MPO seeks formal data-sharing MOU with Las Cruces Police Department to enrich crash analysis

Mesilla Valley MPO staff presented a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Las Cruces Police Department that would allow the MPO to access LCPD crash reports for research purposes and aggregate safety analysis. Staff said the MOU codifies use limits: the data would be used for research only, personal information would not be released, and the MPO would not directly distribute individual crash reports.

MPO staff described the local crash-data landscape: UNM-provided statewide crash data has a roughly two-year lag, and law-enforcement agencies maintain case-level records in TraCS (traffic and criminal software). The MOU with LCPD would give staff access to TraCS records for the city; staff said they plan to pursue similar MOUs with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, Mesilla Marshal’s Office and New Mexico State University Police to obtain a more complete dataset for the MPO planning area.

Board members asked how staff would access the records and whether data could provide timelier trend indicators than the UNM dataset. Katrina Provenga of MPO staff said TraCS access would be from staff desktops; Andrew Ray and staff cautioned that TraCS is not well indexed for dynamic queries and that case-number lookup is often required, which limits rapid, automated trend analysis. Staff said any public reporting would be aggregate-level to protect privacy and to comply with the draft MOU. Board members suggested exploring dispatch-center call data as an additional near-real-time indicator.

Staff said LCPD has already reviewed and accepted the draft MOU; the board was asked to provide feedback and to support staff efforts to secure like agreements with other local law enforcement agencies.