But police have lagged behind a bit in implementing and merging those technologies.
“Everyone thinks technology is cameras,” Turk said. “But there’s so much more to it. And we have a lot of it, but we can be better in how we use it proactively to address public safety and address crime in a growing community.”
Soon, the department will take an enormous step in implementing a whole slew of new technology with the full launch of its Real-Time Information Center — which Commander Tanya Gutierrez hopes will come by spring of next year.
And while a lot of the fun stuff is still on its way as the department trudges through the last of the bureaucracy, on Thursday, a handful of key players involved — including Turk, Gutierrez and Sgt. Greg Ryan — showed off a few of the center’s existing capabilities at its current home, Fire Station 6 at 10603 W. 20th St. The center will move into a permanent home near the police department once the current space is vacated and renovated.
In an east portion of Station 6, four new real-time information technicians — hired just two months ago — each occupy a computer that sits below a TV screen. One technician is monitoring feeds from various intersection cameras. Another looks at a map of a handful of Greeley officers and their locations across the city.
As an officer launches a drone from the roof for a demonstration, the drone’s camera feed appears on one of the TVs. A car containing an officer’s body camera pulls out of the parking lot, and on another screen, that officer’s location is seen moving on a map.
While the drone follows the vehicle, police have both on-the-map and real-world views of the vehicle.
While in the center, Ryan laid out a scenario of tracking a shooting suspect who is fleeing the scene in a car.
“We can give officers the description of a car and potentially see the license plate,” Ryan said.
As the suspect drives, police can also track his location through traffic cameras and automated license plate readers throughout the city.
“There is potential for them to put up a drone, identify that car that we’re watching jumping from camera to camera. Or if there’s not a camera, it might hit on an (automated license plate reader),” Ryan said. “Then if we can get someone close enough, they throw up a drone and we have the overview.”
With city officials anticipating Greeley’s population to double by 2060, the center represents a more modern and efficient way of policing that is meant to keep up with the growing population, without having to expand the department’s man power.
“Instead of just throwing cops, cop cars and drones at the growth,” Turk said. “How can we better address our response times and public safety with the technology that is available today?”
The Department of Public Works is occupying the center’s forever home directly east of the Greeley Police Department for a few more months before the Real-Time Information Center can move in. Other than the building, the main thing Greeley police are waiting on is the technology that will let them store camera footage for 30 days, allowing for them to “go back in time,” as Gutierrez put it, and review footage. The technology also aims to streamline the process of accessing footage, whether it be from department cameras or others.
Greeley City Council approved the use of public safety tax funds for construction of the Real-Time Information Center , which is budgeted to cost $1.5 million. Once launched, the city’s public safety fund is set to cover the $700,000 price tag for annual operating costs.
Gutierrez hopes all the technology that is already on its way will be available in the first few months of 2025 — putting the timeline for full capability somewhere around next spring.
“We already use a lot of this technology,” Turk said. “Just in other areas of the police department.”
© 2024 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
