City of Las Cruces unanimously votes to fund Real-Time Crime Center

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- The City of Las Cruces took another step Monday afternoon to try and combat persisting crime in the area.

City council voted unanimously during Monday's meeting to establish a Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC).

$1.1 million will be taken from the Telshor fund to start the RTTC, which the city notably used to fund their COVID-19 pandemic response in 2020.

The funds will be used to construct the center within Las Cruces Police Department’s existing headquarters.

Chief Jeremy Story first talked about establishing something of this nature back in March, shortly after Officer Jonah Hernandez was stabbed to death.

The center will utilize live feeds of existing intersection cameras and license-plate reading cameras to to provide real-time data of where crimes or situations are taking place, and to help the department determine a correct response.

Story says it will also help when it comes to suspect tracking on major crimes.

According to the city, violent crimes and property crimes have peaked dramatically over the last few years, with city data showing 73 percent and 71 percent increases respectively from 2018 to 2022.

“It’s not gonna be a silver bullet, it’s not gonna be a magic bullet," said Chief Story Monday.

"[But] it’s gonna help us do what we can’t do right now. There’s several calls and as I listen to these calls, I can visualize how the real time crime center would help officers solve it, and also be safer," he added.

Despite the unanimous vote, some questions regarding data recording from the center and privacy concerns were brought up by District 5 Councilor Becky Corran.

“I would hope that this would fix our problems, but not necessarily expanding surveillance to be shared with questionable corporations that are taking this information," said Corran during the meeting

Chief Story told council during the meeting that the data would only be owned by the Las Cruces Police Department, and the software vendor the department would use for monitoring cameras would not be able to own any of it.

Local business owner Vic Villalobos, an outspoken proponent for lowering crime ever since officer Hernandez was killed next to his property, said this is a huge step in the right direction.

“we know there’s still a long road to go down, but we’re here to support the chief," said Villalobos.

Chief Story adds he hopes to see a long-term real-time crime center constructed with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office in the future.