CMPD chief talks security cameras, AI, tech with South Charlotte leaders
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Estella Patterson discussed how her department is using security cameras, artificial intelligence and other technology when she spoke to a group of business leaders in Ballantyne on Thursday morning.
Patterson, who is almost three months into her job leading CMPD, spoke to a crowd of about 50 at a networking event put on by South Charlotte Partners.
She encouraged business owners in the room to join CMPD’s Connect Charlotte program, which lets private residents link their security cameras to the department’s real-time crime center. Its website says 1,750 cameras have been registered for the system.
“We want you to connect to us so that we can get that footage if something happens,” Patterson said.
As the camera system grows, CMPD will be able to connect with other cities like Greensboro and Raleigh, Patterson said, and in some instances keep track of suspects who flee the Queen City.
CMPD to use AI
The department is also experimenting with artificial intelligence, she said.
“We started to do some pilots, just to see how that could work,” she said in response to a question about the technology. “We’ve started a small pilot of just looking at calls. If there’s some low, low priority calls where an AI assistant can take the call and do the report — and just kind of testing it to see how it works. The future, I think, of our world is AI.”
Still, she said, CMPD is “just barely touching it” because “from a legal perspective, there’s a lot of hurdles.”
Police will also use drones following the city council’s recent approval, Patterson said, and that will likely start around the last quarter of this year or later. On lower priority calls like wrecks, officers might use a drone to assess the scene, she said.
“That is a tool that can be very helpful to us. Instead of tying up resources on certain things, perhaps a drone and then the AI assistant, for a phone call, can handle that situation. Then our officers can focus more on violent crime and being visible in the community,” she said.
The CMPD SWAT team already uses drones.
Recruitment, e-bikes and uptown
Patterson discussed other topics in the hour or so that she spoke to the group:
- On recruitment: Though her department is allocated 1,936 officers, Patterson said she believes about 2,100 would be more appropriate given Charlotte’s size and growth. For now, she said she is focused on filling about 260 vacancies. “My goal is for us to reduce our vacancies as much as possible, get as close to that 1,936 number as we can and then start asking incrementally and getting more officers so that you can have your high visibility areas in our uptown, in your neighborhoods,” she said.
- On teenagers riding e-bikes recklessly: “It’s really, I believe, incumbent on parents to parent — to control their children and just be responsible for their behavior... I don’t know that we’ll ever have enough resources to really address all the crime... I’m particular because I don’t want our young people to be in a pipeline, where they’re in the criminal justice system,” she said.
- On uptown: CMPD carried out an initiative in Charlotte’s heart recently, Patterson said, and found success. “Just in those two weeks, we had such great success — over 400 citations written, we had 34 arrests, we had guns and knives taken. It was really a successful effort. But more than anything, we wanted to address the perception of crime. You want people to feel safe.”
Many in the crowd thanked the chief for her time and took selfies with her after she spoke.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 2:40 PM.