The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office says its new Realtime Operations Center has assisted on almost 1,000 calls for service since the first phase began in June. The center, housed at the sheriff’s headquarters on Sycolin Road in Leesburg, is staffed by two deputies who monitor incoming 911 calls and police radio traffic for incidents where they can provide support.
A support role before patrol officers arrive
The center is designed to begin work while a 911 caller may still be speaking with dispatchers. Deputies can review law-enforcement and open-source databases that may be difficult for dispatchers to access during a busy emergency, then pass relevant information to personnel responding in the field.
That information can include people associated with an address, prior police contacts at the location and details from earlier calls. Deputies may also find information indicating that a person could be suicidal or has previously fought with law enforcement. The stated purpose is to help responding deputies make better-informed decisions about how to approach and engage people during an incident.
- Nearly 1,000 calls assisted since the first phase launched in June
- Two deputies currently staff the center
- The center monitors 911 calls and police radio traffic
- Its functions include investigative support and a drone-as-first-response program
From emergency response to investigation
The Realtime Operations Center also supports cases after the initial response. Detectives and crime analysts can use the facility for intelligence and investigative work, and deputies can contact the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and other partners when necessary.
The sheriff’s office described one case in which the center helped identify a suspect during an emergency call. A woman reported that her granddaughter was being assaulted but did not know the boyfriend’s name or address. Deputies searched earlier records involving the granddaughter, identified the boyfriend, located a phone number associated with him and traced it to an address. The suspect was arrested and the victim was taken to safety, according to the account provided by Sheriff Mike Chapman in an interview with Loudoun Now.
Drone response included in the program
The office’s Drone as First Response program is described as another critical part of the center’s work. The arrangement places unmanned aircraft within the sheriff’s broader real-time response structure, alongside call monitoring, radio traffic and access to investigative information.
The center is not presented as a finished expansion of the sheriff’s operations. Future iterations would depend on budget allocations, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. Any enlargement of the facility or its capabilities would therefore be tied to the county’s funding decisions rather than an automatic next phase.
For Loudoun County, the program puts specialized analysis and drone response within the same operational setting as emergency communications. The reported results so far concern the center as a whole: nearly 1,000 assisted calls since June, with deputies supporting patrol, investigative and partner-agency work from the Leesburg headquarters.
