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Fort Thomas budget funds phased replacement of patrol rifles, seeks drone funding and proposes four license-plate cameras using settlement funds
Summary
Police requested phased replacement of patrol rifles, staff recommended spreading purchases over three years with initial testing; the budget proposal also asks the city to seek grants for a drone and to deploy four Flock license-plate cameras funded partly through opioid-settlement and other restricted funds.
Fort Thomas city staff described several public-safety capital requests in the proposed budget: a phased program to replace patrol rifles, a request for a drone contingent on grant funding, and a proposal to purchase four Flock license-plate-reader cameras funded in part with restricted settlement and forfeiture funds.
Rifles and funding: staff said the police requested replacement of patrol rifles after jamming issues; the total replacement cost discussed was $25,000 for a set of rifles, with $10,000 coming from police forfeiture funds and $15,000 from the general capital fund. The presenter proposed phasing the purchases over three years and buying an initial set to field-test before committing to replace the entire fleet. “Let's buy the ones that they're wanting now and then let's test those for a year before we fund the rest,” the presenter said, adding that the chief agreed with the phased approach.
Drone request: the police asked for a drone in the $6,000–$7,000 range; staff recommended the department pursue a grant to pay for it this year rather than fund it from general capital.
License-plate cameras: staff proposed installing four Flock cameras at city entry and exit points (southbound Grand Avenue by the hospital and Memorial Parkway were cited as priority locations). The presenter said the cameras help investigations by enabling plate-based and partial-plate searches and that the city hopes to use opioid-settlement funds to cover some of the cost because those settlement rules allow certain public-safety expenditures. “We do have a portion [of the opioid settlement]…it mostly gets paid out with PD stuff because that's what the rules are,” the presenter said.
Why it matters: the equipment decisions affect investigative capacity, officer safety and privacy tradeoffs. Staff said license-plate database access is a force-multiplier for detectives and that other local departments already share data from their systems.
Next steps: staff recommended pursuing grants for the drone purchase, using forfeiture funds where permitted, and beginning with four Flock cameras rather than the larger deployment the department initially requested. Council gave no formal approval during the meeting; staff said it will return with final cost estimates and funding sources.
