City staff outline police technology upgrades, grants and new evidence storage plan
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Summary
City staff told council members the police department plans radio and records-system upgrades, expects to move into a new evidence/records space this summer and is using several federal and state grants to pay overtime and equipment costs.
City staff told the council that the police department is moving forward on several technology and facilities changes, including an upgraded radio system, migration of virtual servers to consolidated storage, and a planned evidence/records build-out that staff estimate will cost about $50,000.
The update matters because the changes affect daily police investigations and records handling and rely on a mix of grant funding and department capital. Staff said the evidence/records build is on track for completion in late June and an occupancy move within a few weeks of finishing that work.
Staff described a multi-part plan: move to a centralized data-storage device that will host virtual servers; remove older local drives; and implement a new records management/evidence workflow that staff said will make case processing and information flow faster for detectives. “Once that is finished, we will have moved in there within the first three or four weeks,” a department staff member said in the meeting when describing the evidence/records timeline.
On radio and communications, staff said the department is nearing a transition to a newer, higher-capacity radio system that will allow upgraded in-car video and broader radio coverage. The department noted work already under way to charge and populate new radios and expects to continue that transition over the coming year.
Staff also reviewed several grants the department is using or pursuing. They identified a Homeland Security grant and a drug-enforcement grant that support overtime and deployment for targeted enforcement; staff described a separate state grant that funded a full-time position and provided equipment and overtime funding. In the meeting staff referenced $3,000 in equipment and additional overtime funds tied to those grants.
Staff said the department is purchasing incremental improvements rather than an immediate wholesale replacement of all systems. They described benefits from a new records-management/evidence system that will centralize tips and make investigative workflows faster. The meeting transcript places the evidence-room estimate at “right around $50,000.”
No formal motions or votes on these items were recorded in the provided transcript; staff characterized items as budgeted or grant-funded work that will proceed subject to final procurement and capital schedules.
Looking ahead, staff said they will continue implementing the server-storage changes, finish the records/evidence fit-out, and phase in radio upgrades as funding and logistics allow. Council members asked clarifying questions about timelines and whether any purchases required additional council approvals; staff replied those steps would follow the city’s procurement process and the department’s capital plan.
The department’s presentation tied the technical upgrades to operational benefits for detectives and patrol officers, and staff emphasized that many of the changes are grant-supported rather than general-fund expenditures.