ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke City Council heard two presentations related to the city’s quality of life at Monday afternoon’s city council meeting.
The first presentation was from Melrose Plaza and the other came from the Roanoke Police Department and their Real Time Crime Center, also known as Roanoke Operations and Crime Control Center/Roc3.
Melrose Plaza will be adding a new wellness center, adult learning center and a museum of African American culture.
This is on top of the Library branch, Market on Melrose and Bank of Botetourt that are there.
The city - which has invested $10 million into Melrose Plaza - believes that these updates will only improve upon the area’s quality of life.
“This investment is not just about creating opportunities for employment, for education and for health and wellness, but it also designed to increase the health benefits for people who live in Northwest Roanoke,” Mayor Joe Cobb said.
Even before the new additions, Cobb says Melrose Plaza is already providing job opportunities that can help struggling individuals.
“Well anytime you can provide employment, anytime you can provide resources for people in need to get them on the right path, these are all things that can benefit people struggling, get them out of survival mode and into a much healthier way of life,” Cobb said.
Meanwhile, Roanoke Police Department gave updates on the Roc3 that moved into their 911 center in early July.
New technology - like Flock safety cameras and data sensors - will allow real-time data to support officers in the field, which Mayor Cobb believes will reduce all manners of crime in the city.
“We’re able to match a crime analyst with someone who is out on patrol,” Mayor Cobb said. “They can get information almost immediately instead of waiting almost three or four days, and that can help not only be reducing crime, but also be reducing violent crime in the city.”
The Roc3 will also help officers get to a crime scene - or even solve a crime- at a faster rate.
“It’s not meant to be intrusive, but it is meant to identify in a quicker way potential crimes.,” Mayor Cobb said. “So it’s a prevention-based tool and intervention that the police can use.”
Police have also made a public transparency portal available on the city’s website, providing data on how the cameras are being used.