Myrtle Beach Police Department hopes new tech can help solve more cases

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - In a plan for the new year, the Myrtle Beach police chief shared with the city council on Tuesday how her department plans to keep the community safe.

During a presentation to city leaders, Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock said the department has seen a decrease in crimes such as murder robberies, and aggravated assaults in the last year.

Officers are now hoping technology can help them solve even more cases.

Right now, the department has several tools to find suspects. Police said the cameras they’ve been using have helped them make arrests and cut down on crimes, but hope updated cameras will help even more.

“The original cameras have been up for about ten years so we will be replacing those cameras with newer technology that allows us to do more with them and then we are also very proud that we’re able to put up cameras in specific neighborhoods. The one we’re working on next will be the Ramsey Acres neighborhood,” said Myrtle Beach Police Captain Bryan Murphy.

The department is also working to expand its drone investigative program. Officers said they only use them for special situations but want to change that.

“That will help us in locating missing people, mapping areas, going in areas that are unsafe for officers to go into,” said Assistant Chief Marty Brown.

Officers said they also put a lot of energy into their real-time crime unit. Four people now have at least 20 hours of coverage a day, and 24-hour coverage during significant events or high-volume weekends.

“It is staffed with people that have been in law enforcement for their whole careers,” said Murphy. “They have all of that experience and knowledge that they bring to us and they’re able to operate the cameras and give us real-time information out on the street to help us solve crimes in minutes and hours versus days and weeks.”

While the department saw fewer calls for service overall in the past year, they saw an increase in officers making calls, something Chief Prock said is a testament to officers taking more initiative.

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