ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has big plans for the new year. The department is expanding on its goals from last year, and it’s going high tech to reach those goals.

“As far as artificial intelligence is concerned, we are looking into report writing, we are looking into AI as far as license plate readers,” said John Allen, BCSO sheriff.

In 2023, they started using Flock technology to gather information on cars driving into certain Albuquerque businesses. In the new year, Sheriff Allen wants to expand on that technology.

“It’s going to allow deputies to have more information at their fingertips and respond to calls safely, accordingly, and faster. We put all our stats out on our website so one of the things we have focused on is our great response time as far as priority one, priority two, priority three calls. I am always looking to cut those down for a quicker response,” Allen said.

All the deputies are also now fully outfitted with new Axon body cameras. The new system allows dispatch to always see the location of deputies.

They can also connect the mental health professionals or translators on site.

“We have livestreamed plenty of calls. The command staff and I can look at calls live and that is important for us to see even for priority and protocol and standard operating procedures. What we need to change,” the sheriff said.

Aside from more technology, Allen has his sights on another goal for their Behavioral Health Unit.

“The amount of Crisis Intervention Team advanced deputies that we have I want to say we are approaching 40%. Eventually, I want every deputy to be advanced in that area. That takes time and that is part of the de-escalation that we were talking about,” he said.

BCSO will be having a roundtable next week to discuss some of their legislative priorities.