Chicopee City Council approves funding for Real-Time Information Center analysts

Mayor John Vieau talks to the City Council about an allocation to fund three Real-Time Information Center analysts at the July 7 meeting.
Photo credit: ChicopeeTV

CHICOPEE — Positions in Chicopee that were originally slashed from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department budget will now be restored thanks to a recent appropriation.

At its July 7 meeting, the City Council unanimously approved $219,000 to fund three analysts at its Real-Time Information Center.

The appropriation comes almost three months after Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi announced that, due to budget restraints, his department would no longer fund multiple partnerships with police departments throughout the county, including the collaboration with Chicopee.

Before the cuts, the Sheriff’s Department staffed three full-time analysts at the city’s Real-Time Information Center, a five-person operation that uses camera networks and AI-assisted software to support investigations and public safety efforts across Hampden County.

During the City Council meeting on July 7, Mayor John Vieau presented an order to appropriate $219,000 to the Police Special Account for Hampden County Sheriff’s Office Real-Time Information Center analysts from available funds in the fiscal year 2027 tax levy.

“This was an oversight in the budget,” Vieau stated. “In order to maintain the Real-Time Information Center and to continue protecting our community, we have come up with an MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] to keep those three employees on payroll in the Sheriff’s Department, where they’re actually paid through the police budget. It was in the budget, but it was put in the wrong area, so we need, for clarity, to allocate these funds out of the levy.”

Chicopee Police Captain Doug Lambert explained that to make sure this money was allocated, the Chicopee Police Department took $33,750 from a software they received at a 50% discount. They also took $135,250 from public safety technology and $50,000 from camera installation and maintenance in their budget to make sure they had $219,000 for the analysts.

The RTIC, which was founded in 2025, aims to strengthen the department’s ability to organize, verify, and share critical information during serious incidents and investigations, according to the city. The center provides real-time operational support, investigative assistance, and crime analysis, serving as a centralized hub where information can be rapidly accessed, analyzed and shared.

The operations center covers any public safety matter, from major to minor, and operates on an incident-driven model. Camera systems, digital evidence tools, and investigative databases are used only to support active incidents, emergencies or investigations, according to the city.

The system also incorporates the use of artificial intelligence to help the analysts work with the officers to try to identify a person or vehicle when reporting a crime. Analysts can also step in to help communicate with other officers during a pursuit.