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Police chief asks to reallocate vehicle funds to upgrade body cameras and in-car tablets
Summary
Chief Palmer told the commission the department has four vacancies and asked to reallocate funds budgeted for two vehicles to purchase urgently needed body cameras now and to address in-car tablet replacements in next year's budget.
Police Chief Palmer asked the Maysville Board of Commissioners to reallocate a line item budgeted for two patrol vehicles so the department can urgently replace body cameras and later upgrade in-car tablets that will lose vendor support.
“I'm coming to you to ask you to reallocate that money, because I have a definite urgent need to upgrade body cameras and also upgrade tablets in the cars because the windows is not gonna be, supported after October of this year,” Chief Palmer said.
Palmer told the commission the department has tried to recruit since July and still has four open positions; that staffing shortage influenced his earlier decision to delay vehicle purchases. He said body cameras — currently five to six years old — have failing batteries and that the department received a proposal from a vendor identified as Bryte. Palmer asked for the commission’s consensus to reallocate the existing vehicle funds to cover body camera replacements this fiscal year and said he will request tablet funding in the FY 2026 budget.
No formal vote was taken; Palmer asked for a nonbinding direction and the mayor and commissioners signaled support for pursuing the reallocation and for holding budget workshops to finalize FY 2026 requests.
