Aurora Police Department leaders presented the department's proposed 2025 budget to the Aurora Special Finance Committee on Nov. 4, asking the council to fund new sworn officers and supervisors, several civilian positions, technology tools and vehicle purchases and to renew a three-year ShotSpotter contract.

The presentation, delivered by the Police Chief and Deputy Chief Thomas, laid out personnel needs including a request for eight additional sworn officers and two frontline sergeants, a second civilian digital forensic investigator, a public safety media coordinator and a management assistant for the records division. "For the 2025 budget year, we are asking for 8 additional officers to further meet the expectations of our community and continue down the path of making Aurora 1 of the safest cities in The US," Deputy Chief Thomas said.

The police senior staff tied staffing requests to changing duties and workload. Deputy Chief Thomas said Aurora's authorized sworn strength rose in recent years to 326 but that midyear retirements and training throughput left the department at 321 sworn officers in autumn; he estimated about 30 officers are commonly unavailable at any time because of extended absences or training. Commander Steve Stemmott described a separate urgent need in digital forensics, saying the department's single civilian digital-forensics specialist had processed "over 51 terabytes of digital evidence" this year to date and that Naperville, a smaller neighboring agency, fields a three-person team for comparable work.

Technology, training and community-response items were part of the packet. The department asked to renew its ShotSpotter gunfire-detection contract for three years, saying the system had helped locate confirmed shootings and evidence the department would otherwise have missed. "We are asking to renew our ShotSpotter contract for the next 3 years so that we can continue to keep our residents safe," a commander said, adding that funds to pay for 2025 were already allocated from remaining ARPA funds. The presentation included usage statistics: through September the department recorded 52 confirmed shootings citywide in 2024, 25 of which were inside the ShotSpotter coverage area; of those 25, 10 lacked corresponding 911 calls and were discovered only via ShotSpotter alerts. Since deployment the department reported 19 arrests and 17 firearms seized linked to the system.

Staff also proposed several software and equipment purchases: a social-media monitoring tool called Tangles for the Critical Incident Intelligence Center; a personnel, training and equipment-tracking system called PS Tracker to centralize credentials and inventory; expansions to the cadet tuition reimbursement program to fund up to 12 cadets rather than the current capacity for about five; subscriptions for traffic message boards used for speed monitoring and event wayfinding; and replenishment of printer paper for squad-car mobile printers. Lieutenant Andy Walcott described Tangles as a tool that would continuously search platforms including Reddit, Telegram, Discord and portions of the dark web, and said other municipalities had used it.

The records division asked for a management assistant after reporting rising Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) work and U-visa applications: FOIA requests rose from roughly 4,200 in 2022 to about 4,800 projected in 2024, and U-visa applications rose from 81 in 2022 to a projected more-than-100 this year. The department said U-visa processing and FOIA work have legal deadlines and require dedicated staff time.

Fleet and uniform requests were explained in detail. The department asked to replace 16 aging squad vehicles as part of its ongoing replacement cycle and separately requested funding to acquire up to 10 additional squad cars to give the fleet flexibility for maintenance and unplanned downtime. Presenters gave a per-vehicle purchase estimate in the materials of about $55,000 and an estimated total procurement and setup cost for 10 new vehicles of about $831,000; officials noted some published packet pages contained mismatched line items and said they would provide corrected figures before final authorization. The department also requested funding to support a growing uniform budget and to cover canine medical costs, citing higher medical needs as K9s age and noting an added bloodhound in 2023.

On training and evidence management, presenters asked to allocate asset-forfeiture funds to cover specialized training (narcotics and task-force officers) so those travel costs would be available without repeated budget amendments. Commander Stemmott and other presenters emphasized the volume of digital evidence collected: "When he was at the AG's office his busiest year involved the extraction and processing of approximately 7 terabytes of digital evidence. In 2023 at APD he handled over 6 times that amount or 43 terabytes," Stemmott said of the department's digital-forensics specialist, Jacob LeSure.

Committee members pressed for data and process clarity. Alex Alexander, the city's chief management officer, said the city plans to put a staffing study out to bid in 2025 and bring a consultant selection to council for approval before the next budget process so the city will have an evidence-based target for future staffing levels. "We put out to bid for a staffing study...we hope to bring a selection to council for approval and then commence that staffing study in 2025," Alexander said. Aldermen also asked about performance-measure projections in the packet after staff noted that some 2025 projections in the budget book appeared lower than 2024 actuals, a discrepancy staff said they would review.

No formal budget votes occurred at the meeting. The committee concluded with a procedural motion to adjourn from Alderman Buck, seconded by Alderman Warman; the motion passed by voice vote. The Special Finance Committee's next scheduled budget meeting was noted for Dec. 3.

Why it matters: Aurora's police-budget decisions affect staffing levels, response capacity, technology used in investigations and recurring contract expenditures. The presentation combined near-term purchasing requests (vehicles, software, supplies), personnel increases with projected hiring timelines, and commitments to studies that will shape long-term staffing targets.

Sources: Presentation by Aurora Police Department staff and committee discussion at the Nov. 4 Special Finance Committee meeting.

Ending note: Staff committed to deliver corrected vehicle and procurement figures to the committee prior to final budget authorization; the committee requested the staffing-study scope and vendor-selection timeline be brought forward as part of the 2025 planning process.