The bill now sits on President Trump’s desk and could be signed as early as next week.
STOCKTON, Calif. — Stockton police could soon receive more than $1 million in federal funding for a new high-tech tool designed to help officers respond to emergencies and solve crimes faster. The funding is part of a bipartisan bill that passed the Senate and is now on President Donald Trump’s desk, where it could be approved as early as next week.
The money would go toward building a real-time crime center at the Stockton Police Department, a centralized hub that allows law enforcement to manage and analyze large amounts of data in real time.
From a top-floor room in downtown Stockton, dispatchers already answer the city’s emergency calls and send officers from call to call throughout the day. The proposed upgrade would add new technology to support those efforts.
Rep. Josh Harder, a Democrat who represents Stockton in Congress, said modern law enforcement operations rely on far more technology and data than they did in the past.
According to the Department of Justice, managing that growing volume of information can be difficult without a real-time crime center.
“This is absolutely becoming necessary for law enforcement all across the Central Valley,” Harder said. “There is more and more tech and data that our law enforcement operations have today than they had five or ten years ago.”
Several agencies nearby already operate real-time crime centers. Sacramento and Modesto police launched theirs in 2016, and law enforcement officials in those cities say the centers have made a difference.
Modesto police posted a video to social media on Thursday showing a New Year’s Eve wire thief caught in the act. Dispatchers were able to direct officers and provide them with information using video and data from the city’s crime center.
At the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, Harder said the department’s real-time crime center is being used to comb through thousands of hours of footage from Stockton’s November mass shooting.
“You can combine drone footage, license plate footage, stuff online,” Harder said. “Basically, it’s a whole bunch of computers that is a one-stop shop for all sorts of technology that is coming in.”
That type of system could soon be coming to Stockton. Harder said more than $1 million has been secured for a real-time crime center at the Stockton Police Department.
“I’m really excited that we’ve been able to get more than one million dollars for a real-time crime center at the Stockton Police Department,” Harder said. “It’s going to be a high-speed, high-tech command center, real-time crime monitoring, world-class computing equipment.”
The Stockton center would differ from some others by also including a gunshot detection system, adding another tool for officers responding to crime. Stockton police declined to comment Friday, saying they are waiting for the funding to be finalized before doing interviews.
“This is a huge step forward to prevent crime in Stockton, which we know is absolutely necessary,” Harder said. “Ultimately, it’s going to mean safer streets, more criminals behind bars, and a safer community for everybody.”
Watch more from ABC10: Tracy police launch real-time crime center with new tech