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Madison Police Chief reports 2024 training hours, hiring efforts and system upgrades
Summary
Chief Sean Scudder told the board the department logged nearly 1,400 training hours in 2024 (about 50 hours per officer), plans a 40-hour minimum training offering in 2025 and is pursuing policy updates, hiring and data improvements to better target resources.
Madison Police Chief Sean Scudder presented 2024 year-end training and activity data to the Board of Public Works and Safety and outlined department priorities for 2025.
Chief Scudder said the department recorded almost 1,400 collective training hours in 2024 — an average of roughly 50 hours per officer — with about 30 of those hours provided internally. For 2025 the department’s goal is to offer a minimum of 40 hours of department-provided training per officer, to encourage at least one external training per officer and to emphasize leadership development. Scudder said the department will complete a two-year cycle of defensive-tactics training to meet mandates from the state Law Enforcement Training Board and will recertify officers on standardized field-sobriety testing.
Scudder described a new weekly captain’s meeting intended to improve communications between patrol leaders and department management. He also described efforts on policy modernization with Lexipol: staff are reviewing model policies with Lexipol and will bring an updated policy manual to the board for final approval once the department completes an internal vetting process.
On staffing, Scudder said the department is actively hiring and conducting merit-board interviews; five applicants were being interviewed the night of the meeting and most are local residents. He acknowledged the department has seen some attrition — retirements and officers leaving for other reasons — but said shifts are currently staffed to acceptable levels. Scudder noted that hiring across the state is competitive and that departments are posting more vacancies statewide.
Data and case-management upgrades: Scudder said the department is working with its case-management vendor (CIRCA) to extract more usable data, including mapping calls so the department can better target resources. He said current reporting limitations (countywide dispatch and how calls are coded) make some stat comparisons difficult but that they are working to build improved reporting and mapping capabilities.
On activity trends, Scudder said the department increased “security checks” logs as part of a visibility initiative and that tavern-related calls have fallen substantially compared with prior years. He credited local bars for improvements in security and management, and staff noted the coding of some incidents affects category totals.
Board members asked questions about the training totals, the increase in security checks, and special-detail patrol counts; Scudder attributed increases to new reporting practices and targeted patrol assignments. The chief said the department will continue to focus on training, policy modernization and data access to support resource allocation.
