Dunwoody to Decatur, and Stonecrest to Stone Mountain, and every single neighborhood in our region.
Across DeKalb and the United States, there was a sharp increase in crime in 2020. However, locally, there has been a reduction in non-violent and property crime across the region – and today – we are seeing a decline in violent crime. As of June 2025, we have seen a 34 percent year-over-year decrease in homicides, showing positive movement in public safety efforts.
However, crime reports don’t reflect the significant progress being made to avert crime and accurately connect crime statistics with the public’s perception of safety. While crime often takes center stage in media reports, but rarely are we as informed about the efforts to reduce crime and protect the public.
In Dekalb County, we are making significant inroads in expanding our efforts to fight crime through a widening range of resources and technologies for more efficient and effective policing. A $18.9 million investment by my administration in a new initiative called Digital Shield, is part of 6-year strategy to deter crime and lower the incidences of both violent and non-violent crime through a combination of state-of the art technology and real-life applications. The dynamic new measure will improve law enforcement capacities for crime prevention and crime reduction. The countywide program will use Flock Safety cameras, drones, and other technology tools to enhance public safety and aid law enforcement in preventing and solving crimes.
Real-Time Crime Centers are tried and proven models for law enforcement departments and agencies around the country. These comprehensive command centers are essential to reducing crime in more than 150 police departments nationwide.
New York City Police Department officials, the first to institute RTCC, state that the center has played a key role in the city’s overall decline in felonies and misdemeanors over the past two decades. A recent Miami Police Department real-time crime center evaluation found a 66% percent higher likelihood of clearing cases of violent crime incidents compared with cases not supported by the center. In Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Foundation that crime had been reduced by 20 to 50% percent in specific areas where cameras supported by the RTCC were placed.
In our county, these centralized hubs where law enforcement agencies employ and utilize live data from various sources, including CCTV, body-worn cameras, and gunshot detection systems are currently located in the cities of Brookhaven and Dunwoody. In both municipalities RTCCs are helping to improve incident response, support investigations, and enhance public safety. The addition of an RTCC and the accompanying technology at the DeKalb Police Headquarters will allow law enforcement officers to respond to crime events more efficiently and more deliberately, with improved operational intelligence, and with proactive emphasis on officer, citizen, and community safety.
I wholeheartedly acknowledge that crime in DeKalb County is one of our most pressing issues and solving the issue to avert threats to public safety is a major priority. That’s why my administration has taken a conglomerate approach committed to developing an overarching program to improve officer recruitment, training, retention, and compensation.
Since January 7 of this year, my staff and I, along with DeKalb County leadership have been conducting interviews and assessments related to the DeKalb Police Department’s recruitment and retention policies and implementing best practices to reduce crime in our county.
The immediate focus of our efforts has been to identify effective strategies for enhancing recruitment, reducing resignations and to evaluate existing policies for retention. The overarching aim is to create improvements in recruitment outcomes, increase retention rates, boost overall officer morale, and enhanced wrap-around support services for more attractive and improved living standards for public safety personnel.
Our collective strategies to bring about a more dramatic decline in crime and improve coordinated efforts to increase safety and reduce fear are working. We will continue to dig deep to root out impediments to public safety and make DeKalb a good and secure environment for all who live, work and shop here.
We intend to win
