AI to the Rescue: How Smart Cameras Are Helping Police Solve Crimes Faster

Summary:

• Huber Heights police successfully used AI-powered cameras to quickly identify and arrest suspects involved in a garbage can explosion, drastically reducing investigation time from weeks to days.
• LVT cameras employ artificial intelligence to detect suspicious behaviors and allow for rapid forensic searches using keywords like "fireworks" or "evasive behavior."
• This technology demonstrates significant benefits for law enforcement, including increased efficiency, resource savings, and enabling more proactive policing.

For better or for worse, technology is a part of everyday life. It’s everywhere you look, and most times, it serves to make life easier, safer, and more efficient. Take GPS for example—whenever I’m going to a new place, I rely heavily on the GPS built into my phone to get there. I’m always asking myself, “how did people find anything before Google or Apple Maps?” It makes life much simpler.

On the other hand, my doorbell camera is more of a nuisance than anything. It functions some of the time, but in reality, we spend more time removing it from the mount and plugging it in to charge it than actually using it to monitor activity. Not all technology is created equal.

But in the case of the Huber Heights Police Department in Southwest Ohio—technology was on their side. When they received panicked reports of a garbage can explosion during their town’s Fourth of July festivities, they began investigating immediately. The resolution came because they were able to quickly gather evidence from LiveView Technologies (LVT) AI-powered security cameras and identify the suspects of the crime.

The Incident and the Challenge

On June 28th, reports of an explosion in a trashcan were called in at the Star Spangled Celebration in Huber Heights, Ohio. Two juveniles were injured in the explosion and taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment of minor injuries. The reports and commotion caused a panic, even going so far as to spur rumors of an active shooter on the premises. Residents were asked to evacuate the park and the commotion caused a pleasant holiday celebration to turn into one filled with fear and uncertainty.

In cases like these, police often rely on witness accounts of the events and extensive detective work, which can be incredibly time-consuming and often unsuccessful. Not having reliable data can lead eyewitnesses to act on their biases and make potential false accusations. Cases can take weeks to months to resolve, and in a case like this, where the public is left uneasy and panicked, there’s a sense of urgency to give answers.

The AI Camera Solution

In their quest to find who was responsible for the explosion, the Huber Heights police used new AI security cameras from LiveView Technologies.

How the Cameras Work

LVT cameras are designed to detect suspicious activity and behaviors that are not safe. With AI-powered detections, certain behaviors are coded and flagged as unusual, and are clocked by the security camera systems. In some cases, these behaviors trigger deterrence features like lights, strobes, speaker talk down announcements, and more. This advanced artificial intelligence also helps to reduce false alarms with AI security cameras, ensuring that alerts are truly relevant.

The forensic search feature is also powered by AI, and it helps you find footage of specific events, people, or objects. Instead of manually scrubbing through hours of footage, you’re able to use keywords like “fireworks,” “crowd,” or “evasive behavior” to filter through footage and find what you’re looking for.

Steve Lindsey, Chief Information and Technology Officer at LVT, says of these advanced AI surveillance cameras, “We have to use more advanced AI where we’re actually looking for behaviors. . . Trying to look for behaviors that are not safe, and alerting officials when it detects those behaviors.”

How It Helps Police in Investigations

These AI features allowed police officers to:

• Quickly pinpoint the exact moment of the explosion
• Identify when a device was placed in the can
• Reveal the two suspects involved in the incident

Impact and Benefits of AI-Powered Security Cameras

Here are a few ways LVT’s AI-powered security cameras benefitted the investigation the Huber Height PD led.

Increased the Speed of the Investigation

Rather than spending weeks or months investigating the incident, the police were able to understand the incident, gather evidence, identify suspects and objects, and arrest the suspects.

“Would basically just walk back to the time of the incident, find the people involved, and then doing recognition analysis to determine where everyone was involved,” says Lt. Brian Carr of Huber Heights PD. “It would have made the work harder for the detectives because they would have had to start trying to find named people that were at the park and then really just talking to them. So you’re taking a 48-hour investigation and then expanding that out forever, how long it could take.” 

What could have been a drawn-out investigation was cleared up in a matter of days thanks to these sophisticated security camera systems.

Saves Resources

Rather than putting a detective on this investigation that could be prolonged, AI-powered security cameras are freeing up valuable human resources that could be used on other critical tasks.

Proactive Policing

With the power of AI surveillance camera technology and mobile security, policing efforts can become much more proactive than passive. Don’t wait for incidents and crimes to happen—instead, implement a mobile surveillance unit with automated deterrence features to identify suspicious behaviors early and deter unwanted activity.

Looking Ahead

The Huber Heights Police Division plans to deploy more LVT mobile surveillance units in other areas. They’ve seen success thus far and in a time when police departments are understaffed, the LVT Unit becomes a vital force multiplier.

Beyond just solving crimes, LVT AI security cameras can deter criminal activity just by their presence alone. They can also help with emergency response efforts by providing real-time information to first responders during incidents like accidents, active shooters, or natural disasters. Insights gained from AI camera systems can help law enforcement identify crime hotspots, patterns, and trends, allowing for a more strategic deployment of resources.

A Safer Future Begins Now

The Huber Heights incident stands as a real-world example of the transformative power of AI-powered cameras in modern policing. This case shows how these tools are not just theoretical concepts but are actively delivering results, speeding up investigations, and identifying suspects. In the future, the potential for artificial intelligence to create safer communities and assist law enforcement is huge. However, as we delve into these innovations, it's important to maintain open dialogue, establish ethical frameworks, and ensure mindful implementation to balance the benefits of AI in policing with the protection of individual rights and privacy.

To see more on LVT’s AI-powered security cameras, go to https://www.lvt.com/product/agentic-ai.