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Police and 911 present staffing, facilities and technology requests as calls rise
Summary
Georgetown Police Department and 911 dispatchers told council they need more sworn officers, civilian public-safety staff, supervisory changes and support positions to keep pace with growing call volume and evidence/records workload.
Assistant Chief Nash and Police Chief Allgood briefed Georgetown City Council on April 14 on a multiyear set of staffing, facility and technology requests intended to address rising calls for service, body-worn-camera workloads and facility constraints.
"We have seen a 10% increase in calls for service since 2021," Assistant Chief Nash said, outlining a package that includes five additional sworn patrol officers, an operations captain, two civilian public-safety officers, and a combined crime-analyst / open-records clerk to help manage the spike in video evidence and open-records requests.
Chief Allgood told council the requested additions are tied to measurable workload and national staffing benchmarks. "Investing in the Georgetown Police Department now is an investment in the city's future, safety, and quality of life," he said, and described multiple metrics used to justify increases: Georgetown's officers-per-thousand-residents ratio, call volume (projected to exceed 40,000 calls next year), and time-on-scene statistics for higher-acuity incidents.
Key requests and rationale - Five sworn officers: Chief Allgood said current staffing leaves Georgetown below FBI and state averages given the city's growth; adding officers would stabilize shifts and improve proactive policing. He cited a prior workload analysis suggesting one officer can manage roughly 700–900 calls per year. - Operations captain: council was told this supervisory role would balance workload between operations and administration, improve incident coordination and relieve a currently overloaded chain of command. - Crime analyst / open-records clerk: Assistant Chief Nash said the body-worn-camera program has sharply increased open-records demand. "Every hour of footage can require two hours of redaction work," he said; staff reported more than 30,000 video submissions to evidence since camera implementation and open-records requests reaching weekly peaks of 30 court-related requests. - Two civilian public-safety officers: proposed to handle non-sworn duties — vehicle lockouts, funeral escorts, parking enforcement, traffic control at events — freeing sworn officers for higher-priority calls. The department cited other Kentucky agencies that use similar civilian roles. - Facility and parking: the department showed a proposed expansion footprint and a parking-lot plan across the street to relieve current space constraints and support training events. - Detectives on-call stipend and career-development pay incentives: proposals to compensate detectives for being on-call (an estimated $13,000 annual pool) and to offer up to $3,500 in capped financial incentives for officers who earn career development certifications.
Assistant Chief Nash and Chief Allgood also presented a SWOT summary and performance measures tied to each goal (improved response times, reduced low-priority sworn responses, feasibility study for building expansion within 12 months). Chief Allgood noted officer safety and retention concerns, including injuries, burnout, and national recruitment challenges.
911 dispatch briefing Lieutenant Moore, who oversees the countywide PSAP that serves Georgetown and Scott County, told council the 9-1-1 center has grown calls and records requests and is seeking personnel changes including reinstatement of a 9-1-1 coordinator and additional records support. Moore said some positions approved previously (a CAD administrator) have proven helpful; additional systems-administration support is requested to keep radio, CAD and NCIC interfaces current.
Council reaction Council members asked for cost estimates, potential funding sources and timelines. Several members linked the staffing requests to pending budget and impact-fee discussions. Staff said they would include the department's personnel requests in the upcoming budget process and return with more detailed cost estimates and implementation timetables.
No formal vote was required at this meeting; council instructed staff to carry the request forward into budget deliberations and to provide the requested clarifying data at future meetings.
