Plans to build a real time crime center at Meridian Police Department are moving forward after the Meridian City Council Tuesday approved an agreement with LPK Architects to design the building.
The RTCC, when complete, will provide 24/7 monitoring of surveillance cameras installed throughout the city along with license plate scanning technology, gunshot detection, the capability to send live video feeds of incidents to responding officers and more.
Bob Luke of LPK Architects said the center is set to be built in the vacant addition on the south end of the Meridian Police Department on 22nd Avenue. The available space, he said, offers just under 3,000 square feet of usable space to meet both the current demand and provide opportunities for further expansion.
“It’s been vacant for some time,” he said. “It’s got a few issues, but it’s really a phenomenal space.”
Two potential sticking points, Luke said, are the roof, which needs to be in good condition as the building will be housing a lot of sensitive electronics, and an independent generator. With the RTCC planned to provide round-the-clock monitoring and support for MPD, securing the center against power outages will be critical, he said.
“This will be the equivalent of an E911 call center,” he said.
A number of checklist items will be included in the design, Luke said, including waterproofing the walls, upgrading the fire suppression system, adding secure access features, building out the interior of the space to create a main control center, entryway and supervisor area, among others. Different areas of the building may also need specific features, he said, such as additional cooling capabilities in the server room to keep the electronic systems from overheating.
Based upon discussions with the the police department, Luke said the cost estimate for the project is in the range of $600,000 to $750,000. The cost for the design work will likely be in the $50,000 to $60,000 range, he said.
That estimate is for construction of the RTCC only, Luke said. The cameras and equipment needed to get the system up and running are separate projects. According to figures from MPD, the video wall, computers and other equipment needed to outfit the center will cost roughly $156,000.
Assistant Police Chief Patrick Gale said the department plans to install 43 cameras around Meridian to start. The cameras will be separate from those set to be installed at Meridian Police Department and Highland Park, however those systems will be viewable from the RTCC. MPD does not yet have a cost estimate for the 43 cameras.
Although MPD plans to start small, Luke said the RTCC will be built for a much larger system in mind to allow for future expansion as needed.
“We believe, just off of looking at the space, you could accommodate 200 (cameras) easily,” he said. “We want to have the power, the air and the capacity to grow as you need to without spending significant amounts of money.”
Efforts to create a surveillance camera system that meets the city’s needs have been underway for several years. MPD did have access to roughly 50 surveillance cameras installed throughout the city through a lease agreement with Mississippi Power, however both Mayor Jimmie Smith and Young said that system, which was from a prior administration, was not suitable for the department’s needs.
The video feeds were displayed on monitors behind the service counter at the police station but were not regularly monitored by any officers. The city was able to negotiate an early exit from the lease agreement, which had two years left on the contract, last fall.
In November 2023, council members heard from officers with Jackson Police Department about their department’s RTCC, which was used as a model for Meridian’s plans. In December 2023, the council approved MPD’s request to use the Fusus software system, a cloud-based system that allows for integration of E-911 systems, cellphones, private surveillance systems and more.
Earlier in May, the council approved a $388,309.50 purchase from Pileum Corporation/Matrix Solutions which includes roughly 80 cameras at Meridian Police Department and 48 cameras at Highland Park. Also included in the 80 figure for MPD is some access control technology, Gale said.
MPD has also been busy hiring employees to monitor the RTCC when complete, Gale said, with three employees hired in the past few days and more to come. The department, he said, is looking to have 6-7 people in total.
The City Council set aside $1.4 million in its 2024 Fiscal Year budget to help pay for cameras and the costs of building the RTCC.
Luke said his firm was given a deadline of Jan. 1, 2025 to complete the RTCC project and will need to move quickly to meet that goal. With the council’s approval Tuesday, he said the project will go out to bid in July and the contract awarded in August. That will allow a few months for construction to hopefully complete the work before the first of the year.
“Thank you very much, and we will get to work,” he said.
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