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Council reviews psychological testing contract increase and pending Homeland Security grant applications for police
Summary
Councilors discussed a contract with a psychologist for expanded officer testing after a recent police homicide and several forthcoming New York State Department of Homeland Security grant applications; staff said specifics on grant uses were still being developed.
Deputy Chief Sergis and Janet Burke, Director of Research, briefed the council on personnel and grant items for the Syracuse Police Department.
Item 14 is an agreement with a psychological services provider (named as Doctor Leswing in the transcript) to provide psychological testing services for the police department. Janet Burke said the contract was on the books and that use has increased since the Officer Jensen homicide, when the department needed to send more officers for evaluation; she said that is why the request includes an increase and that she has the numbers councilors asked for.
Burke said Items 15' 18 are applications to the New York State Division of Homeland Security in partnership with the police department; at the time of the study session staff did not have finalized specifics on what the grants would fund but said they would share application details and purchases once the applications were submitted. Burke told the council that the recent announcement meant staff had been working with the police department to determine the best uses and that several applications require no local match.
Councilors asked for follow-up with the projected purchases tied to the grant applications. No final vote or award was recorded in the meeting excerpt.
