ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As the end of March nears, the Albuquerque Police Department is boasting a 126% homicide clearance rate. That means they have solved most of the homicides from this year, and many from last year.

This is a significant increase compared to the clearance rates from past years.

“If you look at 2021, we were right at 55% clearance rate, 50%–55%, and if you look at 2022, they ended at 92%, and in 2023 they were at 90%, so right now they are off to a really good started with 126% clearance rate,” said George Vega, APD deputy chief.

So what is APD doing differently in 2024?

“There is not just one thing that I could put my finger on and say that did it, there are a lot of different things that have been done that play into where we are today,” Vega said.

APD has doubled the number of people in the homicide unit. In 2022, they had nine detectives and now there are 16 detectives and two sergeants. Plus, the department has been implementing new technology both in the field and behind the scenes.

“From drones that they have for the crime scene teams, they use to get an overview of the crime scene from the sky, that’s been huge,” Vega said. “The different things we do with our digital intelligence team being able to look into cell phones and look into locations, being able to look into that. Or looking into Shot Spotter.”

APD is also using license plate readers and tapping into more than 10,000 cameras across the metro that feed into the Real Time Crime Center.

Vega also pointed out that there are limitations on how long video and license plate data is kept in house and who can access it.

For more Albuquerque crime statistics, click here.