KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville's new police headquarters in North Knoxville will include a high-tech vantage point from which to keep track of active crime and downtown activity.
It's known as a "Real Time Crime Center," and the Knoxville City Council already has approved the concept, construction and design funding, set for the sixth floor of Knoxville Police Department's new building on the old St. Mary's Hospital campus.
The center in part would include a live, wireless camera system taking feeds from security cameras posted downtown. The estimated total cost of the center -- including furniture, equipment and new crime analyst positions -- is about $1.5 million, records state.
On Tuesday, City Council was set to approve a contract to hire the architectural firm McCarty Holsaple McCarty to design the center. Design contract terms are for up to $89,000.
MHM already is overseeing the overall project design.
Such crime centers aren't new. Larger police departments have used them for years. The St. Louis center, for example, operates 24 hours a day and focuses on "monitoring, deterring and evaluating criminal activity in real-time through the use of surveillance cameras, fixed and mobile license plate recognition (LPR) systems, crime analysis and other law enforcement software and databases," according to the metro department.
Stadiums also use such centers to keep track of what's happening inside and outside.
KPD's would exist within the shell of an existing building on the old hospital campus at 900 East Oak Hill Ave. It would take up about 3,000 square feet.
Design is expected to take three to six months, documents show.
In justifying the center, staff argues it will improve community safety by more effectively responding to emergency and non-emergency incidents thanks to "information and technology."
The space would include a large open room or viewing area of about 1,600 square feet that would include a video wall and monitors.
The Real Time Crime Center envisions as part of its operations a wireless camera network of 15 cameras feeding images. The estimated system cost is $60,600, records show.
"The camera system will cover the downtown area to include; Market Square Mall, Old City and the shelter areas in the 300 and 400 block of W. Broadway," records state.
