Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Kankakee police report staffing shortfalls, rising overtime and new evidence-visualization software
Summary
At a Kankakee City Public Safety Committee meeting, Police Chief Tidwell reported the department is staffed at 65 of 67 budgeted officers, noted higher overtime driven by mandated training and regional deployments, and described a one-year subscription to a digital-evidence visualization tool the department will trial.
Police Chief Tidwell told the Kankakee City Public Safety Committee the department is budgeted for 67 officers and currently has 65 on staff. “We have 37 in the patrol division right now,” Tidwell said, listing other unit assignments and adding, “We currently have 2 in the academy. That's Wade Long and Ben Matthews.”
The chief said overtime is up substantially compared with last year and attributed a substantial share to a state-mandated active-shooter training and to reimbursable deployments. “That training alone ... probably a third of that's reimbursed,” Tidwell said, noting reimbursements come from state traffic patrol grants and participation in task forces such as ATF task force assignments and a countywide SWAT activation.
Tidwell described a recent software purchase intended to speed…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
