Acting police chief urges council to keep staffing and fund records, body‑camera support in FY26 budget

Acting Chief Derek Belong told the City Council budget committee that the Police Department is recruiting more officers under a new Massachusetts hiring pathway and asked the council to preserve funding to reach a 230‑officer complement while the department continues to manage staffing shortages and rising public‑records demands.

Belong said the FY26 proposed budget includes $150,000 for sign‑on bonuses intended to recruit up to 30 officers toward a funded complement of 230. He said the department currently has 204 sworn officers and expects nine recruits to start in the academy this fall and additional hires in background checks that should bring the force closer to 220 in early 2026.

Belong stressed that the department has “rolled out” body‑worn cameras in September 2024 and that the cameras have increased public‑records workload. He told councilors the department requested a full‑time staff position to handle public‑records requests related to body‑worn camera footage and an associate solicitor (budgeted at $94,213) to provide daily legal support to the department.

Why it matters: Councilors pressed Belong on how the department will control overtime, handle technology and legal workload, and whether new hiring practices will affect training standards. The items Belong described — staffing levels, camera rollout, public‑records processing and legal support — affect how the department responds to calls for service and how quickly it can deliver records and comply with state and federal requirements.

Key details - Recruitment & complement: Proposed FY26 includes $150,000 for sign‑on bonuses aimed at hiring roughly 30 officers to restore the funded complement to 230. The department reported 204 sworn officers at the time of the meeting; nine recruits are due to start the academy this fall, with more in background checks. Belong said the new Massachusetts pathway allows faster hiring outside the traditional civil service list while still requiring civil‑service steps once a conditional offer is made. - Dispatch positions & savings: The proposed budget eliminates seven dispatcher positions for projected savings of $349,673; Belong confirmed the department is not currently interviewing for those seven positions. - Records and legal support: With the body cameras online, Belong described a marked increase in public‑records requests for camera footage and police records. He requested a position to manage records work and an associate solicitor (annual salary figure in the budget: $94,213) so the Solicitor’s Office is not the sole handler of camera redaction and legal review. - Camera rollout & contracts: Belong said body‑worn cameras rolled out in September 2024 and that camera program support shifted line items between contractual services and equipment rental in the FY26 budget. He named Axon as the body‑camera vendor and described an anticipated increase in maintenance/equipment rental because of the payment structure. - Technology subscriptions: Belong defended continuing the ShotSpotter (gunshot detection) contract at roughly $157,000 a year, saying crime analysts have improved the system’s efficiency and accuracy. - Training & grants: Belong noted receipt of an “Abby Hahnold Grant” to bolster domestic‑violence outreach and said the department is pursuing mental‑health and post‑traumatic growth training for staff. He described hybrid patrol vehicles recently purchased for fleet modernization. - Overdose response & outreach: Councilors asked about a projected increase in Narcan use and related calls; Belong said much of the overdose response is covered by grant funding and emphasized that increased Narcan use can indicate more lives saved while overdose deaths decline. - Grants/overlap with health: Belong and councilors discussed an EAPS (Health Department) grant that had proposed adding patrol officers and a clinician; he said the grantor limited how overtime and rank would be compensated and that the department advocated for a more equitable distribution but could not change the grantor’s terms.

What the council asked and what remains unresolved Councilors sought more granular line‑item data on differential salary impacts if the department expands a class of recruits, clarification of maintenance and contractual increases (particularly for camera support), and a cost figure for the department’s requested associate solicitor and public‑records specialist. Belong said the department would provide the requested breakdowns and coordinate with the city’s budget and personnel staff.

Ending Belong asked the council to maintain the proposed staffing funding and the new legal/records resources to allow the department to process the volume of body‑worn camera requests and reduce the burden on the Solicitor’s Office. Several councilors said they would return with follow‑up questions; no formal votes or final budget decisions were recorded at the hearing.