Lengthy Island officers are exhibiting off their newly expanded crime evaluation heart – calling it the “crown jewel” of a rising community of cutting-edge regulation enforcement amenities throughout New York.
The revamped Suffolk Crime Evaluation Heart in Yaphank – which acquired almost $1 million from the state to triple its measurement and double employees – will function a mannequin for its sisters in New York’s Crime Evaluation Heart Community, officers stated.
“This is now the crown jewel,” stated Kevin Catalina, deputy commissioner for the Suffolk County Police Division.
“It’s the best and brightest. I’m sure that I’ll have some competition from the other 10, but there are 11 centers that are set up like this one across the state.”
The crime evaluation heart community — which features a facility in New York Metropolis that opened in 2023 — is designed to assist combat crime by pooling collectively regulation enforcement businesses and state-of-the-art applied sciences into regional hubs.
When the Suffolk County heart initially opened in 2019, it was comparatively spartan: a 1,700-square-foot house with solely sufficient seating for 16 folks, officers stated.
The enlargement accomplished final yr swelled the power to five,000 sq. toes and 45 seats for employees pulled from a constellation of businesses, from the Suffolk County Police Division to the NYPD and MTA.
Inside the facility’s partitions, employees can scan a number of police radio frequencies and a community of a whole bunch of surveillance cameras as crimes are unfolding in real-time, footage that may be displayed on a 24-foot-long video wall, officers stated.
The whole statewide community acquired almost 131,000 requests for assist final yr, with 30,000 of these being dealt with by the Suffolk County heart, in response to officers.
The governor’s workplace says the system’s improve coincided with a 7% drop in reported crime on Lengthy Island through the first 9 months of final yr, in comparison with the identical span in 2023.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed spending $13 milion – an almost 300% enhance in funding – in her newest finances plan to create the New York State Crime Evaluation and Joint Particular Operations Command Headquarters, a hub for the 11 facilities within the community.
