City of Pueblo speeds up crime response with ALPR

The city

Pueblo is one of the most historic and culturally diverse cities in southern Colorado, United States. Located along the Arkansas River and about 100 miles south of Denver, the city offers residents a small-town feel with big-city amenities and access to endless outdoor activities. Visitors are also drawn to Pueblo’s lively festivals, vibrant art scene, and sunny year-round climate. But even this small, family-friendly city isn’t immune to crime. That’s why the Pueblo PD embraces a technology-forward policing strategy, focused on better protecting and serving their community.

The challenge

When the City of Pueblo secured funding to launch a tech-driven, real-time crime center (RTCC), the PD moved quickly to bring that vision to life. As part of that initiative, they were looking to expand their vehicle investigation capabilities. With prior experience using automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) technology, they knew more vehicle data would help them track suspects and leads faster, and better support officers in the field during incident response.

Why the City of Pueblo chose Genetec

When the Pueblo PD built the RTCC, they decided on Genetec to provide a unified public safety platform and bring various policing technologies into one view. Today, video surveillance, gunshot detection, ALPR, and drone technology all connect back to their RTCC. Wanting to expand their vehicle investigation capabilities, the Pueblo PD saw that Genetec Cloudrunner was the clear choice. The cameras were quick to deploy and fit seamlessly into their existing tech stack. As a cloud-based ALPR solution, Cloudrunner would also offer instant access to updates, new features, and support from the Genetec team.

Enhancing RTCC operations with ALPR data

When an emergency call or gunshot alert comes in, RTCC staff immediately gather and share real-time information with responding officers. They can track vehicles with ALPR data and pull up video from nearby cameras to find out where suspects are headed. According to Sergeant Jeremey Mathews at the Pueblo PD, “Cloudrunner gives our RTCC technicians and officers an extra set of eyes to identify suspects and track criminals on the move. It’s an invaluable tool for our RTCC operations.”

Speeding up investigations using vehicle characteristics

Within Cloudrunner, RTCC operators can search ALPR data using vehicle make, model, type, color, and partial or full plate numbers or narrow results by time and location to find vehicle leads fast. In one case, investigators’ best lead was "a 2012ish white Ford truck, with some distinct features". Using this, they filtered through ALPR data and found the exact truck they were looking for. That led to getting a search warrant for the suspect’s home and, later, a conviction for murder. “Without the ALPR data, we might not have solved this case. That identification of the truck broke the case open in one shift,” said Mathews.

Receiving alerts to vehicles in crime databases

The Pueblo PD currently has Cloudrunner connected to the Colorado Crime Information Center (CCIC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) databases. Divisions such as patrol, homicide, narcotics, property crime, and fugitive can also create custom watchlists. When Cloudrunner detects a plate on one of those lists, the RTCC is alerted. RTCC operators can then work with investigators or officers on patrol in real time to help recover stolen vehicles and track down potential suspects.

Keeping tabs on crime hotspots in Pueblo

When required, the Pueblo PD can expand ALPR deployment to crime hotspots and other areas. Cameras can easily be moved to new locations. Though this doesn’t stop perpetrators from committing crimes, it does give the Pueblo PD tools to catch them and solid evidence for the District Attorney’s Office to prosecute them.