Miami Beach sees 24% decrease in felony arrests
Chief Wayne Jones of the Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) shares how new technology—including drones—played a pivotal role in improving public safety during spring break. From 2023 to 2024, the city saw a 24% drop in felony arrests, a trend the department will continue with its newly established Real-Time Intelligence Center (RTIC).
By launching Drones as First Responders (DFR) directly from the rooftop of police headquarters, officers can get eyes on a scene within minutes, often arriving faster than patrol cars navigating crowded streets. These drones can even issue verbal commands from the air to help keep pedestrians out of prohibited areas.
As Florida’s first DFR program, MBPD’s drone initiative isn’t just a spring break solution; it’s designed for year-round use, including critical response after hurricanes or other natural disasters when roads are blocked or flooded.
- The spring break travel blitz is in full swing.
- TSA says expect high passenger volumes over the next few weeks
- [plane roaring] as airlines get ready to fly
- 173 million passengers between March and April
- alone.
- Spring break. Whoop, whoop, whoop.
- Popular spots nationwide, like South Padre Island, Fort Lauderdale,
- and New Orleans bracing for crowds, with many cities trying to
- manage the spring break mayhem of the past.
- Be honest with you, we, nobody wants you here.
- Miami Beach releasing this viral reality check spoof for partygoers.
- DUI checkpoints.
- You think I want it to be like this?
- Police.
- You have to take off your tats.
- $100 parking. Worse-
- Spring break.
- Ever
- ... their second year of strict measures in a
- row, which the police chief says
- worked. Between 2023 and 2024, did you
- see a major difference in even arrests?
- Significant difference. 24% decrease in felony arrests, which is
- huge. Huge.
- And now they're going high-tech. So this is the Real-Time Intelligence
- Center, RTIC for short?
- RTIC for short.
- Over 900 cameras, complete with license plate readers
- and artificial intelligence. This isn't facial recognition.
- You said it's object recognition?
- It's object recognition, but that includes vehicles, um, if need to be
- identified.
- And for extra eyes in the skies, they're debuting drones as a first
- responder. [drone powering up]
- Opening. Opening. [drone beeping]
- I feel like I'm in a sci-fi movie. Launching from the roof of police
- headquarters-
- Okay
- ... the drone can arrive on the scene in
- minutes and even shout commands.
- Attention. Please exit the area immediately.
- Bypassing crowds and busy Miami traffic.
- That drone gets to the scene much faster in many cases than a police
- officer.
- This is being debuted for spring break.
- It is.
- But does it have purposes that can be used well after spring break?
- Absolutely, um, and for years to come i- in, in my opinion.
- Now, the drone as a first responder program
- with Skydio, this is one of
- five in the entire country, but the first that we're seeing in the
- state
- of Florida. Couple things we wanna point out here,
- 'cause I'm sure our viewers are
- wondering, they're using cameras that are public city cameras.
- These are public facing cameras, so no hidden cameras here.
- But one of the things we were learning about
- is the uses outside of spring break,
- as you just heard the chief mention.
- They talked about how this could be applied during natural disasters.
- Think about flooded roads where it's unsafe to go out there on the roads.
- The applications for using this drone during a natural disaster...
- I mean, Savannah, we've got hurricane season just around the
- corner.
- All right, Marissa, thank you.
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