Public Safety Tech Gets a $9.4M Boost in San Francisco - Here's What It Means for Your Facility

When San Francisco's Police Department was offered a $9.4 million private donation to overhaul its tech infrastructure, the headlines focused on drones, video walls, and an influential crypto billionaire. But behind the media buzz lies a more important narrative.

This narrative is one that applies not just to law enforcement, but to every facility manager, safety officer, and infrastructure planner trying to maintain secure operations in outdated buildings.

This isn't just about a new building in a trendy financial district. It's about recognizing that public safety depends on digital infrastructure just as much as physical patrols. And it's about what happens when safety systems are forced to operate in buildings that haven't kept pace with the demands of modern monitoring and emergency response.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) may be the focus of this initiative, but the lessons are universal - especially for those responsible for schools, transit systems, military bases, industrial plants, and municipal complexes. In fact, the RTIC's problems mirror those in critical facilities across the country.

Let's unpack what this investment reveals about the future of safety infrastructure - and how you can apply these insights to your own operation.

A Crumbling Hub for Critical Systems

Before we talk about upgrades, let's look at what the Real-Time Investigations Center (RTIC) was up against.

The RTIC had been housed in the SoMa Hall of Justice - a structure built in 1958 with original wiring from the 1960s. This center became a hub for SFPD's most essential surveillance and response operations. Its responsibilities included:

• Real-time video analysis
• Coordination of automated license plate readers
• Drone-assisted field monitoring
• Dispatch support during active investigations

But the facility itself was anything but modern, which meant it faced:

• Power outages that disabled screens and workstations
• Internet instability that interfered with communications
• Plumbing leaks from above, risking water damage to sensitive electronics
• No windows, which interfered with cellular and emergency radio signals
• Insufficient electrical load capacity, prompting officers to warn reporters not to plug in their devices

This wasn't some low-budget operation, either. This was the digital command center for one of the nation's largest cities. And it was barely functioning inside its physical container.

Some of the Best Teams Still Struggle with Bad Infrastructure

Despite these shortcomings, the RTIC still played a major role in over 500 arrests and a 40% drop in auto theft over the past year. This is an important point: public safety personnel will find ways to succeed even in subpar conditions.

But that success often comes with excessive manual effort, inefficient workarounds, and - ultimately - operational risk.

Systems that were "cobbled together with what we had lying around," as SFPD's spokesperson put it, are not sustainable - especially during emergencies or surges in demand.

Facilities across the U.S. are facing this same problem. Talented professionals are trying to manage risk using:

• Aged fire alarm panels with no reporting capabilities
• Disconnected supervisory signals that go unnoticed for hours
• Fragmented response plans that depend on people being physically present to relay information
• No integration between fire, security, HVAC, or utility infrastructure

And when something does go wrong - whether it's a fire, a tamper event, or a power loss - response times lag, data is incomplete, and the chances of containing the issue decrease by the second.

San Francisco's Solution: Relocate, Upgrade, Integrate

The $9.4 million gift - largely funded by Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and his police-focused nonprofit - will relocate the RTIC to a modern facility in the Financial District, complete with:

• A new video wall for dispatch and coordination
• Expanded capacity for real-time drone integration
• Dozens of new surveillance devices and automated license plate readers
• Fiber-optic internet to support high-bandwidth operations
• Secure and scalable infrastructure to support future technologies

This isn't just an office move. It's a complete rethinking of how technology, people, and infrastructure need to work together.

It's also a model that other facilities should consider. Even if your mission isn't law enforcement, your responsibility for life safety is just as critical.

Monitoring Tech is the Brain of a Safe Facility

Whether you manage a school district, a municipal building, a utility site, or a military base, your version of the RTIC is your alarm monitoring system - the core platform that tells you what's happening, where, and how to respond.

Digitize's Prism LX is designed specifically to serve this role.

Where SFPD is investing in drones and high-resolution video, Prism LX gives facility managers the ability to:

• Monitor supervisory and fire alarm inputs from multiple buildings and campuses
• Visualize issues by zone with custom maps and color-coded displays
• Log all events with time stamps and alarm priority to support inspection workflows
• Trigger automated relays to activate secondary systems like suppression, access control, or paging
• Integrate with legacy equipment to extend the life of existing fire and alarm systems

That last point is the most important. Many facilities assume they need a complete replacement to modernize. However, Digitize solutions work with the panels you already have - avoiding expensive rewiring and disruption.

Infrastructure Modernization Without a Forklift Upgrade

In SFPD's case, modernization required physically moving their operations to a better building. But for many organizations, especially those with decentralized campuses, the real need is logical centralization. This involves bringing disparate systems into a unified monitoring hub.

Digitize platforms support this by:

• Connecting legacy fire panels to a digital backbone
• Enabling off-site monitoring for remote buildings
• Supporting UL 864-listed communication paths for code compliance
• Allowing on-premise and remote alerting for scalable and flexible operation
• Providing failover-ready redundancy with dual Prism LX units or mirrored alert paths

This means your operations center - whether it's a dedicated control room or a multifunction maintenance hub - can act like San Francisco's RTIC: aware, responsive, and informed at all times.

In the event that one unit fails, the other Prism LX head-end takes over to maintain continuous monitoring

What Happens When You Don't Upgrade?

Let's look again at the RTIC's old environment. The police asked not to charge phones for fear of tripping the building's outdated electrical circuits. That's a red flag for any emergency operations center. It's not just a matter of comfort - it's about mission continuity.

The same principle applies to your fire alarm and supervisory monitoring systems. You're gambling with mission continuity and human safety if you're relying on:

• Panels that haven't been inspected in years
• Manual resets without audit trails
• A technician "swinging by" weekly to check indicator lights
• Alarms that only notify building occupants but not offsite responders

Systems like Prism LX solve this by providing around-the-clock supervision, detailed fault diagnostics, and instant escalation to staff - even when no one's on-site.

Tailor Public Safety Monitoring for Specialized Sectors

Not every facility needs drone feeds or 24/7 crime analysis, but every facility needs centralized visibility over its safety infrastructure. Digitize supports:

• Transportation facilities, where alarms span tunnels, stations, and maintenance areas
• Municipal buildings, where supervisory signals often tie into HVAC, water, or electrical systems
• Military installations, where high-security zones require rapid fault reporting
• Healthcare campuses, where every second of fire response time can mean lives saved
• Educational institutions, where integration with security and access control boosts coordination during emergencies

The tools may differ, but the mission remains the same: maintain visibility, uphold compliance, and respond instantly when safety is compromised.

Safety is a Shared Responsibility - Make Monitoring a Priority

One key message from San Francisco's move is that public safety is a community effort. While the donation came from a private citizen, the impact will be felt citywide.

Likewise, upgrading your facility's monitoring capabilities isn't just about tech specs. It's about giving your team the tools they need to protect people, property, and operations.

Digitize helps you create that capability with:

• Intuitive alarm dashboards
• Scalable architecture for expanding facilities
• Compliance with NFPA 72 and local code requirements
• Expert guidance on system integration and upgrade planning
• Support for multiple signal types

You don't have to wait for your system to break down - or for a billionaire donation - to get started.

Get the Tools Your Team Deserves

Just like the SFPD outgrew their facility long before help arrived, many organizations are sitting on outdated alarm systems that can't support modern safety standards. But with the right partner, you can enhance your monitoring infrastructure efficiently and cost-effectively - no "forklift swap-out" required.

Digitize gives you real-time monitoring, legacy system integration, and smart safety management.

Ready to Protect Your Safety Infrastructure?

Whether you manage a large college campus, a transit hub, a water treatment plant, or a city hall, your monitoring system is the nerve center of your operation. Don't wait until the wiring fails or the alarms go silent.

Call Digitize at (973) 663-1011
Email us at info@digitize-inc.com

We'll help you assess your current setup, identify gaps, and implement a path forward - on your terms, within your budget, and with full support.

Andrew Erickson

Andrew Erickson is an Application Engineer at DPS Telecom, a manufacturer of semi-custom remote alarm monitoring systems based in Fresno, California. Andrew brings more than 18 years of experience building site monitoring solutions, developing intuitive user interfaces and documentation, and...Read More