AURORA | Aurora police say they have entered a new phase in technology-driven policing, combining years of cameras, license-plate readers and data tools with a full real-time operations center that now includes drones deployed directly to 911 calls.
“The important thing about our real-time centers is that they’re data-driven,” Deputy Police Chief Phil Rathbun said. “So everything from our deployments of the technology to our deployments of our personnel and the timeliness is about crime data and how we can reduce victimization.”
The department, which quietly piloted the system over the past year, said the integration of all its surveillance tools with human analysts working live has already transformed investigations, sped up arrests and contributed to drops in crime.
The department already had many of the tools implemented in the Real Time Center. They include nearly 100 flock cameras, a drone, and multiple license plate readers. That, combined with 911 calls, alerts, crime reports, and incident data have created a space where analysts can view and work on crime as it unfolds.
Traditionally, Aurora Police’s camera and plate-reader network served as a retrospective investigative tool, Rathbun said. Officers pulled footage after a crime occurred. Now, real-time technicians monitor incoming 911 calls and immediately access nearby feeds, plate-reading and mapping tools, while deploying a police drone that frequently arrives before officers. The department plans to add five more drones to support future police work.
“So that means, rather than an investigation after the fact, it means a potential, successful apprehension right then and there, gathering of critical evidence through camera feeds,” Rathbun said.
Drone launches typically take under 90 seconds, he said, and the video from the drones feed directly into patrol cars en route to the scene. The drone can also reach speeds up to 47 miles per hour. At that rate, a drone could fly from the northern border of Aurora to the southern border of the city in about 6 minutes, a fraction of what it would take in a squad car.
“It means smarter responses,” Rathbun said. “They know what resources they need, the direction they need to come from, exactly who they’re looking for, including pictures and live video.”
Many police departments, including Aurora, have been moving toward drones as part of their first-responder programs, which critics fear can be an invasion of privacy. In contrast, Rathbun and other proponents say that the systems are used reactively, not as snooping search tools.
“It would be impossible for someone to be tasked with monitoring every single area where a camera exists,” Kimberly Przeszlowski, an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at Quinnipiac University, said. “So usually it’s used for post-incident cases, or if there is a call that comes in and that’s considered a priority call, then all eyes would be in the sky, if you will.”
Currently, there are 242 Real Time Crime Centers throughout the nation, according to the Atlas of Surveillance, a database built through a joint effort between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the University of Nevada to track police surveillance technology. Denver, Lakewood, and Colorado Springs are among Colorado’s cities with Real Time Crime Centers.
“A lot of information nowadays has to be publicly accessible, especially if you do have a drone as a first responder program,” Przeszlowski said.
States like Alaska, California, and Hawaii require warrants for certain aerial surveillance due to constitutional protections against searches and seizures. States like California, Minnesota and Illinois have laws that require police departments to be transparent about flight logs, including rules that require listing how many times drones are deployed, along with dates, times and the reasons drones are being deployed.
APD was operating a single drone from the police headquarters rooftop, with an officer stationed outside to manually swap batteries. The department plans to expand to six drone sites across the city and eventually move to automated docking stations where drones land, charge and self-deploy.
APD officers trained in drone operations for other Aurora police units, including SWAT, also support and plan to use the new system.
Even before the official launch, the real-time center has been heavily used. Over the past year, APD logged more than 5,000 virtual responses, instances in which analysts monitored or supported calls via cameras, data searches or drone deployments.
“It’s not a number,” Rathbun said. “It’s a difference in people’s lives. We have more than 3,000 people this year who are not victims of crime compared to last year. Every one of those numbers represents a person.”
The Axon Fusus, a program that connects the different aspects of a Real Time Information Center, which the department is using to connect the different camera feeds, can also connect to other security cameras throughout the city, if permission is granted through a memorandum of understanding, according to Przeszlowski.
She said private entities can choose to integrate their cameras with the police department, allowing the police to access them during incidents in the area. Schools have been the most likely to integrate with police departments, Przeszlowski said. These partnerships can help during incidents like active shooter situations.
Rathbun said the department is also beginning to reach out to private businesses to join Axon’s “Fusus Connect” network.
“We are actively looking for more partners,” Rathbun said. “We’re looking primarily at exterior cameras so we can help keep them safe and respond more quickly to crime.”
To illustrate an incident where the technology really benefited, Rathbun talked about a recent fatal hit-and-run at East Sixth Avenue and Laredo Street.
“There were no witnesses,” Rathbun said. “Meaning that our officers arrived there and had nothing to go off of.”
He said his techs leveraged the technology by reviewing cameras in the area and identifying a possible suspect vehicle based on a lack of damage in one location and damage in another. Using camera feeds and license-plate data, real-time analysts tracked the vehicle and alerted patrol units, who found the driver and made an arrest, all within five hours.
“That’s something that would have taken detectives weeks at best,” the official said. “And if the technology didn’t exist, maybe never. So the combination of the technology that made that possible, as well as the people making it happen in real time, that’s what makes the difference.”
Rathbun said drones have already helped them avoid risky vehicle pursuits by surreptitiously following stolen cars from above and coordinating tactical arrests when the vehicle stops. Przeszlowski said there is additional technology that helps with GPS tracking and police pursuits, which Rathbun said the department might consider using in the future.
Przeszlowski mentioned a piece of technology some agencies use called Star Chase, which launches a GPS target onto a vehicle so it can be monitored.
“So the pursuit can kind of halt, and then that information can connect back to the Real Time Information Center,” she said.
Rathbun said the technology may eventually help prevent officer-involved shootings.
“Maybe drones as first responders can help prevent OIS incidents,” Rathbun said. “We can see, for example, that a suspect is hiding here or fleeing there. We can communicate that in real time.”
Drones are also being used to “clear” lower-priority calls, such as suspicious-person reports, so officers are not sent unnecessarily.
“We now have the ability to do that from 400 feet in the air,” Rathbun said. “A drone operator can say, ‘This person is not doing anything illegal,’ and we don’t need to send additional resources.”
Although the police department plans to use the Real Time Information Center for reactive policing, Rathbun said it was helpful for surveilling crime hot spots when time permits.
“It’s an ever-changing world that is under constant review,” Rathbun said. “We emphasize hot-spot policing, and this helps us look at those locations weekly.”
APD leaders described the system as a “force multiplier,” allowing detectives to focus on more complex cases while the real-time center handles early evidence collection and tracking.
“This is the future,” Rathbun said. “Our dedication to leveraging technology as a public safety component to reduce risk where we can, and to, you know, impact safety. You’re seeing it.”
“In real time,” added Agent Matthew Wells-Longshore.
We have so many fast and reckless drivers that cause fatal accidents, but sure, just sit there and play with your toys
Cool. Maybe they can stop killing black men in broad daylight.
Yes, let’s be thankful that police officers will now have the tools needed to safely apprehend fleeing killers, thieves, and drunk drivers.
Yeah, Melissa, we know how much your side loves high crime urban cesspits.
The use of drones is long overdue. A drone probably would have saved the life of the teenager who recently sought suicide by cop. The technology is great. Technology usually also causes the police to be less effective in the area of community policing for a number of reasons. Not responding to calls of “minor crimes” means that the officers lose touch with the community and have little commitment. Having people report online will reduce reported crime because people understand that it is not worth the effort. Everything has always been “data driven”. The problem is getting caring officers there and developing relationships and personal knowledge about the community. Just having a crime analyst tell officers that there is a certain type of crime happening in a certain area is not the same. With a shortage of officers, officers concentrate on responding to the serious crimes that will be part of the drone program. The real answer to crime in your neighborhood is to have officers with community communication, commitment, and flexibility to deal with just your community problem. But, the drones will definitely help make the City safer.
How hackable are these cameras? I have concerns about this because these AI models have known security flaws. What steps have been taken?