Raleigh snags $629,000 grant to build modern crime fighting database

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Raleigh Police Department will be getting $629,000 from a federal grant to help fund a modernization project.

Chief Estella Patterson accepted the funds Monday and broke down how the money would be used.

She said it will help create an "intelligence management system" that will function as one database the department can use when responding to crime. That's an improvement over the current system which forces officers and detectives to use multiple programs while investigating their cases.

"It's going to be significant," Major Derek Ford said. "We spend a lot of time constantly analyzing data, calls for service certain areas that show patterns and that takes time."

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Patterson said the new system will help save time.

"It's going to allow us to piece that all together more quickly," Patterson said. "We don't want to have to wait a month, two months or even a year after a crime occurs to close that case out."

Ultimately the goal is that the new system leads to less crime and makes Raleigh safer.

"If you're sitting at home and you're a resident of this community, you want to know that these dollars are going toward something that is going to be effective," she said. "Through this technology, we will send a clear message to those who are victimizing or who are thinking about victimizing others, that we know who they are, and that will hold them accountable for the crimes they committed."

Patterson said she hopes to get the new system up and running in about 6 months. It's expected to launch with a focus on high-trafficked areas like shopping centers, Glenwood South, Fayetteville Street, etc.

The grant was secured by Congresswoman Deborah Ross in one of the FY 2024 government funding minibus packages, according to a press release.