May 15, 2019 | From City of New Orleans
City of New Orleans Recognized for Public Safety Innovation by IDC Smart Cities Award
NEW ORLEANS – Yesterday, the City of New Orleans accepted an IDC Smart Cities award for innovation in public safety and emergency management at the 2019 Smart Cities New York conference. The award specifically recognizes technology and innovation at the New Orleans Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) and its role in enhancing public safety.
New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP) Director Collin Arnold and RTCC IT Manager George Barlow Brown accepted the award on behalf of Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the City of New Orleans.
“I am tremendously proud of the New Orleans Real-Time Crime Center, and of our NOHSEP leadership team,” said Mayor Cantrell. “This award from IDC Smart Cities is a recognition of the hard work they are doing to keep our City safe. Our RTCC is serving as a model for communities around the world, promoting public safety in public spaces.”
After reviewing over 16,000 unique public votes and scoring by an international panel of judges, IDC Government Insights announced the winners in 12 categories of the second annual IDC Smart Cities North America Awards (SCNAA). The awards were designed to recognize the progress North American communities have made in executing Smart Cities projects, as well as to provide a forum for sharing best practices to help accelerate Smart City development in the region. New Orleans is one of 14 awardees in 12 different categories and is the only city recognized in the category of public safety:
- Administration Get It Done Expansion – San Diego
- Civic Engagement Smart Living in the Windy City – Chicago
- Digital Equity and Accessibility NYCx Co-Labs in Brownsville – Borough of Brooklyn and Neighborhood of Brownsville, NY
- Economic Development, Tourism, Arts, Libraries Culture, Open Spaces Economic, Mobility and Safety through Data Driven Operations Management – Las Vegas
- Education Chattanooga Smart Community Collaborative (CSCC) – Chattanooga, TN
- Public Safety and Emergency Management New Orleans Real Time Crime Center – New Orleans
- Smart Buildings Houston Smart Buildings – Houston
- Smart Water Beaver Creek CSO Abatement and Flood Mitigation Program: Creating Smart Infrastructure for the Management of Wet Weather Flows – Albany, NY
- Sustainable Infrastructure ShakeAlertLA Mobile Application – City and County of Los Angeles
- Transportation – Connected & Autonomous Vehicles, Public Transit, Ride-Hailing/Ride-Sharing Accelerating Response for Safer Communities – A Novel Spatially-Aware Approach to Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption for First Responders – San Jose, CA
- Transportation Infrastructure (Tie) Open Government Coalition – Waze WARP – Louisville, KY Delta Air Lines Launches First Curb-to-Gate Biometric Terminal in the U.S. – Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal (Terminal F), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta
- Urban Planning and Land Use (Tie) StreetCaster – Boston, MA Emergency Operations Situational Analysis Smart Dashboard – Raleigh, NC
“The technology in the Crime Center truly helps our officers arrive to a scene safely and make better decisions once they’re there,” said NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson. “And footage is also helping us build stronger cases.”
With a network of 400 City-owned public safety cameras and 150 privately integrated cameras, the 24/7 RTCC leverages technology to provide critical information to first responders in the field and to assist with investigations of criminal activity or quality of life concerns. RTCC staff fielded over 3,200 requests for assistance from public safety agencies in 2018 and were able to provide relevant footage for 70 percent of those requests.
“What we’re doing in the crime center is leveraging technology to save officers time,” said Collin Arnold, NOHSEP Director. “That can act as a short-term, artificial force multiplier while we tackle the long-term challenges of recruitment and retention.”
In 2018, RTCC estimates its services saved more than 3,000 manpower hours for the New Orleans Police Department – the time it would have otherwise taken officers to collect, watch, and log video evidence. With that time back, police officers and other public safety personnel can spend more time making stronger cases, being present in their communities, and building trust with residents. To date, the RTCC is on track to more than double those numbers in 2019.
The crime center was created as a part of the 2017 $40 million Citywide Public Safety Improvement Plan and is housed in the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Additional recognition of the RTCC includes a 2018 Crimestoppers Award of Excellence and a forthcoming honor from the Louisiana State Police.
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