Page 31 - January 2018

O cers George Rodriguez (left) and Brigid Menoni in the 11th District Strategic Decision Support Center.
Spot On
Using the ShotSpotter technology and accompanying innovative systems, Strategic Decision Support Centers are becoming the epicenters of helping dis- tricts increase police presence, reduce violence and maximize safety for all officers
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
n PHOTOS BY JAMES PINTO
Screens rolling this fast and furious usually run on YouTube or in a video arcade. But 11th District Officers Brigid Menoni and Jorge Rodriguez are binge-watching multiple monitors here with a heightened sense of reducing crime and deterring violence.
From their vantage point, they can eyeball a suspect who 30 seconds ago shot a juvenile female in the leg on her back porch. They can direct beat cars to spend an extra 15 minutes boxing in a sector due to the high probability that a violent crime will occur here. They can watch a corner from 16 angles because their morning intel pinpoints that area as a hot spot, with drug deals going down and conflict and retaliation brewing.
From a room lined with 60-inch screens and high-speed pro- cessors running sacrosanct software, Officers Menoni and Ro- driguez work the second watch in a unit that is making the streets safer for residents and the beat cops who patrol them at a record pace. This nerve root of 011 policing is known as a Strategic De- cision Support Center (SDSC), a combination situation room/ laboratory/tech oasis that has been deployed in 10 districts –
and counting – across the Department.
Hubbed with ShotSpotter, an acoustic surveillance technol-
ogy that directs officers to the precise location of illegal gunfire in seconds following discharge, the SDSCs enable Chicago Po- lice to get ahead of crime and prevent violence from happen- ing in the first place.
“We’re giving officers an amount of information they have never had access to before. It’s giving them a new perspective and a new level of officer safety,” explains Menoni. “I’ve been here for 14 years, and I have not seen another program that has had this impact.”
ShotSpotter success and SDSC impact can be measured in many ways. And has been since the centers came online with the software beginning a year ago. But the new perspec- tive might be best seen up close: the view Rodriguez has from working a beat car two tours per week in addition to his two tours in the SDSC.
“It narrows down what you are actually looking for and lets you know what you are getting into when you get there,” the fourth-year officer expounds about the support that comes
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