On February 21, Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford announced the details about a county-wide project by law enforcement to optimize crime-fighting efforts in Bay County.
The Bay Real Time Operation Center, or BAYROC, went operational November 1, 2022. BAYROC is a collaborative effort by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, the Panama City Police Department, the Panama City Beach Police Department, the Lynn Haven Police Department, the Springfield Police Department, the Parker Police Department, and the Bay District Schools Police Department.
Housed within the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, BAYROC is comprised of a supervisor and two full time crime analysts. The goal of BAYROC is to provide relevant, real-time information directly to law enforcement in the field. BAYROC uses an integrated system combining school, traffic, and business cameras to assist responding law enforcement and solve crimes.
These officers. engaging in high-risk calls for service, now have the added resources in real-time to improve response and situational awareness, giving them enhanced decision making in the field. These technological resources allow law enforcement response to be more efficient and deliberate, with improved operational intelligence. This ensures an emphasis on officer, citizen, and community safety.
On the first day BAYROC was operational, the team was able to coordinate with PCPD to close out a Silver Alert, locating the missing person within five minutes of the alert. The elderly gentleman was reunited with his family.
During the first month of operation, BAYROC located numerous wanted persons with outstanding warrants on charges ranging from burglary, domestic violence, and grand theft.
In December of 2021, a 911 call reported a burglary in progress. Within one minute of the 911 call, BAYROC personnel identified the suspect vehicle and pushed out information to responding law enforcement. Vehicle was located and suspects detained.
In the same month, the BCSO responded to a homicide. Once the suspect was identified, the BAYROC team used technological resources to quickly learn he had fled the state. Working with out of state law enforcement, BAYROC assisted in the coordination of his capture in northern Alabama.
In December, BAYROC, working with Tallahassee PD, were able to establish a suspect was travelling between Tallahassee and Panama City and was involved in eight liquor store robberies. The result of this coordinated effort was the apprehension of this suspect in the parking lot of a liquor store in Tallahassee.
In the month of January, BAYROC was able to identify and locate numerous wanted persons and burglary suspects that were arrested and taken into custody.
Traffic cams used by BAYROC are currently available for viewing online by the general public. The cameras have a short retention period that varies from system to system. The BAYROC system has firm audit capabilities to ensure the system is operated within guidelines.
