TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT — The Tuscaloosa Police Department is using video surveillance technology to fight crime.
TPD has a new cyber intelligence unit and they are hoping will make a difference. Darren Barnes is the director of the Cyber Intelligence Unit. The team was created in February to make law enforcement more efficient by using technology to fight crime.
“In the long run, I hope we reduce the crime in Tuscaloosa that is the goal to make the community safer,” Barnes said. “There is a lot of things that go on within the unit and we are constantly monitoring the dispatch and traffic around the city. If we hear about an incident we can identify assets we have near that incident and leverage that technology against it.”
The facility is in an undisclosed location, the cyber team has a number of television monitors where they can keep an eye and watch out for criminal activity from more than fifty cameras citywide.
University of Alabama student Angela Licata supports police using the technology.
“It makes me feel a lot safer and personally my car has been broken into four times since I started going to the university,” Licata said. “So having cameras and officers knowing what’s going on close to campus makes me feel lots safer.”
Darren Barnes tells CBS 42 his team is not violating any privacy laws by using video cameras. He says city leaders recognized Tuscaloosa has a crime problem and wanted to use the most up to date technology to keep citizens safe.
