Las Cruces council approves $1.1M to create police real-time crime center amid data-privacy questions

The Las Cruces City Council voted May 6 to authorize a $1,100,000 budget adjustment from the Tel Shore Fund to renovate police facilities and equip a real-time crime center meant to provide situation awareness and faster investigative capability. Leanne Dimuch presented the staff recommendation and noted the item changes the FY24 capital improvement plan.

Police Chief Jeremy Storey described the center as a facility to "provide critical support for the officers, facilitate swift suspect identification and foster real time situation awareness." He told councilors the Tel Shore allocation will pay for building renovations and in-house equipment and stressed that "this money will be used not necessarily for technology that's collecting any data. This will be used for the renovations and the equipment and technology inside the police department itself." Storey said existing intersection cameras and license-plate readers would be accessible to the department and that the city would maintain ownership of the data, emphasize CJIS-compliant security, keep retention limits, and implement audits and access controls.

Several councilors voiced concerns about surveillance scope and corporate data handling. Councilor Crick asked for a framework to analyze how data are collected, stored, and which vendors might be involved, citing risks of third-party use. Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo and others pressed Chief Storey on data-sharing agreements and said information would be shared with regional partners (for example, the sheriff's office) only under specific memoranda of understanding.

In public comment, supporters emphasized officer safety and investigative value. Shauna Pfeiffer asked whether the center could help prevent another officer death and concluded, "Without question." Other residents said improved tools would help deter and solve property crimes and assault. Opponents and privacy advocates asked the council to require strict retention limits, auditing, and transparency about vendor relationships before full rollout.

Councilors voted to approve the budget adjustment. Staff and the police department said next steps include finalizing contracts, specifying technology vendors (if any), drafting data-sharing MOUs with partner agencies, and establishing written retention and audit policies.