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Date: 11/29/2023
CHICOPEE — The Chicopee Police Department will utilize Fusus, a real-time crime center in the cloud, after receiving approval from the City Council.
During the Nov. 9 City Council meeting, Mayor John Vieau explained that they are looking to implement a new system called Fusus. “Fusus is going to allow the Chicopee Police Department to operate more efficiently, effectively and improve operational intelligence. It will be a proactive emphasis on officer, citizen and community safety,” he shared.
Vieau said they are calling it “Chicopee Connect,” which is Chicopee’s next generation neighborhood watch.
“Everybody knows that public safety is paramount to the success of Chicopee, and we believe that this tool will keep Chicopee even safer,” Vieau added.
Police Chief Patrick Major and Deputy Chief Eric Watson went before the council to explain more.
Major said he and Watson have become acclimated with the Fusus program after recently attending conferences.
Major explained that the program operates as a real-time crime center and will allow the city to operate more efficiently.
He went on to say that it is not just an effort of the Police Department, but the public and local businesses as well.
Watson began the presentation by sharing a video. In summary, he explained that a real-time crime center utilizes a wide range of technologies such as surveillance video, license plate recognition, cameras, floor plans, mapping and numerous other informational databases. It provides information to responding officers in real time instead of hours or days later.
Watson went on to say that it allows officers to respond to situations more “efficiently” and more “deliberately” with “improved operational intelligence and with a proactive emphasis on officer, citizen and community safety.”
He explained that the Police Department would like to create a real-time crime center and utilize the space vacated by WestComm Regional Dispatch when it moves to its new location at 645 Shawinigan Dr. in early 2025.
Some of the challenges with the real-time crime center are the lack of integration of various technologies. For example, using technologies without integration requires logging into numerous applications and managing multiple screens at the same time.
Another challenge is staffing, as staff is required to be in the real-time crime center for its operation.
Watson said the solution to these challenges that the department came up with is to purchase the digital real-time crime center on the cloud, which will “significantly enhance the Police Department’s capabilities to maintain the safety and security of the city and is crucial for the advancement of our city’s safety infrastructure and initiatives.”
He continued, “Fusus solves these real-time crime center challenges by aggregating data from various disparate sources and technological assets including surveillance video, license plate recognition cameras, web-based informational resources, floorplans, live drone feeds and more, and puts it all together on a single map-based application.”
It can be utilized by a staffed real-time crime center or by an officer on a desktop, laptop, tablet or department issued smartphone, from any location, on a moment’s notice.
“Fusus will bring the city’s technological assets into one system helping the Police Department to effectively monitor and respond to criminal activity, traffic incidents and public safety threats,” Watson said.
It will also provide the framework for the Police Department’s innovative “next gen” neighborhood watch program, “Connect Chicopee.”
He explained that residents and businesses will be able to voluntarily register their surveillance cameras and optionally will be able to share their video in real-time with the Police Department.
This provides the community the ability to partner with the Police Department and contribute to the safety of Chicopee, Watson said.
Once private cameras are registered, they will be mapped in the Fusus system. Investigators will be able to identify cameras in the vicinity of an incident via the FususONE map and can easily contact the camera’s owner directly to request footage.
Residents and business owners can choose to share their video with the Police Department.
The video can be shared continuously, in an emergency, or at any other time they designate.
Watson noted that registration of cameras will save valuable time during an investigation. “Countless hours are spent by investigators canvassing areas looking for cameras, trying to contact their owners and then trying to obtain video from them. With personnel shortages, Fusus will be an effective force-multiplier for the Police Department,” he added.
Sharing video will also help expand the Police Department’s network of real-time crime camera resources and save an enormous amount of time by eliminating the need for investigators to contact private camera owners, as this can take hours or even days.
The two other parts of this include FususTIPS and FususNOTIFY. FususTIPS allows community members to anonymously submit multimedia tips to the Police Department. FususNOTIFY enables the Police Department to keep the community up to date with relevant information via instantaneous text alerts to an opt-in list of community member’s cell phones.
While Fusus has many features, the last one that Watson talked about was FususOPS. FususOPS puts the full power of Fusus in the pockets of first responders.
“It enables first-responders in the field to send and receive images and text alerts and communicate directly with the command center including live streaming video from the responder’s device,” he said.
Watson described this as a “game changer for event and incident coordination.” It provides a shared mapping interface allowing for the planning of command post locations, EMS staging areas, road closures and more, and is easily modified for rapidly changing situations and immediately shared among other Fusus users.
The law enforcement, technology and community give it the “holistic approach” to public safety that the Police Department is striving for.
“Connected communities are safe communities,” Watson said. “A key tenant of the National Crime Prevention Council is that community partnerships that actively involve the local community and its residents are key to preventing crime.”
He continued, “The main foundation of the National Neighborhood Watch Organization is that: Our nation is built on the strength of our citizens. Every day, we encounter situations calling upon us to be the eyes and ears of law enforcement.”
City Councilor at-Large Robert Zygarowski asked how long it would take to implement this program. Watson said as soon as purchasing goes through, the department can bring in the resources and reach out to the community to register some cameras.
Watson noted that they would be the first in Massachusetts to implement this program. Hartford and Manchester, Connecticut are the closest departments that have this.
Ward 8 City Councilor Gary Labrie said he thinks this is a “great tool” and it would be a “great opportunity” for Chicopee.
Ward 9 City Councilor Mary Beth Pniak-Costello agreed with Labrie and thanked Major for his hard work and research on this.
Ward 3 City Councilor Delmarina López said she thinks there is value in a system like this but does have concerns with it such as privacy and civil rights. She shared that she does not think there is enough information on this, and the public should have a bit more time to share input because it is something that could “infringe” on people’s rights.
City Council President Frank Laflamme made a motion to pass it, to which it did. López was the only councilor to vote against it.