First established in 2008 to support law enforcement agencies in Onondaga County, the Center is tripling in size and now serves Oswego and Madison counties
The state Division of Criminal Justice Services announced the expansion of the state-supported Crime Analysis Center in Syracuse. The Center, one of 10 intelligence and data-sharing centers operated by the state in partnership with local law enforcement agencies, is nearly tripling in size and now serves Oswego and Madison counties, in addition to Onondaga County.
The newly named Central New York Crime Analysis Center provides investigative support and crime analysis that helps police and prosecutors in the three counties more effectively solve, reduce and prevent crime.
DCJS Executive Deputy Commissioner Michael C. Green toured the Center, which is under renovation, and met with representatives from the agencies that partner with DCJS to support the center, including the Syracuse Police Department, Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office and state police.
“No other state in the nation supports crime analysis, intelligence development and investigative support on the local level to the extent that New York does,” Green said. “Under Governor [Andrew] Cuomo’s leadership, we have more than doubled the number of centers that serve local law enforcement agencies, leveraging technology to provide critical investigative support that has allowed agencies across the state to solve crimes, including murders, robberies and burglaries, as well as exclude individuals from suspicion and avoid wrongful arrests.”
The total cost of renovations to the Center is approximately $700,000, shared among the Division of Criminal Justice Services, the Syracuse Police Department, Onondaga County, Onondaga District Attorney’s Office and Onondaga Sheriff’s Office. When renovations are complete, the Center will occupy 4,216 square feet of space on the second floor of the Syracuse Police Department, nearly triple its existing space. It will feature a 16-foot wide by 4½-foot high state-of-the-art video wall that will display multiple sources of data and information in real time, including calls for service and feeds from public surveillance cameras, among other technology.
The renovations will allow the Center to provide real-time support to police agencies, expand its hours of operations and eventually hire additional staff. There are 17 staff assigned to the Center, which is overseen by a director who is a DCJS employee. The expansion will provide space for up to 26 staff members.
The Center is staffed by crime analysts funded by the Division of Criminal Justice Services in addition to analysts, field intelligence officers and investigators assigned by the Syracuse Police Department, sheriffs’ offices in Onondaga, Oswego and Madison counties; the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, the Onondaga County Probation Department, state police, the New York National Guard Counter Drug Task Force and the New York-New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Last year, the Central New York Crime Analysis Center supported more than 30 local, state, and federal agencies, distributing approximately 7,000 analytical and intelligence products to those agencies, a 20 percent increase over the prior year. For example, analysis done at the center helped authorities in Onondaga, Oswego and Seneca counties arrest three individuals responsible for 29 commercial burglaries in the fall of 2019.
A board of directors composed of representatives from DCJS, the state police, state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Syracuse Police Department, Onondaga District Attorney’s Office and Onondaga Sheriff’s Office oversees the Center. The nine other centers in the state’s network also have their own boards of directors.