Suffolk crime analysis center in Yaphank, now expanded, helps Long Island police solve cases

Screens showing surveillance camera video inside the newly expanded Suffolk Crime Analysis Center at the Suffolk police headquarters in Yaphank on Friday. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
The suspect held up a gas station at gunpoint on Friday morning before fleeing in a vehicle. A Suffolk County police officer followed, but his sergeant, fearing the pursuit could lead to injuries to innocent bystanders, called off the chase.
Instead, analysts using video from hundreds of cameras placed along Suffolk roads and highways, tracked the suspect from the Suffolk County Crime Analysis Center in Yaphank. The suspect’s location was transmitted to officers in the field, and police were able to surround the suspect’s vehicle and make an arrest without incident, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina. A gun was recovered.
Without the crime analysis center, Catalina said at a news conference at police headquarters announcing the expansion of the center first created in 2019, the suspect would be still on the street.
Catalina joined Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine and state and local officials Friday to unveil the newly expanded Suffolk Crime Analysis Center, the Yaphank facility authorities said uses data to help police agencies solve, reduce and prevent crime.
New York State, in recent years, has invested nearly $1 million to triple the size of the center, housed at Suffolk County Police Department Headquarters, to 5,000 square feet, officials said at a news conference. The expansion will allow the center to accommodate 45 crime analysts, detectives, prosecutors and other law-enforcement officials from agencies around Long Island and beyond, up from 16.
"This is our nerve center. Look around, you see all of law enforcement here ... The message is very clear to the criminals out there," Romaine said. "We are watching you, we are united, we are cooperating, we are working together, we are sharing information, and if you come to Suffolk County to commit a crime, we are going to get you."
The Yaphank crime center is one of 11 across New York State, with similar facilities in Nassau County and New York City. In her proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget released earlier this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul is seeking $13 million to create a New York State Crime Analysis and Joint Operations Command Center that would coordinate and share crime data with hundreds of police departments. State officials said the center would be the first of its kind in the nation.
"The intelligence sharing and coordination facilitated by these centers allows law-enforcement agencies across the state to focus resources where they are needed most, maximizing our ability to keep New Yorkers safe," Hochul said in a statement.
The heart of the Suffolk center is a 24-foot-wide, 41/2-foot-high video wall that receives feeds from hundreds of surveillance street cameras across the county. Analysts use the cameras to capture license plate data as well as the make, model, year, the color of vehicles — even if it has bumper stickers or roof racks — to identify and track vehicles reported as stolen or used during the commission of crimes. The data is also used to identify crime trends and assist agencies in deploying resources.
Catalina said: "We know that bad guys do not respect jurisdictional lines. They go from place to place committing crimes. If we are not a step ahead of them in solving the crimes through intelligence like this, we are never going to catch them — and we are getting better and better at that."
Last year, the Suffolk center received more than 30,000 requests for assistance — nearly a quarter of the 131,000 total requests received by the 11 centers — and helped 70 law enforcement agencies with cases ranging from hit-and-run crashes to murders.
Besides Suffolk police, agencies that have provided personnel to the crime center include the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk Sheriff’s Office, Nassau police, the NYPD, and the New York State Police.
The suspect held up a gas station at gunpoint on Friday morning before fleeing in a vehicle. A Suffolk County police officer followed, but his sergeant, fearing the pursuit could lead to injuries to innocent bystanders, called off the chase.
Instead, analysts using video from hundreds of cameras placed along Suffolk roads and highways, tracked the suspect from the Suffolk County Crime Analysis Center in Yaphank. The suspect’s location was transmitted to officers in the field, and police were able to surround the suspect’s vehicle and make an arrest without incident, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina. A gun was recovered.
Without the crime analysis center, Catalina said at a news conference at police headquarters announcing the expansion of the center first created in 2019, the suspect would be still on the street.
Catalina joined Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine and state and local officials Friday to unveil the newly expanded Suffolk Crime Analysis Center, the Yaphank facility authorities said uses data to help police agencies solve, reduce and prevent crime.
New York State, in recent years, has invested nearly $1 million to triple the size of the center, housed at Suffolk County Police Department Headquarters, to 5,000 square feet, officials said at a news conference. The expansion will allow the center to accommodate 45 crime analysts, detectives, prosecutors and other law-enforcement officials from agencies around Long Island and beyond, up from 16.
"This is our nerve center. Look around, you see all of law enforcement here ... The message is very clear to the criminals out there," Romaine said. "We are watching you, we are united, we are cooperating, we are working together, we are sharing information, and if you come to Suffolk County to commit a crime, we are going to get you."
The Yaphank crime center is one of 11 across New York State, with similar facilities in Nassau County and New York City. In her proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget released earlier this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul is seeking $13 million to create a New York State Crime Analysis and Joint Operations Command Center that would coordinate and share crime data with hundreds of police departments. State officials said the center would be the first of its kind in the nation.
"The intelligence sharing and coordination facilitated by these centers allows law-enforcement agencies across the state to focus resources where they are needed most, maximizing our ability to keep New Yorkers safe," Hochul said in a statement.
The heart of the Suffolk center is a 24-foot-wide, 41/2-foot-high video wall that receives feeds from hundreds of surveillance street cameras across the county. Analysts use the cameras to capture license plate data as well as the make, model, year, the color of vehicles — even if it has bumper stickers or roof racks — to identify and track vehicles reported as stolen or used during the commission of crimes. The data is also used to identify crime trends and assist agencies in deploying resources.
Catalina said: "We know that bad guys do not respect jurisdictional lines. They go from place to place committing crimes. If we are not a step ahead of them in solving the crimes through intelligence like this, we are never going to catch them — and we are getting better and better at that."
Last year, the Suffolk center received more than 30,000 requests for assistance — nearly a quarter of the 131,000 total requests received by the 11 centers — and helped 70 law enforcement agencies with cases ranging from hit-and-run crashes to murders.
Besides Suffolk police, agencies that have provided personnel to the crime center include the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk Sheriff’s Office, Nassau police, the NYPD, and the New York State Police.
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