Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) — Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina were joined Friday by District Attorney Bregman, state legislators and local and tribal law enforcement officials, business leaders to roll out the City’s 2024 Metro Crime Initiative legislative agenda and highlighted plans to expand the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) to benefit communities throughout the region. Additional funding and expansion of the RTCC are one of the City’s top asks for 2024 under the Metro Crime Initiative (MCI). Since Mayor Keller launched MCI in 2021, it has brought key players in the criminal justice system together fix gaps in the criminal justice system and clean up crime.
Mayor Keller and Chief Medina led a tour today for legislators and law enforcement leaders to show how the facility helps APD fight crime and solve cases. The Real Time Crime Center is finalizing facility and technology upgrades thanks to funding from area legislators.
“We have rebuilt APD’s Real Time Crime Center to make it an invaluable hub of our technology and crime-fighting strategies,” Mayor Tim Keller said. “We want to invite law enforcement partners to take advantage of the RTCC and make it a regional center that benefits all of our communities. We are not solving crime if criminals jumping from one community to another to avoid arrest. We need to work together to stay ahead of the criminal activity.”
APD’s Real Time Crime Center started as resource to convey “real time” information to officers as they responded to calls for service. Employees accessed information about specific individuals or locations to help officers determine how to approach a situation.
The Real Time Crime Center has evolved into a true real-time resource that can access modern technology like live cameras throughout the city, including schools; ShotSpotter gun detection systems; automated license plate readers; anti-auto theft technology like bait cars and Star Chase tracking devices; and a state-of-the-art helicopter. The RTCC is fully staffed with professional analysts.
“Mayor Keller has invested in state-of-the art law enforcement technology to help our officers fight crime,” Chief Harold Medina said. “The RTCC brings all of that technology into focus so it complements what are officers are doing. Albuquerque will benefit from expanding to a regional RTCC and those nearby communities will get access to resources that already exist.”
Metro Crime Initiative
Mayor Keller is requesting legislative funding through the Metro Crime Initiative to create a regional Real Time Crime Center and further invest in the technology used by the RTCC to fight crime. Those requests include:
- $20 million expansion of the Real Time Crime Center
- $10 million in new cameras to help coordinate law enforcement operations in the Metro region including but not limited to cameras and LPR’s for Nob Hill, Uptown and West Central
- $10 million to expand gun detection technology
The full list of 2024 MCI priorities can be downloaded on our website: cabq.gov/mci
