FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 10, 2024
Pueblo Police Department Wins Inaugural CopTech Forum – Axon Agency of the Year for Police Technology Innovation
Pueblo, CO— The first annual CopTech Forum - Axon Agency of the Year for Innovation in Police Technology was awarded to the Pueblo Police Department on August 16, 2024. This is the only award of its kind, recognizing a police agency for use of technology to improve how it protects the safety and well-being of its community and officers, while advancing the values of integrity, courage, service, fairness, trustworthiness, responsiveness, and communication.
The award was presented at the 2024 CopTech Forum in Denver, an event for police technology, and co-sponsored by Axon, a global leader in public safety technology. Axon invented the TASER® device and is the largest provider of body-worn police cameras, among other innovations.
The Pueblo Police Department earned the Agency of the Year honor by successfully deploying multiple public safety technologies from an investment of over $2.5 million, funded by the American Rescue Plan along with State and Federal grants. The city has used these tools to help reduce violent crime in Pueblo. The Police Department has built a state-of-the-art Real-Time Crime Center, a central hub which integrates information from multiple sources, including live camera feeds from known problem locations, automated gunshot detection, field sensors, drones, an improved database of the history of crime locations and perpetrators, and live activity described on social media. Prior to the new initiative, the City’s number of 9-1-1 calls per year exceeded Pueblo’s population. Chief of Police Chris Noeller said, “We are now policing in a more proactive manner, with a new awareness of what is happening live, so our officers can respond more quickly and with better knowledge of the situation before they arrive. These tools allow us to better protect the people of Pueblo and keep officers safer as well.”
Implementation of these technologies took a joint effort from the City’s IT Department and support from City of Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham, Pueblo City Council, and Chief Noeller’s leadership.
Mayor Graham added, “These tools, and the police professionals who use them, ensure that we’re providing better policing based on actual events, and making our public safety efforts more equitable and transparent for the public we serve.”
Deputy Chief James Martin, Captain Kenny Rider, and Sergeant Jeremy Mathews oversaw the effort to select and implement multiple technologies and accepted the award on behalf of the Pueblo Police Department.
Three finalists were also recognized at the awards: the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, the Cook County, Illinois Sheriff’s Office (which serves Chicago and the surrounding County), and the Columbus, Georgia Police Department. Las Vegas employed new technology to better track and account for officer training. Cook County dramatically reduced the time to serve critical Orders of Protection, the documents that keep violent offenders away from targeted victims who are often abused spouses, using new technology that replaced a slow paper system, meaning citizens were afforded lifesaving protection from predators more quickly. And in Columbus, Georgia, the police department used multiple new resources, deploying a new dispatch and records system, staffing five drone pilots to provide first-on-the-scene views to respond to rising gang violence, and adding crime analysts to be able to position and deploy resources more effectively. In addition to better results on the street, the Columbus effort actually reduced operating costs for the department.
The CopTech Forum - Axon Awards are the first awards to recognize the successful use of technology to create more professional policing. The criteria for recognition include successful demonstration of results and improvements in public safety, community security and well-being, and protection of officers. Agencies must also demonstrate that the efforts were incorporated with integrity, fairness, and community transparency as part of the effort. Agencies may use any brand or source for technology deployments, and are recognized for successes based on software, hardware, or process improvements.
Left to right: Real-Time Crime Center Team – Hannah-Lee Mock, Thomas Kelley, Captain Kenny Rider, Sergeant Jeremy Mathews, Deputy Chief James Martin, and Britney Lyon
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For more information, contact Scott Goldman, Chairman, CopTech Forum, at (973) 476-2476.
CopTech Forum, in its 18th year, is the national event where technology leaders from police agencies can share best practices and exchange ideas about technology and innovation. This year’s event included Chief of IT for the New York Police Department and the Deputy Chief for Technology at Los Angeles Police Department, the nation’s two largest municipal police agencies.
Axon, inventors of the TASER, records, securely stores, and retrieves more police body camera footage than any other organization. Axon also supplies police with in-car video, evidence management, operations support, and more to police, fire, EMS, justice, and corrections agencies around the world.
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Bianca Hicks TELEPHONE 719-553-2517
Pueblo Police Department Community Engagement Manager RELEASE # 0824-009