Authorities in the Mexican state of Chihuahua are spending millions of dollars in a high-tech fight to curb the illicit activities of transnational criminal organizations. At the heart of this push is the Sentinel Tower, a 20-story building nearing completion in Ciudad Juárez, the Latin Times online newspaper reported in May 2025.
When finished, the surveillance network that will operate from the building — the tallest in the El Paso,Texas-Juárez region — will have at its disposal high-tech surveillance equipment, including facial-recognition software, license plate readers and 4,400 mobile cameras.
A helipad is atop the tower, which is part of an $84 million investment. “This tower will be our command center,” Chihuahua Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya Chávez said during a media tour, according to Border Report, a U.S. news website. “As we build this platform, we also are installing arches (with security technology) over every major highway coming in and out of the state and its 13 largest cities.”
Authorities say the technology already has yielded results. “This is the result of using technology so the police can respond with more efficiency and with more ‘information,’” said Luis Aguirre, chief of staff for the Chihuahua police, according to Border Report. Surveillance data is being used to rescue kidnapping victims and build legal cases against suspects.
The tower is the core of Plataforma Centinela, a broader surveillance network that spans 13 major municipalities and includes over 2,700 smart monitoring points.