Smiley Under Pressure, Unveils “Real-Time Crime Center” Initiated by Elorza

Smiley Under Pressure, Unveils “Real-Time Crime Center” Initiated by Elorza

 

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is under pressure both locally and nationally for crime in the city. Now, after years of delay, he is finally poised to launch a dedicated "real-time crime center "— an initiative that began under then-Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza.

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The new initiative integrates all the major technologies currently used by the Providence Police.

The funding for the “real-time crime center” facility comes from a $1 million federal grant submitted by the Elorza administration and then-Police Chief Hugh Clements. 

It is unclear why the Smiley administration has taken so long to launch the integrated system.

 

 

About Center

According to the city, the system integrates a variety of data sources. Those technologies include security cameras on government buildings and private businesses that have signed up to participate. The Department has been working to get more private business cameras feeding into the system.

“Camera sharing allows the Providence Police Department access to your camera feed in case of an emergency near your location. All your cameras or some of them. You set your preferences. Sharing your feed can improve response time and help keep you safer by providing advanced details of the situation. To share your cameras, all you need is a small Axon FususCORE device that plugs into your camera system. Once it’s set up, it enables camera sharing based on your settings without impacting your network,” writes the City of Providence on its website.

In addition, the Real-Time Crime Center will use Flock camera license plate readers.  In July of 2022, Elorza, Commissioner of Public Safety Steven Paré and Clements held a press conference updating the public regarding the deployment of Flock Safety License Plate Readers (LPRs). 

The ACLU blasted the use of the license plate reader system. “The interest of the Providence Police Department in creating a mini-surveillance state in the city has never been clearer. Anybody interested in preserving privacy should be truly concerned as the department plans to triple the number of cameras spying on motorists in the city, not only without allowing sufficient time to gather data from the pilot program it is currently engaged in, but especially as a resolution signed by a majority of City Council members opposed to this surveillance languishes in committee,” said the ACLU in 2022 in a statement.

The real-time crime center will also integrate home security cameras, like Ring. Under the Elorza administration, residents who owned home security videos were asked to sign up and make their videos available to police. That video data collection program has continued into the Smiley administration. And, 991 data is tracked and integrated.

The backbone of the technology is provided by the Axon company, which is best known for police body camera video systems.

All of this video will be hosted on Axon’s Evidence.com cloud platform.

In the past five years, the City of Providence has paid Axon more than $6.8 million; those payments included payments for the body camera system. Another vendor, Constant Technologies, has also worked on the real-time crime center, according to Smiley's office.

Smiley said in a release on Sunday, “By equipping our officers with real-time tools and intelligence, we are modernizing our approach to policing and ensuring faster, more coordinated responses that keep our communities safer."

Smiley claims the video and data will only be used for crime investigation, but there are growing concerns by privacy advocates that the information will be used for surveillance of protestors or the public.

 

“All Your Digital Evidence in a Single, Secure Place.”

Axon Evidence’s tagline is “All your digital evidence in a single, secure place.”

If Axon did not have enough of a corner of the market, in 2024, Axon purchased Fusus, a leading vendor of crime center technology.

At the time of the deal, Axon hyped the acquisition.

“Throughout our long-standing partnership and investment with Fusus, we’ve witnessed the impact of collaboration in achieving remarkable results for law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve,” said Ran Mokady, Axon’s Senior Vice President of Real-Time Operations. “The Fusus team’s exceptional prowess will help us to unlock impactful real-time operations capabilities for public safety and businesses worldwide. This acquisition is a significant milestone in our mission to protect life as it further enables law enforcement and emergency teams to better deter and respond to escalating situations.”

Now, tech and data will be in one place in the Providence Police Department.

It begs the question, will it make any difference?

This story was first published 8/17/25 4:39 PM