Smaller cities across US opening high-tech crime centers

(AP) — Live video feeds from cameras across Hartford, Connecticut, light up a wall of flat-screen monitors in a high-tech room at the city's old police department, while computers take in data from license plate readers and a gunshot detection system.

The department's new Real-Time Crime and Data Intelligence Center, unveiled by city officials in February, helps officers on the streets find suspects and avoid harm by quickly giving them crucial information, police officials say.

Staff members at the centers are able to monitor surveillance video and tell officers at crime scenes about suspects' movements.

The centers reflect law enforcement's growing reliance on technology, which in turn has raised some privacy concerns from civil liberties advocates.

Civil liberties advocates also have concerns about airports and how many police departments are now using facial recognition software to track and identify people, saying such software is known for mistakes.