LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In the past, the Little Rock Police Department's real-time crime center has had cameras connected to traffic cameras and businesses.
Now, the department is expanding the center by adding new cameras in a handful of schools.
"The safety and security of our students is always our utmost concern," Episcopal Collegiate Head of School Jamie Griffin said. "We'll do everything we can to make sure that we're providing the safest environment for the kids."
Episcopal Collegiate has cameras connected to the real-time crime center so law enforcement can check in to see what's happening in an emergency.
And they aren't the only ones.
Across town at Pulaski Academy, President Rachel Deems said they felt it made sense to join the network after recent events.
"Only a few months before I arrived at PA, there had been a tragedy at an independent school that had loss of life," Deems said, referring to the Covenant shooting in Nashville.
So when LRPD contacted both schools to join the real-time crime center, it was a no-brainer.
"That was just another layer of security that made a lot of sense for us in the school," Griffin said.
LRPD Maj. Ty Tyrell said it was an easy choice for them, too.
"This is just one method to make sure we're as prepared as we possibly can be for those incidents that we hope never happen," Tyrell said. "In those very rare critical incidents, we can gain insight as to what's actually happening in the school before the responding officers ever get there."
As for what cameras LRPD can see, Tyrell said that's entirely up to the schools. Officers can also access the system in their squad cars to make response times quicker.
Tyrell said anything they can do to lower response times could save lives.
"The more they know before they get there, the better the response will be," Tyrell said.
This technology constantly changes as new safety measures are introduced and upgraded.
"We are taking steps that are available to us to employ every measure to keep faculty and children safe," Deems said.
Until that technology changes, Tyrell said this is some of the best technology we have – an easy choice, in his opinion, for schools to get on board with.
"It should be something that most parents are demanding, is that their school does everything they can to keep their child safe," Tyrell said.
Tyrell said they also use the center to help communicate with other first responders, like MEMS and firefighters, during emergencies.