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Police answer budget questions on vacancies, recruitment and new community programs; data projects and STRIVE domestic‑violence grant highlighted
Summary
Chief Smith and senior police leaders told council the department is roughly 120 sworn officers short and described steps on recruitment, new collaborative programs (group violence intervention, STRIVE domestic‑violence effort), data projects and community‑based initiatives while noting vacancy‑driven overtime and operational strain.
Rochester Police Department leadership told the finance committee the department currently has approximately 120 sworn vacancies, is reorganizing staffing to reduce mandatory overtime, and is deploying a mix of community programs and data investments to reduce violent crime.
The department said it has taken new recruiting steps — more outreach, partnerships with schools and Pathways programs, updated promotional materials and two testing cycles annually — and described measures to speed the hiring pipeline by bringing parts of background processing in‑house and using state hiring programs.
Nut graf: police leaders said the staffing shortage (about 120 sworn vacancies at the time of the hearing) constrains operations but that a combination of community‑facing programs (group violence intervention, STRIVE domestic‑violence grant), data modernization and targeted recruitment appear to be improving clearance rates for serious violent crimes while the department balances overtime, vendor coverage and neighborhood deployment.
Programs and data: the department described Group Violence Intervention (a collaborative, intelligence‑led approach that coordinates investigative, federal and prosecutorial partners) and described a new $383,000 STRIVE grant to join a statewide program focused on reducing intimate‑partner violence; the STRIVE effort will partner with county agencies, Willow (service provider) and the district attorney and use a danger‑assessment tool (DALE) to triage and respond to high‑risk domestic cases.
Police business intelligence staff said they have undertaken a series of data modernization projects: redacting and OCR‑processing past reports, mapping tracks/traffic data into a single analytical feed, piloting an open, auditable body‑worn‑camera research project with RIT to transcribe and index footage, and preparing a Measures for Justice dashboard (third‑party) that will publish selected RPD data alongside community input.
Neighborhood policing and enforcement: Crime prevention officers (CPOs) and the Community Affairs Bureau were presented as a priority for in‑neighborhood engagement; council members pressed to restore and increase NSC lieutenant coverage and CPO staffing, saying those posts perform prevention as well as enforcement. Councilors asked for a site‑by‑site rec center utilization table, quarterly overtime reporting and better public detail about traffic‑stop and search data; Police OBI staff said integration of multiple data sources is underway and that a new field to capture officer‑observed race was added to state traffic reporting.
Why it matters: the testimony tied operational staffing to public safety outcomes — the department emphasized improved homicide clearance performance in recent years and said targeted programs for nonfatal shootings and domestic violence are intended to replicate that success — while acknowledging ongoing staffing and budgeting tensions.
Ending: Police leaders agreed to provide written follow‑ups on FOIL processing, E0203 recommendations, quarterly overtime figures and the police‑IT data integration plan; council asked for periodic updates on the Strive and GBI implementations and on the status of recruit classes and candidate processing timelines.
