TEN MINUTES AND CONTINUOUSLY
ON OUR TRAFFIC PAGE AND SOCIAL
MEDIA ACCOUNTS.
ONLY ON CBS 42, INSIDE
BIRMINGHAM CHIEF PATRICK
SMITH'S PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN TO
ONLY ON CBS 42, INSIDE
BIRMINGHAM CHIEF PATRICK
SMITH'S PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN TO
MAKE THE CITY SAFER. IN OUR
EXCLUSIVE BACKSEAT
CONVERSATION, CHIEF SMITH JOIN
US ON THE STREETS AND TAKES US
BEHIND THE WALLS OF HIS REAL
TIME CRIME CENTER. A STATE OF
ART TECHNOLOGY HUB TO REDUCE
RESPONSE TIME TO CRIME AND
EVEN STOP IT, BY PREDICTING
CRIME BEFORE IT HAPPENS.
BIRMINGHAM POLICE CHIEF
PATRICK SMITH MET US AT POLICE
HEADQUARTERS ON FIRST AVENUE
NORTH. TO CAPTURE OUR
EXCLUSIVE BACKSEAT
CONVERSATION, WE POSITIONED
FOUR DIFFERENT CAMERAS INSIDE
OUR CBS 42 NEWS VEHICLE. WE
AIMED ONE CAMERA ON THE
STREETS. Chief Patrick Smith
If we really want to see
change in the community,
everyone has to have a stake
in what goes on. CHANGE IS
BEING DEMANDED IN A CITY
DEALING WITH A SOARING CRIME
PROBLEM, DRIVEN BY GUNS AND
DRUGS. Chief Smith One of our
recent homicides we conducted
a search warrant on one of the
individuals vehicles, so what
did we recover? Over a hundred
thousand dollars in cash and
two kilos of cocaine. THAT'S
LED TO NUMEROUS CRIME SCENES
IN NEIGHBORHOODS ACROSS THE
CITY AND AND EFFORTS TO ERASE
THESE IMAGES BY SETTING UP
NEIGHBORHOOD CHECKPOINTS. A
POLICY CHIEF SMITH DEFENDED AS
WE WALKED THE STREETS OF
ENSLEY. Chief. Just this year
on checkpoints alone, we've
taken about 350 guns off the
streets. ART. THIS YEAR ALONE?
Chief. This year alone. From
January to now HE'S TRYING TO
ATTACK A HOMICIDE RATE THAT
HAS CLIMBED TO 21 IN THE FIRST
THREE MONTHS OF THE YEAR.
THAT'S SLIGHTLY BELOW THE 25
MURDERS BIRMINGHAM RECORDED
DURING THE SAME PERIOD IN
2018. Chief. Previously we had
7 homicide investigators
working homicides in the city
and with about 100 homicides
that's work overload. Now we
have 51. Nat sound AND HE HAS
18 NEW RECRUITS BOOSTING
POLICE MANPOWER ON THE
STREETS. INSIDE BIRMINGHAM
POLICE HEADQUARTERS, ON THE
FOURTH FLOOR, CHIEF SMITH
SHOWED ME WHERE HE'S MOVING
THE DEPARTMENT FROM THE DARK
AGES OF TECHNOLOGY, TO NEW
STATE OF THE ART SMARTER
POLICING. Chief. As you can
see we are stripping
everything down. We are taking
everything out. There used to
be cages here. We've taken all
that down and all of this
stuff is being separated and
taken out and we are going to
commit this space to a real
time crime center. IT'S A
HIGTECH CENTRAL HUB, LIKE
THIS ONE IN NEW ORLEANS
CONSTRUCTED WITH LIVE VIDEO
FEEDS FROM SURVEILLANCE
CAMERAS ACROSS THE CITY. THESE
REAL TIME CRIME CENTERS ARE
LINKED TO OTHER POLICE
are, we'll leverage the GPS in
our police vehicles so we know
where our police cars are and
who's the closest to whatever
crime is occurring. ART. YOU
HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PEOPLE
ARE GOING TO BE IN THIS ROOM?
WHEN THIS REAL TIME CRIME
CENTER IS UP AND OPERATING
4:25:33 Chief. Uhhh rough
estimate probably about 20
4:25:37 20 to 25 people ART.
SO WHAT'S THE TIMETABLE FOR
THIS REAL TIME CRIME CENTER?
Chief. You know, right now
it's kind of hard to tell.
Chief. My goal is to make sure
we have it up by next year, so
we have good working systems
in place and everything is
working together before the
SMITH PLANS TO HAVE NEW
SOFTWARE KNOWN AS PREDPO UP
AND RUNNING TO HELP PREVENT
CRIME BEFORE IT HAPPENS.
CHIEF. The Predpo is more
about predicative policing,
how we patrol, getting our
patrol officers into areas
that over a five year period
have shown a high
predictability of crime
4:26:53 and it lets us know if
we have to be in certain areas
in certain times of day and
PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN. TO GET IT,
HE'S HELD NUMEROUS STRATEGIC
MEETINGS WITH VARIOUS
COMMUNITY GROUPS, YOUTH
LEADERS AND EVEN ACTIVISTS WHO
ARE CRITICAL OF THE POLICE
DEPARTMENT. SMITH SAYS HIS
YEARS EXPERIENCE WORKING THE
STREETS OF LOS ANGELES TAUGHT
HIM HE'S NEED BOTH, BETTER
TECHNOLOGY AND BETTER
COMMUNITY POLICING TO MAKE
BIRMINGHAM SAFER.
TO SEE OUR BACKSEAT
CONVERSATION WITH CHIEF SMITH
AND OUR EXCLUSIVE STORY OF HIS
VISIT WITH POLICE RECRUITS
BEFORE THEY GRADUATED FROM THE
ACADEMY ON FRIDAY, HEAD OVER
TO OUR CBS 42 NEWS APP AND
CBS4DO COM. WE'LL POST