Police ask council to fund vehicles and staff to keep pace with growth; technology wins noted

Police leadership told the council the department is understaffed relative to workload and growth and cited a recent staffing study that recommends additional sworn officers and civilian support.

The department said it received three vehicles through a federal grant recently; those three help but do not close a broader fleet gap. Police requested funds to replace several aging patrol vehicles (the budget submission included multiple replacement units at roughly $75,000 each and at least one investigator/unmarked vehicle at about $61,000) and asked the council to authorize additional sworn hires and a civilian police services specialist to handle administrative and investigative support tasks that otherwise fall to sworn officers.

Chiefs and managers described rolling successes with new tools: a license‑plate/vehicle surveillance system (“Flock”) produced an arrest in a multi‑jurisdictional drug tip; the group also noted success with cloud‑based redaction and a digital forensic tool (Axiom gray‑key hardware/software) used in child exploitation and other major investigations — an initial year was funded by an outside nonprofit but the department asked the council to budget for continued use.

Council members probed projected costs. Police leaders said recruiting and hiring often takes 8–11 months and that lateral hires shorten that period; the department urged the council to consider near‑term over‑hiring to keep a trained bench. The council discussed tradeoffs between funding vehicles and funding additional officers; staff and the chief said both are necessary but the fleet’s deferred replacements have reached a point where multiple vehicles are no longer reliable. The council asked staff to return with cost‑balanced options and tradeoff scenarios.