07-05-2025
How civilians are changing the way police work is done
Editor's Note: This is part two in a four part series. The other parts can be found at the bottom of this article.
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Inside the basement of the Columbus Police Department on 10th street, a unique partnership between officers and civilian analysts has formed.
Civilians sift through hours of video footage to send updates to officers in the field to help move cases along inside the Real Time Crime Center.
The crime center is room filled wall to wall with large monitors displaying cameras police have access to from across the city.
Two analysts work at their desks inside the Real Time Crime Center (Chuck Williams/WRBL).
Staffing the center with veteran police officers and investigators is a large ask, given the months it takes it get an officer trained.
The answer to staffing lies in recruiting civilian analysts.
At the end of a hallway in the basement of the Public Safety Building on 10th Street in Columbus, Ga. sits the logo of the Columbus Police Department's Real Time Crime Center (Nick Bentley/WRBL).
According to Columbus Police Chief Stoney Mathis these analysts bring with them an expertise that offsets their lack of traditional law enforcement training.
'The civilians bring a different perspective because they don't know anything about the law enforcement side of it, but they know technology and we can hire some of these and they get criticized,' Mathis said. 'Some of the millennials, they come in there way more proficient in this technology than a lot of our seasoned police officers.'
These civilian analysts are not alone in the center. Sworn officers work with the analyst to discover the investigative details the analyst may have overlooked.
The rubbing of shoulders and cooperation helps form the culture of the Crime Center.
The partnership is at the forefront of a fresh way to combine old school crime fighting techniques with 21st century technology.
Sgt. Max Todd (Left) and three civilian analyst (right) work at their desks inside the Real Time Crime Center (Nick Bentley/WRBL).
Mathis says the civilian analyst position offers a new way for people to enter the field of a law enforcement and protect their communities.
'These young millenials, although they are really, really intelligent, they don't wanna put their hands on somebody to arrest them.'
Beyond the Beat continues in these articles:
Part 1: Columbus Real Time Crime Center at forefront of dramatic change in policing
Part 3: Real Time Crime Center offers Columbus Police information that leads to arrests
Part 4: Beyond the Beat: How the Real Time Crime Center is shaping the future of policing
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