New Chicago police support center monitoring crime on CTA: 'See it in real time'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Police Department unveiled Wednesday what it is calling its new Public Transportation Section Strategic Decision Support Center to help monitor and respond to CTA related crimes as they're happening.

Police said the center will use technology and surveillance cameras to monitor CTA stations.

CTA platforms like the one at Clinton and Lake will now be under 24/7 surveillance. It's something CPD was already doing on a smaller scale, but the center ABC7 toured takes that even further.

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Chicago police will be able to spot incidents as they're unfolding and relay information to officers responding in the field.

"The officers in the SFSC room can see incidents as they are unfolding, but it also allows them to relay information to officers in the field who are responding to the incidents," CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling said.

The officers in the room are track live feeds of platforms and they can switch through CTA stations across all 22 districts and even some suburb locations which CTA operates out of.

"They get on the train and go we can track that and follow it... put the cameras up at the next train station and the next one," an officer told ABC7.

According to CPD's latest numbers, there's been a slight increase in crime on the CTA this year with 872, compared to this time last year, when there were 866 incidents.

Theft and robberies are the most common crimes with at least 382 incidents reported on CTA trains. That's why Supt. Snelling said the detectives in the room will mostly be focused on robberies.

Just last week, a 29-year-old man was shot and serious injured on the Red Line. Police said the victim got into a fight with a suspect, who allegedly took out a gun and shot him. No one was taken into custody in that shooting.

The center aims to strengthen safety on the transit system and bring justice to those who are victimized.

"This is important because when crime occurs on CTA, we now get to see it in real time," Snelling said. "Having the detection embedded gives those detectives real-time view of everything that's happening on CTA."

The CTA says the new center will be staffed around the clock. They will also assist suburban police departments where CTA operates.

Many CTA riderseABC7 spoke to said they'd to see this police presence on the platforms, but CPD said that's just not realistic and that's what the new technology is for.

"The CTA is a very large location to try to have officers at every single spot that's really hard to do," Snelling said.

Chicago police said AI is not part of the new technology and they don't think that's necessary yet.

The system is already operating right now and it will be staffed around the clock in hopes of limiting crimes.