Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Police ask council to back $75,000 equipment grant; council votes to support CAD units and secure network
Summary
Detective Banks presented an Arkansas Department of Public Safety equipment grant application (~$75,000) to buy CAD units, radios and tasers; the grant would cover $18,000 in one‑time CAD equipment, while staff requested a $500/month secure network commitment; council voted in favor of pursuing the request.
Detective Banks told the council the police department applied for an Arkansas Department of Public Safety equipment grant worth about $75,000 to modernize dispatch and field communications.
Banks said the department requested 12 CAD (computer‑aided dispatch) vehicle units at $1,500 each (total $18,000), which the grant would cover as a one‑time expense. The department also requested new radios and tasers. Banks said the one recurring cost is a secure mobile network to connect CAD units, estimated at $500 per month, and asked the council to approve that local commitment in order to accept and operate the equipment once awarded.
A councilmember moved to support the request and ‘‘train the city up to the twentieth century’’; the motion was seconded and carried in a roll call recorded by the clerk. Banks said the grant notification would come in January and that the city had worked with local partners—Delta Magic and the Chamber of Commerce—on the application.
What happens next: staff will record council support for the grant application, and the department expects notification in January; if awarded, the equipment purchase would be one‑time paid by the grant and the city would incur the ongoing network cost estimated at $500 per month.
