Six Georgia College students are helping Baldwin County’s Real Time Crime Center, using AI technology to solve cases.
BALDWIN COUNTY, Ga. — Six Georgia College students are working alongside deputies in Baldwin County’s new real-time crime center, using artificial intelligence and surveillance technology to help solve cases in what officials say is a growing pipeline between campus and law enforcement.
Maddie Brown, a recent Georgia College graduate, sits at a computer terminal monitoring license plates through Flock Nova, an AI service that uses cameras to capture and track vehicle information throughout the county. She is one of two full-time analysts hired through the college’s internship program.
“What I’m doing now is making sure we’re monitoring the Flock cameras, our CAD system, anything we can do to help the patrol,” Brown said.
Brown majored in business management and criminal justice, but never planned to work in law enforcement until a 2024 internship at a Gwinnett County real-time crime center changed her trajectory.
“I fell in love with the idea of Flock and all that and I was about to graduate, one of my professors told me about the internship,” she said.
She became an intern and was hired full time in August.
Sheriff Bill Massee said about one in five deputies graduated from Georgia College. The department now employs six student interns alongside Brown and another analyst hired last summer.
“Sky, another one of our analysts, also graduated from Georgia College. The sheriff also attended Georgia College, and our other interns are also about to graduate,” Brown said.
Interns share the same responsibilities as full-time staff: monitoring Flock cameras, managing the computer-aided dispatch system and assisting detectives in processing cases.
Massee said technology has proven to be essential in solving crimes. In one homicide case, he says investigators had no leads until someone reported seeing a black SUV.
“The young man was killed across the river. We had no information until someone told us they saw a black SUV,” Massee said.
Using Flock and AI services, Massee said analysts were able to locate the suspect.
The crime center officially opened in October, although operations began on June 1. Baldwin County joins several Georgia jurisdictions launching high-tech crime centers. Warner Robins opened its facility in June and said it had solved nearly 30 cases and made at least 16 arrests in two months.
Brown said the partnership benefits students who are uncertain about their career path.
“My friends are finding work and I don’t know what to do and the sheriff’s office has a connection like this for Georgia College and their career center, just offering the opportunity to all the students, like an email and they advertise it. It’s so helpful,” she said.
The sheriff’s office said it received 42 applications for its latest round of internships.
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