EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Las Cruces Police Department has launched a new Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) that officials said will allow law enforcement personnel to be more proactive than reactive when responding to a call.
“This has the ability to change things in a very drastic way. Being able to give those officers real-time information as they’re responding to scenes, allowing them to better make a decision when they get there,” Lieutenant Peter Bradley, with LCPD’s Criminal Investigations Division, said.
The RTCC will be run by technicians and commissioned officers who are able to tap into live closed-circuit, drone and body-worn video to monitor events in real-time, so vital information can be shared with officers out in the field.
The RTCC crew will also be tasked with retrieving data, premises, and subject history, and relay that information to responding officers in real-time.
“They can start researching what that address is and get that information to the office. Find out maybe who is there? What kind of criminal history do they have? Relay that to the supervisors so they can make that decision of, ‘Do I need to send more resources? Or more importantly, do I need to go to a supervisor myself?’” Bradley said.
LCPD Chief Jeremy Story said the RTCC will help level the playing field for his officers responding to crime scenes and make up for their lack of manpower.
“Take our staffing levels, which are not optimal right now for a lot of departments. So, how do we continue to deal with crime? How do we do more with less? And this is one of those ways. We use technology to fill the gaps between not having enough officers,” Story said.
The RTCC was built for $2 million through several local, state, and federal funding resources.
LCPD officials said the RTCC has been operational for a few weeks, but that they are still testing different drone vendors to see which manufacturer to enter into an agreement with.
“This is meant to improve the lives of our citizens, the vast majority of our citizens. Those who are just trying to live their lives, raise their family, operate their business, go to work, go to school in a safe environment,” Story said. “For those that are committing criminal acts, this is going to make their life harder, and it’s going to make it harder for them to victimize other Las Cruceans.”
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