Police Chief Boudreaux presented the department’s FY26 operating and capital requests at the May 9 budget retreat, saying most of the O&M budget increase reflects salary and benefit costs and several issues and options seek to address staffing and equipment gaps.

The chief said his department submitted five issues and options and that “most of [the increase] is the salaries and benefits.” He described a request to convert a contracted crime analyst to a city position after LexisNexis told the department it could not recruit for the embedded analyst at prior contract rates; the city‑position total cost was listed at about $93,286 in salary and benefits.

Why it matters: the crime analyst provides investigative data, crime-trend analysis and regional coordination the chief described as “integral to our department.” The chief said the vendor-provided analyst role had been vacant for about eight months because the private vendor could not recruit at the prior contract price.

The department also seeks continued funding for body‑worn cameras and in‑car cameras; the chief said the CIP now contains the funding after departmental meetings and that “body worn cameras ... have become an industry standard.” He described plans to renegotiate with Motorola/Axon to update cameras, improve low‑light performance and lock in pricing.

On tasers, the chief said the department’s 2017 X26P units are at end-of-life and not under warranty. He described a 5‑year subscription submission for new tasers that spreads payment and training costs over time; total five‑year payments were presented in committee as about $79,000 per year.

Equipment costs beyond hardware rose elsewhere: the chief cited a jump in the Cellebrite data‑extraction software from roughly $5,368 to $20,500 as a primary driver of an increase in equipment‑maintenance line items. He told councilors Cellebrite is used for phone and data extractions after search warrants and that increased device security and vendor pricing explain the rise.

On staffing, the chief said the department had six open patrol positions but reported three conditional offers after recent interviews and expected openings to be filled by the end of the fiscal year; he also proposed two additional patrol officers as an excluded issues-and-options request to address response time and call‑volume pressures.

Councilors asked for response‑time data and comparative metrics; Chief Boudreaux said Rochester conducted a 2020 staffing study that recommended 75 full‑time officers based on peak‑and‑off‑peak call volumes and proactive time, while the department’s then‑current complement was 65. He said the department plans to reassess the staffing study as the city grows.

No formal votes were taken at the workshop; the chief said some projects previously proposed as O&M were moved to cash CIP after review with the city manager and finance staff.