The Santa Monica Police Department officially launched a centralized real-time crime operations hub Monday, marking what city officials described as a significant shift in how the department prevents and responds to crime.
The Santa Monica Analytical Real-Time Center, known as the SMART Center, integrates the city's camera network, drone operations, live 911 monitoring and advanced video analytics into a single command platform. SMPD announced the launch April 21.
"This is a significant step forward in how we deliver public safety," Chief Darrick Jacob said. "The SMART Center allows us to operate with greater precision, coordinate in real time, and proactively address crime trends while maintaining our commitment to transparency and accountability."
Funding for the center came from a $6.125 million competitive grant awarded through the California Board of State and Community Corrections' Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program.
Center Capabilities
Unlike traditional systems that rely on after-the-fact investigation, the SMART Center is designed to support both real-time response and proactive enforcement. During active incidents, SMART personnel can pull information from multiple sources simultaneously, coordinate aerial support through drone deployment and provide officers in the field with a continuous operational picture.
A primary focus of the center is combating organized retail theft, which officials described as a regional and statewide problem affecting Santa Monica's commercial districts. By integrating live video feeds and regional information-sharing systems, the department said it is better positioned to identify theft patterns, track repeat offenders and coordinate with outside agencies to disrupt criminal networks that operate across jurisdictional boundaries.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman praised the launch, saying real-time crime intelligence centers have become a national standard in modern policing.
"This cutting-edge technology helps our already highly trained officers have more robust evidence-collection which leads to greater crime prevention and, most importantly, fewer victims," Hochman said. "At the District Attorney's Office, this technology helps the prosecution to gather stronger evidence for our cases as we seek justice for victims."
SMPD had already been using SMART Center capabilities in the field before the physical facility was completed, applying the tools to support investigations and coordinate deployments. Officials said the fully operational center now unifies those capabilities in a single environment.
Mayor Caroline Torosis connected the launch directly to the city's broader economic recovery.
"Safe streets are the foundation of Santa Monica's comeback," Torosis said. "The new businesses opening, the visitors returning, the investment flowing back into our corridors — all of it depends on people feeling safe here."
Changes at SMPD
The SMART Center is one component of a sweeping public safety overhaul the Santa Monica City Council unanimously adopted Oct. 28, 2025. The Realignment Plan deployed $60 million in city reserves across five priorities, with safe neighborhoods and clean streets leading the list. The plan doubled the Downtown Services Unit to 8-10 officers daily, added eight non-sworn public safety officers and expanded the City Attorney's criminal unit. A March 2026 update to the plan added a new police captain specifically to oversee the SMART Center.
The department has also been building out related infrastructure. A downtown substation at Santa Monica Place — 863 square feet — was announced in October 2025 and broke ground March 6.
Those investments come against the backdrop of measurably improved crime statistics. SMPD's 2025 Annual Crime Report, released March 25, recorded 4,194 Part I offenses, down 599 from 4,793 the year prior — a 12.5 percent decrease. Total arrests rose 22.9 percent to 3,446, and traffic citations doubled to 5,723. Officer-initiated activity climbed from 40 percent of workload in 2024 to 43 percent in 2025, and reached 51 to 53 percent in the first quarter of 2026.
The numbers represent a reversal from a difficult 2024, when the department logged six homicides — up from one in 2023 — and a record 128,820 calls for service.
The department also reached full sworn staffing in early 2026 for the first time in more than 20 years, with roughly 232 officers on the force and 391 new applications received between January and March. Chief Jacob, a 21-year SMPD veteran, was appointed permanent chief Dec. 19, 2025, and sworn in Jan. 14, 2026, becoming the first chief promoted internally in more than 40 years.
City Attorney Heidi von Tongeln, confirmed permanently in March 2026, has raised the department's misdemeanor filing rate from roughly 65-70 percent to approximately 88 percent, with case submissions jumping 40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025.