City of Jackson launches Real-Time Command Center

Posted: Nov 19, 2020 / 11:26 PM CST

Updated: Apr 26, 2021 / 09:52 AM CDT

JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The City of Jackson has six times more surveillance footage over it after the Jackson Police Department launched its Real Time Command Center to detect crime and coordinate during emergencies. The center is expected to make up for a shortage of officers on the ground.

From this one command center, more than 600 eyes are monitoring the streets of Jackson revolutionizing how JPD virtually policies the city. Soon, people and businesses can get in on the action.

“Welcome to the Jackson Real Time Command Center,” Public Information Officer Sam Brown announced to a cheering crowd.

Operated by four officers and one supervisor, live videos from all over the city can be tracked 24/7 to detect crime and coordinate immediate responses.

“It will also help with illegal dumping, it will help around our parks, it will help around our business, our hospitals, our schools, our places of worship,” Jackson Police Chief James Davis said.

The software system is powered through FUSUS One, connecting police with all the live security footage in one big cloud.

“This is a real-time alerting system, this is for rapid response,” FUSUS ONE CEO Chris Lindenau explained. “So whether you’re looking at a camera on the outside of a building or a license plate camera, or a panic alert it is a real-time alerting system.”

Eventually, people and businesses can join in by voluntarily registering their cameras on the City of Jackson’s website into the command center system. Then, police can easily look at video evidence your device captures without coming to you.

“That is only through a voluntary participation into the system,” Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba stated. “We cannot just go into your cameras at your home or in your business.”

Soon, there will also be a phone number with the system you can send cell phone video and pictures, too, if you capture illegal activity wherever you are in the city.

In the first phase when 90 street cameras were placed across south Jackson, Chief Davis reported a 51% drop in crime. They expect this to continue the trend but always ask the community to do their part.