This season was a particularly technology-driven one for the Palm Beach Police Department.
In addition to a slate of new tools that have been brought online, and more still to come, this was the first season that made use of the department’s Real Time Crime Center fully operational, officials said.
That change alone has helped the department raise its already-high clearance rate, or the number of cases that have been solved, to 59%, said police spokesman Sgt. Michael Ogrodnick. Nationally, that number was nearly 44% for violent crimes and about 16% of reported property crimes as of 2024, the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Real Time Crime Center came into play when an armed 21-year-old from North Carolina tried to enter the security perimeter around President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club on Feb. 22. Federal officials said the man, Austin Tucker Martin, carried with him a gun and a gas canister. Two U.S. Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Martin when he pointed the gun at them, officials said.
“Our special investigations detective was able to get into the (town’s network of surveillance) cameras and then track (Martin’s) movements,” Ogrodnick said. “Then we were able to give that information to the FBI and the Secret Service. That was huge for us to have that in place.”
Here’s a look at the Palm Beach Police Department’s season, and what’s still to come this year.
Officers work to mitigate traffic congestion
Palm Beach Police are working throughout each day and particularly during peak travel times to try to ease traffic congestion, Ogrodnick said. Officers are placed at the busiest intersections to help direct traffic and keep the flow moving, he said.
Officers also use drones to monitor spots where traffic is known to clog, Ogrodnick said. Police in the Real Time Crime Center can watch the drone video footage live to see where issues may arise.
“Traffic is brutal. So if it’s going to delay our response time in a car, we get that drone up there first and see what’s going on,” he said.
Police roll out new tools — including hats
This season brought a slate of new tools, many of which were state-of-the-art.
However, some of the new tools are a bit simpler.
In March, the nonprofit Palm Beach Police & Fire Foundation underwrote the department’s $11,000 purchase of 70 wide-brim Stetson Kenton straw cowboy hats. The hats were needed to protect officers from the punishing South Florida sun, Ogrodnick said.
“It’s not only been fantastic for morale, but it really pays off, because it does keep them cooler,” he said of the officers. “And it’s a unique look for our police department.”
Drones are on the way
The town will begin to use its Skydio Drone as a First Responder program. The system will allow Palm Beach Police to quickly send a drone from fixed location to incidents and improve the safety officers, while also increasing the efficiency of the department’s response, Caristo said in the memo ahead of the Nov. 12 Town Council meeting. There, council members approved accepting a $521,762 donation from the police and fire foundation to cover the cost of five years of the program.
The drone hub will operate from a spot on the North End with the ability to cover an area that stretches from the island’s northern tip down to Midtown, officials have said.
“We can get that drone in the air, and whether it’s a vessel in distress up on the North End or some sort of disturbance, we can get that information from the Real Time Crime Center, to the drone, to the responding officer,” Ogrodnick said. “Having that drone up there with that technology just helps keep the community safer.”
Police ramp up vessel enforcement in lagoon
Before the beginning of this season, the town announced it would begin enforcing state rules around moorings installed without permits in the bed of the Lake Worth Lagoon between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. In the fall, the town also approved new rules for boaters, limiting how long they may anchor in Palm Beach’s jurisdictional waters.
In a densely packed space where boaters for decades kept their vessels, Palm Beach’s enforcement efforts took the number of boats from more than 170 at the beginning of the season, to fewer than 20 as of April 20, Ogrodnick said. “The marine unit is doing a fantastic job,” he said.
Some of the boats have been towed north to Stuart or Fort Pierce, Ogrodnick said. In one case, a vessel owner moved to Hawaii and abandoned a boat, he said, adding that arrangements were made to find a buyer for it.
“That was the initiative of (Chief of Police Nicholas Caristo),” Ogrodnick said. “He consciously wanted to improve the environment, because there were people that were just illegally mooring out there. And aside from the eyesore, all these boats out there are a hazard in the waterway.”
This was another program in which the foundation assisted, donating $250,000 to help cover the cost of removing derelict and illegally moored boats.
Last summer, the department purchased a $12,000 submersible drone with sonar-imaging capabilities.
“We’re at the cutting edge. We’re ahead of most department with that (technology),” Ogrodnick said. “And we cannot do it without the support of council and the foundation and our community getting behind us.”
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: See how Palm Beach Police used technology, new tools this season
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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