(PUEBLO, Colo.) — The latest tool to keep Pueblo safe is as modern as it gets. The Pueblo Police Department (PPD) recently opened a Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) using new technology to help officers do more with fewer resources.

“We have cameras from various locations throughout the community,” Chief Chris Noeller explained. “When the RTCC is open, we can help officers when they’re responding to calls, dispatch officers to different events as we see them happening.”

Pueblo’s Chief of Police describes the center as a force multiplier for a department still building its ranks.

“Technology helps us to be able to do more with fewer personnel, so that’s one reason why it’s important to stay up on technology,” Chief Noeller said. “Number two, the criminals are staying up on technology and using different technologies to commit their crimes. So staying up on technology, not just as it relates to the RTCC, but other types of technology, is super important.”

As of now, the department employs 188 people, with 153 working officers.

“I’m super proud of the way our department has risen and been able to do so much with the limited number of officers that we have,” Chief Noeller said. “To have our Part 1 crime down 8% overall is pretty incredible.”

PPD utilizes comp stat, which reports year-to-year comparison data of crimes, such as Part 1 crime, which includes aggravated assault, robbery, homicide, sexual assault, part one persons, arson, auto theft, burglary, theft/larceny, and part one property crime.

Recently, U.S. News and World Report named Pueblo one of the “Most Dangerous Places in the U.S. in 20225-2025,” but Chief Noeller said both his department’s and the FBI’s data show not even one city in Colorado is among the top 30.

“I challenge anybody to come audit our numbers, I’m not afraid to be looked at,” Chief Noeller said. “What we’re doing is real. The changes that we have made in our community are real.”

Through mid-August, the department reports that violent crime, like homicide, is down 40% overall, with nine homicides in 2025 compared to 15 homicides through Aug. 20, 2024. Drive-by shootings year to date, as of Aug. 20, are currently at 84 in total compared to 118 drive-by shootings through Aug. 20, 2024. Overall shootings, which include incidents or reports from a call for service for a suicide, homicide, or assault, total 55 in 2025, through Aug. 20, compared to 71 through Aug. 20, 2024.

“Pueblo does not belong on the top 10 most dangerous places to live, and this report does not paint an accurate picture of our community,” said Mayor Heather Graham. “While I agree there is still room for improvement to address crime, improve the quality of life for our citizens, and help everyone feel safer, we cannot ignore the data that supports crime is decreasing in Pueblo.”

While the department looks to add more cameras across the city, Chief Noeller said, “The immediate goal is to try to get additional staffing, so that we can operate that center 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

PPD also invites businesses and community members to register their own cameras to expand the crime center’s reach.

A state grant helped bring it to life, and Mayor Graham believes it’s a community investment.

“We used our second Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grant for $1 million, which we received last year, to help buy more cameras, subscriptions, and put more effort into the technology that you see today,” Mayor Graham said.

FOX21 News spoke with Pueblo’s Chief of Police and the Mayor to explore how the Real-Time Crime Center operates and what it means for the city’s future.

Both city leaders said that while the screens and software are impressive, it would not be a success without the people of Pueblo and its long-standing spirit of looking out for one another.

“You have decades and decades of families that have grown up here in Pueblo,” Mayor Graham said. “I’m one of those families, and I want to make the best out of my community.”

While Chief Noller said, “It’s a blue-collar, tough town that takes pride in what happens here, and I don’t think I would want to be the Chief anywhere else.”