Orange County Sheriff's Department unveils state-of-the-art technology center

TUSTIN, Calif. (KABC) -- Tucked away in Tustin is a new innovative tool for the Orange County Sheriff's Department that will make them leaders in technology and public safety.

"We'll have all five critical functions that are necessary for policing and emergency response all within one location," Sheriff Don Barnes said.

The Sheriff's Department celebrated the grand opening of the OC Sheriff's Technology Center on Thursday with a ribbon cutting.

"There's no model like this in the nation," Barnes said.

The 120,000 square-foot facility will house the department's technology, operations support and intelligence and components of the Special Operations divisions.

"This combined synergy of these three separate units into one space is not only going to produce but already has produced a much safer Orange County," the sheriff said.

The county bought the building in June 2022.

The facility, including all structural, security and technology upgrades, cost $110 million.

Sheriff's dispatch will move in by early next year and will be able to communicate with law enforcement during major emergencies.

"An officer can flip a channel and talk to every peace officer in the county at the same time," Sheriff Barnes said. "If you look at what happened in Parkland High School or Uvalde, where they didn't have the interoperable system, so it makes us much more efficient."

The Real-Time Operations Center provides a new lifeline to officers and their needs.

"They can bring up a live feed off that deputy's body-worn camera and see in real-time what's happening with that officer," he said. "Do they need help? Do they need assistance? Where they're located, they can coordinate units on their behalf."

Also, the center can access community cameras to better respond to a critical incidents.

"If there were god forbid an active shooter at a high school, rather than having to go find him, the individuals here can go into that school's camera system and say the individual is in the cafeteria," Barnes said. "That's a game changer for us. Not only lifesaving but also an opportunity to intervene quicker, more appropriately and bring something to a more immediate end."

The facility offers large training and meeting rooms, a media briefing space and collaborative works areas.

A future OCSD museum will be housed at the center.

The technology center is helping the sheriff's department enter a new era in fighting crime.

The sheriff said the technology center has already become a national model for other agencies at the local, state and federal level on how to combine resources under one roof to ensure the safety of the community.