WEST VALLEY CITY — Inside a room filled with screens and live feeds, analysts at the West Valley City Police Department are working quietly behind the scenes, tracking crime as it unfolds.
Ben Tippetts, who’s an intelligence analyst with the department, says every call is different. “I think that just keeps us on our toes,” Tippetts said on Wednesday.
But for Tippetts, the reasons behind showing up every day to the job remains the same. “Being able to help victims and help witnesses solve cases and bring people to justice is what motivates me,” he explained.
Tippetts isn’t out on patrol. Instead, he works inside the department’s "Real Time Crime Center" — a tool designed to help officers solve cases as they happen.
The department launched the Real Time Crime Center in January 2025. The department says the center now operates seven days a week during their busiest hours. Police say they are among a few agencies using this kind of system.
On Wednesday, the department answered community questions about the center during its monthly “Ask the Chief” meeting which was live streamed on Facebook. One resident asked how the process works. “When a call comes out that I think I can help on, I’ll typically flip on their body cameras,” Tippetts explained. “This sends an alert to the officer that we’re following along and watching in real time.”
As officers respond in the field, analysts like Tippetts are already digging into databases and gathering information. “There’s now often cases where we can get a suspect arrested the same day,” he said. “And oftentimes that suspect might still be in possession of evidence, which can also help with that case.”
Before the center launched, the process looked different: a call came in, an officer responded, then the case moved to a detective. Analysts were brought in later.
“It saves many, many hours of investigation,” Tippetts explained.
“For so long, our officers have been one part of the puzzle, and our intelligence analysts have been another,” Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokesperson for West Valley City police said. “What this Real Time Crime Center has done is bring those two puzzle pieces together and connect them in a way that benefits the community in an unheard-of way.”
