The Aurora Police Department fully opened its new Real Time Information Center this week, which helps officials respond more efficiently to emergencies and solve crime more quickly.

The system centralizes new and existing technology and allows officials to access key data instantly, according to police.

The center brings together technology, like facial recognition, drone operations and Flock license plate readers — integrated through Axon’s FUSUS platform — into one room with sworn officers joining professional staff to monitor crime in the city in real time and relay that information to patrol officers.

Axon FUSUS is a real-time operations and intelligence platform that integrates data and video from many sources, including public and private fixed camera systems, drones, body-worn cameras, license plate readers and other safety technology.

Early this week, officials launched the department’s Drones as First Responders program, finalizing the RTIC center’s operations.

Previously, it would take time for an officer or detective to access data that could assist in a case. Now when a call for services comes in, the real-time techs jump on the call and are able to look at city cameras, deploy drones, collect evidence and relay information to officers on the ground, according to Deputy Chief Phillip Rathbun.

“It’s bringing our tools, our technology, our talent, and our people together, in one combined place, to get real time information out to our officers to impact crime,” Rathbun told The Denver Gazette Wednesday during a tour of the center.

He pointed to a recent fatal hit-and-run case with no suspect information, saying APD’s staff in the RTIC were able to use license plate readers and city cameras to relay vital suspect information to officers on the street, who used the information to make an arrest in less than five hours.

“That’s something that would have taken our investigators probably weeks to backtrack and compile,” Rathbun said.

Currently at the RTIC, there are four civilian positions and two officer positions.

RTIC Technician Dillon Schneebeck stood in front of four large computer screens in the center Wednesday, monitoring live city-owned cameras and Flock license plate hits.

Around him, other officers operated drones, watched city camera footage and communicated with officers on calls.

Keara O’Toole, the center’s senior technician who helped create it, assisted an officer in identifying a shoplifter with a felony warrant, watching cameras to track the suspect’s vehicle and lead the officer on the street to an arrest.

“She provided that information in real time to identify the driver and vehicle,” Schneebeck explained while O’Toole monitored the arrest situation. “Instead of the officers worried about looking at this information while they’re driving, that’s something we can take off their hands.”

The feedback so far from officers has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Schneebeck said. As a former peace officer in Arapahoe County, Schneebeck added that the center would have helped him “immensely” in his previous job.

Since its initial opening in March, the RTIC has provided information to directly assist with 340 arrests, 222 stolen vehicle recoveries and 323 cleared calls, according to center data.

The RTIC is not constantly monitoring people going about their daily lives, Rathbun said, but rather focuses on calls for service, monitoring alerts of stolen vehicles and supporting active incidents.

“Crime is the focus,” Rathbun said.

Real time information centers are a growing field, he said, and Aurora is taking the lead in centralizing the technology into one location.

The first real time crime center in the United States was built in 2005 for the New York Police Department, according to Axon’s website. Since then, the technology has grown in capability and potential.

The Greeley Police Department launched an RTIC last year, police officials said, and are also implementing a Drones as First Responders program.

The Aurora Police Department did not respond to The Denver Gazette’s inquiry into the cost of the RTIC.