Walk into the Memphis Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center on any given Tuesday, and you’ll find a room dominated by a curved video wall displaying feeds from over 2,000 cameras spread across 650 locations. Analysts sit at workstations, scanning footage, pulling up archived video, cross-referencing incident reports. When shots are fired in South Memphis, this room becomes the nerve center. Officers on the street get vehicle descriptions within minutes. Detectives get footage that would have taken days to collect a decade ago.
The RTCC is the most visible example of security technology in Memphis, and it’s genuinely impressive. It’s also a government asset, not something private security companies can access directly. For the private sector, the technology conversation in 2019 looks different: more practical, less glamorous, and focused on tools that actually work within real-world budgets.
Camera Systems: The Workhorse Technology
Surveillance cameras remain the single most deployed security technology in Memphis, across both public and private sectors. The technology has improved dramatically over the past five years. IP-based camera systems have largely replaced older analog setups, delivering higher resolution, remote access, and integration with other systems.
For commercial properties in Memphis, the standard install in 2019 is an IP camera system running on a network video recorder (NVR), with remote viewing capability through a web portal or mobile app. A property manager in Cordova can pull up live feeds from her shopping center’s cameras on her phone while sitting at home. That wasn’t practical five years ago, at least not without expensive dedicated hardware.
Camera resolution has jumped too. Where 720p was considered adequate in 2014, most new installations now run at 1080p minimum, with 4K cameras increasingly common at high-priority locations like entrances, cash registers, and loading docks. The difference matters in investigations. A 720p camera might show that a person was in the parking lot. A 4K camera shows the person’s face, the text on their shirt, and the license plate on their car.
Brands that dominate the Memphis market include Hikvision, Dahua, Axis Communications, and (for higher-end installs) Avigilon. Hikvision and Dahua own the budget and mid-range segments, offering capable cameras at price points that work for strip malls and small businesses. Axis and Avigilon command premium pricing, though they deliver analytics features, better build quality, and longer warranty support.
There’s a conversation happening at the federal level about Hikvision and Dahua, both Chinese-owned manufacturers. The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act included provisions restricting federal agencies from purchasing equipment from these companies, citing national security concerns. The restrictions don’t apply to private businesses, though, and in Memphis the price advantage keeps both brands popular. Whether that changes in coming years depends on how the trade and security policy debates play out.
Access Control: Beyond the Lock and Key
Electronic access control has moved from a luxury to a standard feature for commercial properties with any serious security posture. The basic concept hasn’t changed: authorized people get in, unauthorized people don’t. What’s changed is the technology behind that concept.
Card-based access control systems, using proximity cards or key fobs, remain the most common technology in Memphis commercial buildings. Companies like HID Global, LenelS2, and Honeywell manufacture the readers and controllers that manage who can open which door at which time. A corporate office in East Memphis might have 40 doors on a single access control system, with different permission levels for employees, contractors, and visitors.
The trend in 2019 is toward mobile credentials: using a smartphone as the access card. Several manufacturers now offer systems where an employee taps their phone against a reader instead of swiping a card. The appeal is obvious. People lose cards. People don’t lose their phones (or if they do, they notice immediately). Mobile credentials can also be issued and revoked remotely, which simplifies onboarding and termination for HR departments.
Biometric access control, particularly fingerprint readers, has a presence in Memphis at higher-security facilities. Data centers, pharmaceutical labs, and certain government buildings use biometrics as a second authentication factor. For most commercial properties, though, biometrics remain overkill in terms of both cost and complexity.
Apartment complexes and gated residential communities across Shelby County use a mix of technology. Germantown and Collierville tend toward higher-end systems with video intercoms and license plate recognition at gates. Properties in Hickory Hill and Raleigh often rely on simpler keypad or card-based systems, constrained by tighter budgets.
The Real Time Crime Center: What It Actually Does
Memphis’s RTCC deserves a closer look because it is the most significant public-sector security technology investment the city has made. Established in the 2000s and expanded since, the center now monitors a network of over 2,000 cameras across the city.
The system isn’t just passive surveillance. Analysts in the RTCC actively monitor feeds during incidents, coordinate with dispatchers and patrol units, and use archived footage to support investigations. When a shooting occurs, an RTCC analyst can scan nearby cameras for vehicles leaving the area, then cross-reference that footage with license plate reader data from cameras positioned on major corridors.
The RTCC also integrates ShotSpotter, an acoustic gunshot detection system installed in several Memphis neighborhoods. When the system detects gunfire, it triangulates the location and alerts both the RTCC and patrol officers. The technology has had mixed reviews nationally, with critics questioning its accuracy and pointing to false positives from fireworks, car backfires, and other loud sounds. In Memphis, MPD has defended ShotSpotter as a useful supplement to 911 calls, particularly in neighborhoods where residents may not call police after hearing gunfire.
The video wall itself is a Planar Clarity Matrix LCD system in a 13x2 configuration, giving analysts a massive display area for monitoring multiple feeds simultaneously. The setup looks like something from a movie, and MPD has used it effectively for public relations, hosting tours for city council members, media, and community groups.
For private security companies, the RTCC is relevant mostly in an indirect way. When a crime occurs at a client’s property, the investigation benefits from the RTCC’s camera network and analytical capability. Some security firms have established informal relationships with RTCC staff, sharing footage from their clients’ private camera systems when it might help solve a case. There’s no formal integration between private and public camera networks, though proposals for such a system have been discussed.
Body Cameras for Private Security
Body-worn cameras have been standard equipment for law enforcement agencies across the country for several years. MPD rolled out body cameras to patrol officers, and the devices have become a routine part of policing in Memphis.
Private security has been slower to adopt body cameras, but 2019 is seeing a shift. Several Memphis security companies have started equipping their officers with body-worn cameras, particularly for high-risk assignments.
The case for body cameras in private security mirrors the law enforcement argument: they protect against false complaints, provide evidence in incident investigations, and (in theory) encourage better behavior from both the officer and the people they interact with. For a security guard working an overnight post at a gas station in Frayser, a body camera provides documentation if a confrontation occurs. For the security company, that footage can be the difference between winning and losing a liability claim.
The practical challenges are real, though. Body cameras generate enormous amounts of data. An eight-hour shift produces roughly eight hours of footage, and storing that footage securely, with proper chain of custody and retention policies, requires infrastructure that many smaller security companies don’t have. Cloud storage solutions from companies like Axon (maker of the Taser and the Evidence.com platform) and Motorola Solutions can handle the data management, yet the monthly per-camera costs add up quickly.
Privacy considerations also come into play. Security guards enter private residences (apartment patrols), businesses with proprietary information, and healthcare facilities where patient privacy is protected by HIPAA. A body camera recording everything the guard sees creates potential legal exposure that companies need to address with clear policies and client agreements.
The trend is clear regardless. More Memphis security companies will adopt body cameras over the next few years. The firms that start building their camera programs now will have a competitive advantage in contracts where clients demand accountability and documentation.
GPS Tracking and Patrol Verification
One of the persistent problems in the security industry is verifying that guards actually patrol the areas they’re supposed to patrol. A client pays for four patrol rounds per night. Did the guard actually walk the property four times, or did they sit in the lobby watching their phone? Traditional checkpoint systems (where guards scan a tag at specific locations during their patrol) have been around for decades, and they’re easy to game.
GPS tracking is a more reliable solution. Several Memphis security companies now equip their patrol vehicles and officers with GPS devices that record location data throughout a shift. Operations managers can pull up a guard’s movement history and see exactly where they went and when. Some systems generate automated reports showing patrol routes, stop times, and any deviations from the assigned pattern.
The technology isn’t new. Still, adoption in the Memphis market has accelerated in 2019. Clients, particularly property management companies overseeing multiple locations, have started requesting GPS verification as a contract requirement. They want proof that the service they’re paying for is actually being delivered. For security companies, investing in GPS tracking costs money upfront and pays off through client retention and the ability to hold guards accountable.
What’s Not Ready Yet
For every technology that’s working in Memphis right now, there are several that get more hype than they deserve.
Facial recognition is technically available in some commercial camera systems, but accuracy issues, particularly for darker-skinned faces, make it unreliable for real-world security applications. The technology is also drawing political and privacy backlash nationally, with cities like San Francisco banning government use. Memphis isn’t there yet. That debate is coming.
Drone surveillance for private security is barely a concept in 2019. Regulatory restrictions from the FAA, airspace conflicts near Memphis International Airport (the FedEx hub makes Memphis one of the busiest cargo airports in the world), and the limited battery life of commercial drones all make routine drone patrols impractical. A few companies have experimented with drones for large outdoor events, but it’s niche work.
AI-powered video analytics, where cameras automatically detect suspicious behavior, are marketed heavily by several manufacturers. The reality in 2019 is that these systems generate too many false alerts to be useful without human oversight. A camera that alerts every time someone loiters near a door will produce dozens of false alarms per shift in a busy retail environment. The technology will improve, but right now it creates more work than it saves.
The Practical Takeaway
Security technology in Memphis in 2019 is defined by cameras, access control, GPS tracking, and a growing interest in body cameras. The fancy stuff (AI analytics, facial recognition, drones) is coming, eventually. For now, the companies and property managers investing in proven, reliable technology are the ones getting the best return on their security spending.
The Real Time Crime Center shows what’s possible when a city invests seriously in security technology. For the private sector, the path is more incremental: better cameras, smarter access control, more accountability through GPS and body cameras. These aren’t exciting headlines, but they’re what’s actually making properties safer in Memphis right now.
Marcus Johnson covers security technology, industry trends, and public safety infrastructure for Memphis Security Insider. Reach him at marcus@memphissecurityinsider.com.