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Public Safety seeks funding for police records system, Easton substation and fleet replacements
Summary
Deputy Director Tricia Wenzel presented the Department of Public Safety’s proposed 2025 capital requests, including $2 million for a new police records management system, $14 million for an Easton area police substation, $15 million for fire apparatus and allocations for police and fire facility renovations.
The Department of Public Safety asked the Finance and Governance Committee for capital funding to modernize police records, replace aging fire apparatus and renovate longstanding public‑safety facilities.
Deputy Director Tricia Wenzel said the division included $2 million in the 2025 request for a modern records management system (RMS) to support data‑driven policing work and complement the administration's case‑management system. "A modern RMS is a fundamental component of such an integrated system," Wenzel said, adding that multiple external evaluations had recommended an upgraded system.
The proposed capital package also lists $1.932 million for police facility renovations and $1.518 million for fire facility renovations to cover items such as indoor shooting‑range repairs, gate and canine unit garage work, female‑facility updates at fire stations and roofing or drainage remediation at other stations. Wenzel said many facilities date to the 1950s and 1960s and require ongoing upkeep.
A major line item is $14 million for an Easton area police substation to replace substation 6 (built in 1974). Wenzel said Easton Town Center is providing the land for the new facility near the corner of Sunbury Road and Easton Way; design is expected to be complete in November and construction would last roughly 12 months. "While the substation will be near Easton, it will not solely serve Easton. It will serve the entire Sixth Precinct," she said.
Fire apparatus was budgeted at $15 million, split evenly across medics, platform ladders and engines. Wenzel noted supply‑chain lead times and inflation as drivers for maintaining replacement order schedules and shared typical useful‑life expectations used in fleet planning (for example, engines typically 8 years frontline and 2 years in reserve in the department’s schedule).
Why it matters: Upgrading records systems and replacing aging apparatus are central to operations and data capabilities for police, fire and emergency medical services. The Easton substation replaces a small, outdated facility in a fast‑growing precinct and is presented as a community‑facing building for meetings and neighborhood engagement.
Looking ahead: Wenzel said designs and schedules will continue to be refined, and the department will use capital appropriations for both planned projects and to respond to emergent facility needs throughout the year.
