Across Counties and Cities, The Eyes and Ears Are On

Constant watching. Public microphones. This is what happens when budget shortfalls meet venture capital solutions.

Regina Morrison

Some counties get botanical gardens. Some get aquatic centers with water slides named after local mayors. Baldwin County, Georgia, got a $650,000 real-time crime center with facial recognition, license plate readers, and enough data-wrangling software to make your old Facebook privacy settings weep in the corner.

It’s a place where 911 calls, camera feeds, and digital breadcrumbs all meet in a gleaming new facility that promises to fight crime, solve cases, and, one assumes, know what kind of car you were driving when you rolled that stop sign on Liberty Street.

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