City of Pueblo Receives $1 Million DOLA Grant for Real Time Crime Center

PUEBLO-The City of Pueblo received notice of award from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) for a $1,000,000 grant to assist with funding the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) with the Pueblo Police Department.

Recently Mayor of Pueblo Heather Graham, Chief of Pueblo Police Department Chris Noeller and Chief of Staff Brian McCain traveled to Montrose, Colo. to present before DOLA regarding this grant application. Consideration for the grant award was based on energy impact, degree of need, measurable outcomes, amount of request, relationship to community goals, level of local match and community support, management capacity, resiliency and readiness to go.

"This is the second $1 million award the City of Pueblo has received this year from the Department of Local Affairs which provides a tremendous influx of dollars for critical needs in our community," said Mayor of Pueblo Heather Graham. "While the Real Time Crime Center is already up and running, we are expanding the ShotSpotter technology, capacity and applying more upgrades to assist our officers during critical calls."

The RTCC went fully live in early July which includes technology like the ShotSpotter, officer worn body camera footage, drone footage when deployed by Pueblo Police Department, camera footage such as a doorbell camera or security cameras authorized by local homeowners or business owners, license plate readers and more. This technology allows non-sworn personnel to assist police officers in real time while on a call. The RTCC provides critical information to be relayed in a time of need during crisis or emergency.

"We are excited to receive this grant and looking forward to the increased capability this funding will bring to our Real Time Crime Center and our officers on the street," said Chief of Pueblo Police Department Chris Noeller.

Through the $1,000,000 award from DOLA, the City of Pueblo is required to match the award with an additional $1,000,000 for a total of $2,000,000 to be allocated to the RTCC.

To date, the RTCC has been utilized to help identify individuals with car theft, individuals with warrants to help other counties in Colorado make an arrest, car theft, shot detections that have been unreported to 9-1-1 and more crime related incidents. The DOLA grant specifically provides funding to increase ShotSpotter locations and fund upgrades to expand the footprint of technology deployed by Pueblo Police Department.

Through July 20 of this year, 676 incidents of shots being fired have been detected by the ShotSpotter and Pueblo Police Department is seeing benefits of the technology in their daily calls. Currently, the Pueblo Police Department has two ShotSpotter locations in two sections of the city, quadrant 2 and quadrant 3, which historically have the highest reports for call volume of gun related activity.