WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The City of Warner Robins is being recognized as a Smart 21 city.
The International group, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), held the 2024 Taiwan Smart City Summit & Expo last week.
The ICF gave the city the title for its use of smart technology. The City of Warner Robins competed against governments in the United States and places like Germany and the United Arab Emirates.
The mayor says this is the first time a Georgia city has been recognized on this level, but the city of Woodstock was also recognized with them as well.
Across Central Georgia, you may have noticed an influx in cameras from license plate readers to school zone cameras.
Patrick says she was shocked the city was awarded.
"I definitely had no idea that Warner Robins would come across the screen as a top 21 city for smart technology across the world for municipalities," she said.
Mayor LaRhonda Patrick says that's because they do more than simply order and place the cameras.
"The key for us is the off-the-shelf product, plus human intelligence, plus strategy," Patrick said.
In 2022, the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation chose the city for a "Digital Twin City Project."
They have collaborated with the county development authority and Georgia Tech to bring their project to life.
"The project uses smart technology using AI that allows us to have a digital replica of what our city looks like," Patrick said.
The police department sends the college data to feed the map. Information like the types of crimes that take place and where they happen. It is all in an act to find trends and prevent crime.
"To make sure our crime rates stay low and continue to get lower as we continue to grow very rapidly," she said.
Results from this project will help the police find areas to place more cameras. Patrick says as youth violence continues to spread, it will help them find better solutions.
"We have the opportunity to change the future of those children — and the trajectory of these kids future — if we do implement the correct response," Patrick said.
She says it's not just about public safety. She hopes that their smart technology innovation can bring more business and jobs, too.
"Henry County has all of those industrial projects making traffic crazy going towards Atlanta, but we need those to trickle on down to Warner Robins, Georgia and come to our industrial park. That's a big mission the economic development piece. The potential is what I'm really interested in seeing how this may change the trajectory of Warner Robins in the global supply chain and get some of those big projects down on our soil," Patrick said.
This project with Georgia Tech is not active yet, but Patrick says the use of cameras and data tracking has brought crime down by 20%.
Patrick says the city did not pay for any of her expenses on the trip.