Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
FORT MYERS Could a Ferris wheel in downtown Fort Myers work? Right now, there are talks to bring a Ferris wheel to downtown Fort Myers, but several things are still up in the air.
LITTLE HICKORY BAY Improving ‘Hell’s Gate’ safety, a notoriously dangerous waterway for boaters A push to make an area known as “Hell’s Gate” safer since it’s a dangerous stretch of water with several blind corners within Little Hickory Bay.
Fixing failed back surgeries More than a million and a half people in the U.S. undergo back surgery each year. However, classic back surgery has one of the highest failure rates of any surgery.
WINK NEWS Getting an inside look at the FEMA discount controversy Picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ian has been difficult for many and moving on can impact our wallets.
FGCU FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff playing for hometown team after labrum injury FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff is living the dream playing for the hometown team after he overcame a labrum injury.
LEHIGH ACRES Frustrated Lehigh parents want action after violent school fights go viral online Violence at a Lehigh Acres Middle school was captured and posted online.
Turtle Club beachfront restaurant relaunches in Naples After a series of private friends and family events this week, The Turtle Club will reopen May 5 and begin taking reservations again May 6.
Jimmie The Beef Guy opens in Fort Myers Jimmie “The Beef Guy” Hart opened the first Jimmie The Beef Guy in 2021 on the southeast corner of Bonita Beach Road and U.S. 41.
SARASOTA Distressed endangered sawfish euthanized nearly a month after rescue Wildlife officials euthanized a distressed smalltooth sawfish that was rescued from Cudjoe Bay in the Florida Keys where it was swimming in circles.
FORT MYERS Help identify driver of SUV related to Fort Myers shooting Police hope someone can help identify the driver of an SUV involved in the shooting on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard and Michigan Avenue.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
FORT MYERS Could a Ferris wheel in downtown Fort Myers work? Right now, there are talks to bring a Ferris wheel to downtown Fort Myers, but several things are still up in the air.
LITTLE HICKORY BAY Improving ‘Hell’s Gate’ safety, a notoriously dangerous waterway for boaters A push to make an area known as “Hell’s Gate” safer since it’s a dangerous stretch of water with several blind corners within Little Hickory Bay.
Fixing failed back surgeries More than a million and a half people in the U.S. undergo back surgery each year. However, classic back surgery has one of the highest failure rates of any surgery.
WINK NEWS Getting an inside look at the FEMA discount controversy Picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ian has been difficult for many and moving on can impact our wallets.
FGCU FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff playing for hometown team after labrum injury FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff is living the dream playing for the hometown team after he overcame a labrum injury.
LEHIGH ACRES Frustrated Lehigh parents want action after violent school fights go viral online Violence at a Lehigh Acres Middle school was captured and posted online.
Turtle Club beachfront restaurant relaunches in Naples After a series of private friends and family events this week, The Turtle Club will reopen May 5 and begin taking reservations again May 6.
Jimmie The Beef Guy opens in Fort Myers Jimmie “The Beef Guy” Hart opened the first Jimmie The Beef Guy in 2021 on the southeast corner of Bonita Beach Road and U.S. 41.
SARASOTA Distressed endangered sawfish euthanized nearly a month after rescue Wildlife officials euthanized a distressed smalltooth sawfish that was rescued from Cudjoe Bay in the Florida Keys where it was swimming in circles.
FORT MYERS Help identify driver of SUV related to Fort Myers shooting Police hope someone can help identify the driver of an SUV involved in the shooting on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard and Michigan Avenue.
Credit: WINK News. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office real-time intelligence center (RTIC) is watching to keep the community safe by collecting high-tech information from all over the state, whether it’s to track a major storm’s impact on Southwest Florida or to get criminals off the street. The intelligence center is a complex network of televisions and surveillance. With one push of a button, Sheriff Carmine Marceno can monitor the entire county, working to solve crimes from the RTIC. “We had a tip; that tip came in, partial tag; they immediately pulled up the license plate recognition, the LPR,” Marceno said. “You start piecing tags with the LPRs and working possible tags. Those tag numbers build to a suspect.” That work is done by a team of analysts such as Kortney Calhoun. “We’re kind of like the detective’s detective,” Calhoun said. “We kind of reach in and get the further information, deeper information that they are looking for and piece it all together in one report and send it off to them.” It works. In one homicide case, within days they identified a suspect and arrested him. Crimefighters staff the center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can see the cameras in every school. “Six thousand bus stops; 97,000 kids go to school in this county,” Marceno said. All aircrafts. “See what airplane is in the air, how high, how fast,” Marceno said. Every traffic camera and where every deputy is in real-time. “The ability to press a button and see where our police and sheriff vehicles are,” Marceno said. And this lets the sheriff “surge resources” or respond in mass, as the department did recently for a call of a missing infant. Analysts quickly pinpointed where the call came from, sent the information to patrol and, “Within an hour to an hour and a half, thank, God, we found that infant; the infant was safe and because of this real-time crime center,” Marceno said. They can even see video from their drones. But the capabilities of this high-tech tool doesn’t end there. In a crisis, the RTIC serves as an operations center for all of the agencies in Southwest Florida. “DEA, FBI, ATF, our school district, our fire/EMS,” Marceno said. They share intelligence with law enforcement throughout the state. “We have an intel call; it’s a weekly call, and it’s constantly sharing that information with other counties and other police departments in the entire state,” Marceno said. The RRTIC even keeps tabs on potential social media threats. “Having the ability to have someone write something on social media, where it flags and it comes to us, and we’re in front of it. We’re proactive,” Marceno said. “Being reactive, we fail.” Marceno told us that none of these capabilities existed when he got to the sheriff’s office nine years ago, and it’s hard to imagine what will be added in the future. His favorite part of the RTIC is it didn’t cost taxpayers a dime. It’s all funded with forfeiture money.