Public Help Sought with Virtual Real Time Command Center:

The Tupelo Police Department and the City of Tupelo are working with our community to equip our area’s first responders with technology that enhances our ability to respond to emergencies.

Over the past several months TPD has been sharing with the community our goals for increased use of surveillance cameras, police body cameras, license plate readers, gunshot detectors, multimedia sources and even home/business security camera footage.

The technology that TPD is using to coordinate that data comes from a company called Fusus. This company specializes in unifying data streams from multiple sources.

A central goal of the Fusus system is integrating or registering home/business cameras with officials in the event of an emergency or crime. We are asking Tupelo citizens to consider joining the Fusus network.

There are 2 different levels of integration that homeowners/businesses can participate in.

• Level 1 is simply registering your camera systems existence with the Fusus. There is no connectivity with any outside system and none of your video feed is accessible to emergency services directly. What registering accomplishes is it allows officers to have a digital contact list of possible video evidence in a geographical area if a crime or incident occurs.
• Level 2 primarily allows businesses to purchase a Fusus Core (hardware) that, once installed, integrates their camera feed into the TPD Fusus system. This option has multiple levels of participation with owners of the property having final control over what video feeds are accessible and when.

The first concern most have expressed regarding police use of cameras is that of privacy. Attached is a letter to the editor of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal where I addressed some of those concerns in April 2023. As it relates to Fusus please understand that the citizen has total control over the amount of access that TPD would have regarding their camera footage.

Tupelo businesses interested in sharing their cameras or residents interested in registering their cameras, please visit connecttupelopolice.org.

Tupelo RTCC Privacy Concerns

In a recent Letter to the Editor in the N.E Mississippi Daily Journal several good questions were asked about the Tupelo Police Department’s proposed virtual Real Time Command Center. A brief overview of what the project will look like will be provided. Each question, as it was written, will also be answered.

The City of Tupelo is a regional hub for retail, entertainment, and sporting events. That, combined with a national increase in gun violence and other crimes, has led the City of Tupelo and the Tupelo Police Department to begin establishing a virtual Real Time Command Center (RTCC). The RTCC will utilize new license plate readers, hundreds of existing cameras, new cameras, and new officer body/car cameras. The data from those technologies will be brought together with new software to be viewed live in one place or reviewed later for investigations. The overall objective of this project is to modernize the Tupelo Police Department by using technology to address a critical capability gap that currently inhibits our ability to prevent, protect, respond and recover from large events or critical incidents. The technology would also be a critical investigative aid that would provide us with time sensitive data for solving crimes that have already occurred. Once these technologies are in place, the Tupelo Police Department will be able to provide the citizens with new, modern services that will further prevent and reduce crime and thus, improving quality of life.

“What will this ‘surveillance net’ look like? Will there be flashing blue lights on light poles in the less affluent neighborhoods, or will cameras be disguised so that citizens will be unaware that their movements are being surveilled?”

The surveillance cameras will be clearly marked as such. They will have stationary blue lights and the Tupelo Police Department’s patch affixed on them. All cameras will be placed in public places on public property. Locations will be determined by population density, past criminal activity, and community requests.

License Plate Readers (LPRs) are cameras that take photos of vehicles on the public roadways and record their license plates. These will be placed on city/state right of ways at various locations throughout the city.

“What do studies show from cities that have put such programs in place? Has crime decreased?”

The overall answer is yes, depending on the type of crime. Jackson, MS PD reported an 83% decrease in total crime in 2020 in locations that had the cameras installed. An obvious consequence to that was certain crimes simply moved to other parts of the city where there was no surveillance.

In a 2022 National Institute of Justice study of Detroit, MI’s “Project Green Light” there was no observed decrease in violent crime but property crimes were decreased by 27%.

Starkville PD reported that suspects in their city have complained about having to avoid the cameras and believes that they are absolutely essential in apprehending the proper suspect. Video analytics have kept them from going after the wrong suspect in the past.

In the first two weeks that Lee County 911 monitored our LPR alerts, three stolen vehicles were recovered; one of which was driven by an impaired driver. Those results were from only two LPR locations.

We are under no illusion that this technology will prevent all crime. Our goal is to use tools available to prevent what can be prevented and give our investigators more ability to identify suspects and make arrests on crimes that will unfortunately occur. Victims and family members of victims of violent crime or property crime deserve justice. This technology will aid in gathering evidence for that cause.

“How do we square the idea of Tupelo as the All-America City with the idea that its crime level requires persistent surveillance to maintain order?”

The City of Tupelo is proud of the “All-America City” status and residents and visitors enjoy a high quality of life and a safe community. That being true does not mean we are crime free. We annually have violent crimes including murders and aggravated assaults. Property crimes include felony larceny and burglaries. A particular concern is vehicle burglaries in residential and commercial areas.

Tupelo’s crime statistics are available at mscrimestats.dps.ms.gov/tops While cameras at these locations may or may not have prevented the crimes, they certainly would have been a non-biased witness to provide our investigators with more evidence. They would corroborate a true story and/or provide evidence when we don’t know the truth. Officers who respond to these scenes are regularly given a suspect/vehicle description by victims and witnesses so having LPR’s in place could give police time sensitive information on a suspect’s location.

Certainly, many cities throughout the country have much higher crime rates and overall crime. We feel that good policing and community involvement, enhanced by technology, will help us stay ahead of worse problems.

“How will neighborhood residents join the system? Will participants’ neighbors be aware of a neighbor’s joining? Would neighborhood associations?”

By “join the system” we will assume that the question is related to a camera registry. This is simply a program where residents can let us know, if they want, that they have surveillance cameras at their home. We would, in no way, have direct access to their cameras. The resident would send us a video file of the footage only if they chose. Only the police department would know who had registered their cameras. If there were to be several car burglaries in a neighborhood one night, investigators would be able to quickly identify which houses had surveillance cameras and ask the owner if their cameras captured any evidence.

Businesses, on the other hand, could provide us streaming access to their cameras or part of their cameras. Again, this would be only if the business owner wanted the service and it would require a physical piece of hardware to be installed. The cost of that hardware is typically $200-$500, depending on the number of camera streams.

“How long will the TPD store the video footage gathered?”

Connection and storage hardware on the cameras hold 4-5 days of data unless saved to the cloud. Our current LPR’s hold 30 days of data unless saved to the cloud. All data stored in the cloud is on Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Compliant Cloud Based Management servers and will be kept in accordance with data retention laws. Simply put, only when we “download” the data will it be saved long term. The rest of the data is written over as the device continues to record.

“Who will have access to the surveillance? Only select TPD leaders? Will the surveillance be shared with other police departments, the sheriff’s department or state law enforcement?”

Only sworn law enforcement officers on a need to know basis and for official use only will have view/search capabilities of the cameras (i.e. investigators). The data can be shared with other law enforcement agencies (local, county, state and federal) after an official, documented request or with a legally approved MOU. Patrol officers will generally only receive alerts from the LPRs and not have access to the surveillance cameras.

“What training will ‘users’ of the data be required to complete?”

Prior to use, all officers will have to be trained on each platform. Training will consist of policy review, videos, and hands on instruction. Emphasis will be on “Official Use Only”.

“What safeguards will be in place to prevent misuse, either institutional or individual?”

Each user will have a unique log on ID. Each user will have their own permissions/capabilities based on their assignment. All use and searches are logged to create an audit trail for review. Random audits of searches will be implemented in accordance with industry best practices. Officers who violate policy and/or law in this regard will be subject to disciplinary actions including termination and criminal charges.

“Could not the police chief or a knowledgeable representative speak to each of Tupelo’s neighborhood associations as well as present a public forum on the proposal?”

Absolutely. We have been and will continue to be as transparent as possible with the community. This project is no exception.

Our mission statement is “To protect all people within the boundaries of the City of Tupelo and to uphold the Constitutions of the State of Mississippi and of the United States of America.” We will do this with professionalism and impartiality and will work with the community to carry out that mission. We encourage questions about this project or any other aspect of the Tupelo Police Department.