Idaho State Police outline staffing increases, fund shifts and lab expansion in FY2026 budget review

The Idaho State Police (ISP) told the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Feb. 12 that it needs new personnel, reallocated funds and continued equipment and facility investments to sustain core operations and respond to fentanyl and other drug threats.

Noah Peterson, budget policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, summarized ISP’s FY2026 requests and highlighted a proposed $4,995,500 transfer and a reduction of 37.48 FTP tied to the highway distribution account (HDA) fund shift that stems from changes in Senate Bill 1201 (2019). "If this shift is to be approved, this would allow the patrol program to maintain current operations," Peterson said.

Peterson described multiple enhancement requests that the agency included for FY2026: two fleet-service FTPs to handle vehicle upfitting; a four-person special investigations unit assigned to Department of Correction facilities (including one detective sergeant and three detectives) at $757,300 total (of which $443,300 is ongoing and $314,000 is one-time for vehicles and computers); a forensic deputy lab manager at $118,200; and funding to cover the estimated fiscal impact of proposed DNA-collection legislation ($168,100, based on 1,681 samples at $100 each).

The agency also requested converting contracted digital-forensics staff to permanent positions, funding for two investigators to work the sexual-assault-kit initiative (SACI),…