Six Georgia College students are aiding Baldwin County’s Real Time Crime Center, employing AI technology to solve cases.
BALDWIN COUNTY, Georgia — Six Georgia College students are working alongside deputies inside Baldwin County’s new Real Time Crime Center, using artificial intelligence and surveillance technology to help solve cases in what officials say is a growing pipeline between the campus and law enforcement.
Maddie Brown, a recent Georgia College graduate, sits at a computer terminal monitoring license plates through Flock Nova, an AI service that uses cameras to capture and track vehicle information across the county. She’s one of two full-time analysts hired from the college’s internship program.
“What I do now, making sure that we’re monitoring the Flock cameras, our CAD system, anything that we can do to assist patrol,” Brown said.
Brown majored in business management and minored in criminal justice but never planned on working in law enforcement until a 2024 internship at a real-time crime center in Gwinnett County changed her trajectory.
“I fell in love with the Flock idea and all of that and I was about to graduate, one of my professors brought up the internship to me,” she said.
She became an intern and was hired full-time in August.
Sheriff Bill Massee said roughly one in five of his deputies are Georgia College graduates. The department now employs six student interns alongside Brown and another analyst hired last summer.
“Sky, another one of our analysts, has also graduated here from Georgia College. The sheriff has also been at Georgia College, and our other interns are also about to graduate,” Brown said.
The interns share the same responsibilities as full-time staff — monitoring Flock cameras, managing the computer-assisted dispatch system and assisting detectives with casework.
Massee said the technology has proven critical in solving crimes. In one homicide case, he says investigators had no leads until someone reported seeing a black SUV.
“Young man was killed across the river, we had no information whatsoever until someone told us they saw a black SUV,” Massee said.
Using Flock and AI services, Massee said analysts were able to locate the suspect.
The crime center officially opened in October, though operations began June 1. Baldwin County joins several Georgia jurisdictions launching high-tech crime centers. Warner Robins opened its facility in June and reported solving nearly 30 cases and making at least 16 arrests within two months.
Brown said the partnership benefits students uncertain about their career paths.
“My friends are getting jobs and I don’t know what to do and the sheriff’s office having a connection like this for Georgia College and their career center just putting the opportunity out to all the students, just like one email and they advertise it. It’s so helpful,” she said.
The sheriff’s office said they received 42 applications for its latest round of internships.
