SPECIAL REPORT: Police technology used to solve crimes
News 11's Valeria Rodriguez dives into technology that local police departments use
YUMA COUNTY, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Each day technology is advancing more and more. And some local police departments are finding ways to use it to their advantage to reduce the amount of crime happening in our community.
At the Yuma Police Department (YPD), they have a range of tools from drones to license plate readers, all made possible from the various amounts of grants.
“Keep our community safe that is our ultimate goal, you know we want to keep our community safe. Our officers live in this community too. We have families here too," said Sgt. Lori Franklin, Yuma Police Department Public Affairs.
YPD showed me one of the handy pieces of technology they use, a kite drone.
“They can only go up so high, but let’s say we have a fatality or a very serious injury car accident we want to be able to take a picture of the scene from up above," explained Sgt. Franklin.
License plate readers have also been crucial in tracking people down.
“I mean we have solved several crimes with this in itself. Stolen vehicles, looking for homicide suspects, burglary or robberies," stated Sgt. Franklin.
Each tool with a different purpose.
“The camera trailers, again we can high crime areas in the town. We can deploy these trailers out there to look for certain things," said Sgt. Franklin.
YPD also mentioned it does not just rely on its own technology, keeping the community safe is a group effort.
“I mean there’s technology all over the place. I mean it’s not just ours but it's everybody with their ring cameras or you know regular security cameras that assist us too. Technology in general is helping us solve crimes," shared Sgt. Franklin.
Earlier this year, they were able to get a grant of over $1 million.
“The more technology we get, the more grant money we are able to buy more trailers, more assets," said Sgt. Franklin.
In Yuma, there were seven homicides in 2022, 10 in 2023, and none so far this year.
The city saw 185 aggravated assaults in 2022. In 2023, they saw 176. In 2024, there have been 47.
For robberies, in 2022, the city of Yuma saw 54. In 2023, there were 47 robberies, and in 2024, there were only five.
Homicide:
- 2022 - seven homicides
- 2023 - 10 homicides
- 2024 - zero homicides
Aggravated Assault:
- 2022 - 185 aggravated assaults
- 2023 - 176 aggravated assaults
- 2024 - 47 aggravated assaults
Robberies:
- 2022 - 54 robberies
- 2023 - 47 robberies
- 2024 - five robberies
In another part of the county, the Somerton Police Department shared that the most common crime is domestic violence and typically, they go the virtual route to solve these crimes.
“So here in Somerton, you see more technology-based crimes rather than physical crimes, in a sense," shared Lt. Jose Garza, Somerton Police Department. “That is a trend nationwide I think. Technology is used, everyone owns a phone so phones are used a lot so that seems to be our biggest opportunity to solve some of these crimes.”
In 2022, Somerton police received 136 calls related to domestic violence, 160 calls in 2023, and 46 to date, saying they project at this rate to surpass 184 calls this year.
Domestic Violence:
- 2022 - 136 domestic violence calls
- 2023 - 160 domestic violence calls
- 2024 - 46 domestic violence calls
The Somerton Police Department was recently awarded a grant by the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.
Lt. Garza explained the grant is “to allow us to purchase a software called Greykey, similar to Cellebrite which is a more popular software to help us do downloads of phones and go through them."
The software would also allow them to review laptops when looking for evidence.
I asked Lt. Garza what it means for the community that they have more technology to which he answered, "It gives us the opportunity to solve crimes, right? Particularly when so much of our crime is through the internet."
Another piece of technology in the works is the BolaWrap, which was approved by the Somerton City Council in August 2023.
“We are still in the development of the policies and getting those reviewed and approved, should be here shortly we are excited to be able to have that tool for our community and for our officers," explained Lt. Garza.
The Somerton Police Department will also be receiving a drone in the upcoming months saying it will help them investigate crime quicker and more efficiently.
