How Cleveland Police Use Surveillance Technology

Cleveland police are increasingly relying on surveillance tools such as cameras, license plate readers and gunshot detection technology.

Cleveland Police have expanded their system of vehicle cameras from about 20 police cars in 2010 to more than 250 cars with dashboard cameras today. Around the same time, the number of cameras in the city grew from about 70 to more than 2,700 street cameras today, giving the police department views of commercial streets and major intersections.

The city used about $2.75 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to expand ShotSpotter — a gunshot detection system from SoundThinking — in 2022. Cleveland began deploying ShotSpotter in the Fourth Police District in November 2020.

City and police chiefs shared information about the surveillance technology they use and how it is deployed during a Community Police Commission forum at New Sardis Primitive Baptist Church on Thursday.

Body-worn cameras

Cleveland was one of the first major cities to begin using body cameras in 2015, says Larry Jones, the deputy commissioner in charge of public safety IT staff.

Every member of the police department, from chief to patrol officer, wears one today. The department has tried three versions of body cameras and is updating them as technology advances, Jones said, with another update planned for early next year.

Officers are expected to turn on their cameras when they are on their way to a call or when they feel an altercation may escalate. To manually activate the camera, officers double-tap a button in the center.

The body camera also turns on automatically when certain triggers are triggered via a Bluetooth connection when an officer is in the car.

In 2023, 594,000 videos were uploaded to the system, totaling about 128,000 hours, Jones said.

The videos are categorized by incident type. For example: traffic violation, citizen engagement, homicide. How long the footage is retained depends on the department’s policies for each category.

Videos have an embedded encryption key that must match the video uploaded to the cloud storage system to ensure the video has not been altered.

Dashboard cameras in the car

A car dashboard camera starts recording when the car’s sirens are turned on, the car is traveling faster than 80 miles per hour, or when the shotgun in the police car is fired. Because the dashboard camera and the body-worn camera are connected via Bluetooth, the same triggers will activate the body camera as long as the officer wearing it is in or near the car.

The department has installed 250 dashboard cameras in police cars, and about 80% of officers are trained to use the dashboard camera system, Jones said. Just like body cameras, the footage is stored and categorized, and the length of retention depends on the policies for each category.

ShotSpotter

ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection technology that uses acoustic sensors and computer software to detect gunshots and notify police of incidents.

GPS-based sensors detect the location of gunshots. The sound is reviewed by a Sound Thinking analyst who confirms if it is indeed a gunshot. Once confirmed, an alert is sent to the dispatch center, onboard computers, smartphone apps and the Real Time Crime Center, where Cleveland police can analyze all the data from public and private cameras, ShotSpotter and other technology to give officers more information.

Cleveland Police do not have access to the live audio feeds. They only receive a short recording (less than a minute) of the gunshots from the alarm.

The analysts eliminate many fireworks from the system, said Commander Reinhold Kauntz. In the three-square-mile area of ​​Mt. Pleasant where the city tested ShotSpotter, it was able to determine with 90 percent accuracy whether an alarm was a gunshot, Kauntz said.

Kauntz also stressed the importance of the Real Time Crime Center. While officers are dispatched to where ShotSpotter has spotted a gunshot, people at the center can look for street cameras in the area. Camera footage could provide more information about what happened, whether anyone was hurt or who the suspect might be.

Officers sent to the scene must investigate based on the information they have, just as if a neighbor reported hearing a gunshot, Kauntz said. That goes beyond an officer’s testimony: “I can now pat down anyone I see on the street,” he said.

Street cameras

Cleveland installed its first video surveillance cameras — about 70 — throughout the city between 2009 and 2012. These cameras were installed primarily around Public Square and on buildings that the Department of Homeland Security, which funded the program, considered “critical infrastructure.” That included stadiums, according to Jones.

The city now has more than 2,700 cameras monitoring commercial streets, recreation centers and parks. Some cameras can be moved to specific locations and are used to document large community events or hot spots when police see an increase in crime in certain areas, Jones said.

“One of the things I want to make very clear is that our cameras do not do any kind of facial recognition,” Jones said. “We do not have a facial recognition database. It is not something we are considering. It is not a technology we are working toward.”

The state has strict facial recognition laws and regulations, he said. The city’s cameras are mounted 12 to 15 feet high to face public rights-of-way, too high to capture specific faces, Jones said.

Businesses can also give police access to their cameras. Residents can also register their private cameras with police so officers can contact them if something happens on their street, said Sergeant Jose Garcia.

License plate reader

In 2011, the state funded the installation of 39 license plate readers in northeast Ohio, Jones said.

In 2022, the city received grants to purchase its own license plate reader program. Cleveland now has about 100 license plate readers mounted on utility poles, focused on business corridors, high-traffic areas and areas with high accident rates, Jones said.

Reader data is stored for 30 days unless it is relevant to an active case.