Not all retired Chicago Police officers give up crime fighting entirely. A handful work for the Office of Emergency Management & Communications (OEMC) Center (also known as the 911 center) as crime detection specialists.

Seven retired officers monitor Chicago Police cameras placed in high crime areas. “We can pick up on things that a civilian might miss,” said Near West Sider Frank Folinazzo. A former detective, Folinazzo spent 35 years with the Chicago Police Department before retiring in May 2004. He became a crime detection specialist in June 2005 when the program began.

Monitoring cameras is a change of pace for Folinazzo, who in his previous position with the department investigated sex crimes against children for 15 years as part of the Special Investigations unit. He became a police officer after graduating from St. Mel (now Providence-St. Mel High School) and serving in the Army. Now 58, he applied for the crime detection specialist position and was hired after passing a vision test and attending several days of training.

Crime detection specialists work as part of the police department’s Operation Disruption crime fighting initiative. They monitor live feed footage from areas with high rates of violence related to gangs, narcotics, and firearms.

When crime detection specialists spot criminal activity, they can send not only squad cars to the area but a fire truck and ambulance if needed. The surveillance cameras can rotate 360 degrees, and an alarm sounds if a firearm is fired in the vicinity of a camera.

“We can zoom in to see a license plate, for example,” said Folinazzo. In addition to manual operation, the cameras rotate automatically to scan an entire intersection.

Folinazzo said he sees something—a drug deal, a shooting—“ every day.”

The cameras are a replacement of sorts for having a squad car parked in a high-crime area. “This frees the squad car to patrol,” said Sergeant Gregory Hoffman, who helps maintain the live feeds and equipment.

The cameras monitor more than felony crimes. “We also look for quality of life issues,” Hoffman said. For example, if someone is drinking in the street, fighting, or participating in a dice game on the sidewalk, the crime detection specialists send a squad car to the area. “A dice game isn’t just a dice game,” he explained. “It can lead to other crimes.” He added that the OEMC team is trained in First and Fourth Amendment issues to address citizens’ concerns over privacy but that “there is no expectation of privacy on the public way” where cameras are located.

The wireless feeds come into the OEMC center because all major city services have a presence in the building, including police, fire, and the emergency management system. Also located there are the snow patrol, the Department of Streets and Sanitation, and the Department of Water (for example, if a water main broke, it might first be discovered within the OEMC center).

“We found that it would be better serving the communities if there could be a way that we could coordinate not only the police officers’ use of the cameras, but to integrate the cameras with the whole emergency management system,” said Hoffman.

The camera feeds can be viewed both from the computer of an individual crime detection specialist and from an entire wall covered with camera feeds. Footage comes from Operation Disruption as well as from Homeland Security cameras hidden in secret locations.

Unlike the obvious Operation Disruption cameras with their blinking blue lights, the additional cameras must be hidden, according to Andrew Velasquez, executive director of the OMEC, because “we don’t want our strategy revealed.” Velasquez noted, “There are a number of different types of cameras.” For example, traffic cameras can help the OMEC find traffic accidents, while the Operation Disruption cameras have helped lower crime. “We’ve seen an overall reduction of the homicide rate,” he said, noting the cameras are part of an overall crimefighting strategy.

Nevertheless, Hoffman said those concerned about crime should understand “the camera is not the catch all.” In addition to cameras, police are working with the community and tactical officers to ensure crime is not merely moved out of camera range.