GCU opens real-time operations center to boost law enforcement presence along 27th Avenue Corridor

PHOENIX — Officials with Grand Canyon University recently opened a new public safety center along a west Phoenix corridor known for drug trafficking and prostitution.

“It’s been prostitution, drugs and other criminal activity along 27th Avenue between Northern and Indian School for a couple decades,” GCU President Brian Mueller told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

The corridor is adjacent to Grand Canyon University, which has invested $170 million into redeveloping the 27th Avenue Corridor over the past decade.

University officials opened the GCU Public Safety Dispatch and Real Time Operations Center on Tuesday. The center, which is located at 234 N. 27th Ave., provides real-time intelligence tools to help both police officers and security guards patrolling on and near the campus.

Role of Grand Canyon University in cleaning up 27th Avenue Corridor

The center also adds office space, interview rooms, evidence storage and personal lockers for uniformed patrol officers and investigators. GCU police will also work with the police departments in Phoenix and Glendale to provide increased crime detection technology.

It’s the latest move GCU has made to help cut down on crime in the area near its Phoenix campus.

“Crime is down 34% in the last five years,” Mueller said. “Violent crime is down 20% in the last two years.”

A neighborhood coalition has had wide-reaching effects on the 27th Avenue Corridor revitalization efforts, he added.

“We started organizing local schools, churches and businesses to become part of what we call the 27Collab,” Mueller said.

The coalition meets three times a year and flushes the area with money for public safety projects. GCU puts in the majority of the cash, but other groups also contribute, he added.

Why GCU president is passionate about fighting crime along 27th Avenue Corridor in Phoenix

“We want this community to be safe for the people that live here; 95% of them are really good people,” Mueller said. “They’re family-oriented. They’re hard-working. They’re immigrants, many of them.”

Mueller said it’s wrong and unfair that people with less money are living in the middle of a hub of criminal activity.

“Parents were walking their kids to school and just walking right around drug dealing and prostitution,” Mueller said. “We’re determined to get it all out of there. ”

He said he’s excited about the city of Phoenix setting aside money to beautify the 27th Avenue Corridor.

“We’re going to widen sidewalks and we’re going to plant trees,” Mueller said. “I think it can be a model that can be in a lot of other places.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Colton Krolak contributed to this report.

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