January 2025 Recap.
Athens-Clarke County has seen the arrival of many new and old transportation projects, but a recent item on the agenda differentiates itself among efforts to resurface roads and install new sidewalks: a donation acceptance from QuikTrip Corporation for up to $500,000 towards a Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC).
RTCCs serve as a hub for surveillance cameras, and property owners can collaborate with ACC Police to allow their cameras to be accessible via the RTCC. ACC police proposed an RTCC after the murder of Laken Riley in February 2024. In September 2024, the RTCC was approved for funding.
These surveillance centers are a new phenomenon. Used by less than 1% of police agencies nationwide, RTCCs boast a reduction in crime and speedier conclusions to criminal investigations. For example, a Miami RTCC produced case clearance odds which were improved by 66%, although clearance times were not different. The implications are obvious: communities with a robust RTCC will be safer.
But what about the other implications? There is cause for concern that police surveillance can be opaque and biased. Surveillance technologies can utilize artificial intelligence, which is trained on data produced ultimately by humans, meaning that AI crime detection and prediction will be as biased as a human. Minority communities could be targeted disproportionately. Furthermore, AI algorithms are often proprietary, so citizens would have no transparency regarding decision-making processes.
Athens-Clarke County deserves a safer community but also deserves a level of community control over the incoming RTCC. Citizens should be empowered to understand how the RTCC’s technology solves crime, how their private data is stored, and how bias will be reduced as much as possible.Other communities have petitioned their local government to institute Communtiy Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) laws. As ACC police begin buying the necessary technology for an Athens RTCC, Athens residents should consider the protections CCOPS laws could afford them, ensuring that the RTCC not only keeps Athens secure, but does so ethically.
