Monmouth police say public safety fee paid for added officers, vehicles and fuller CSO coverage in first year

Sergeant Mike Strack presented the city’s first-year Public Safety Fee report, saying the fee allowed Monmouth Police to add three officers — bringing the department to 16 sworn officers — maintain a 15th position and hire a 16th trainee now in the academy. “We’ve added 3 new officers to our staff, which brings us to 16 sworn as we speak,” Strack said, and later summarized: “The public safety fee has allowed us to maintain that fifteenth officer position. We’ve hired for the sixteenth.”

The fee also funded equipment and fleet maintenance. Strack told the council the department purchased two vehicles this year as part of a planned rotation and is catching up on a decade-long backlog: “we were able to get 2 vehicles this year… one was sitting at 12 years old, and the other 1 was at 11.” He described efforts to streamline inventory, equipment builds and evidence-room oversight and said a new grant-funded restraint-wrap system and training were among recent procurements.

Staffing changes enabled new coverage options, Strack said. The department implemented a mid shift (noon–10 p.m.), increased self-initiated activity and increased supplemental reporting and follow-ups: “with increased staffing… officers are able to do more self initiated activity… we were able to implement a mid shift, and the mid shift runs from noon to 10PM.” The Community Service Officer (CSO) position was moved to full time; Strack credited that role with expanded code and ordinance enforcement, animal-adoption coordination and targeted work on derelict vehicles and RVs.

Councilors praised the results but flagged sustainability. Councilor Ridgeway said the funding appears well used and called for a long-term budget conversation: “the money that’s been allocated has been put to good use… My concern going forward is how can we continue to maintain this without it being an add‑on to the budget.” Councilor Carey and others said the report validated the difficult decision to ask residents for a fee and urged staff to return next year with evidence of next steps and efficiency gains.

Strack addressed community programs and training tied to the fee: officer-led outreach such as an Adulting 101 program with Kings Valley High School, CTE partnerships, a nascent drone program and a patrol e-bike trial used on holidays and special events. He said all officers have completed 40‑hour CIT mental‑health training, and the department is exploring expanded collaborations with mental‑health co‑response teams.

The council asked staff to evaluate how to sustain the improvements beyond the fee and to present budget options during the next cycle. Strack and councilors repeatedly emphasized that increased reports and arrests reflect both more activity and better documentation, not necessarily an increase in community crime. The council did not take a formal vote on changes; next steps are a continued fiscal review and a request that staff study ordinance language and enforcement bandwidth for issues such as RVs and derelict vehicles.

The presentation supplied monthly graphs (reports taken, self‑initiated activity, traffic stops, supplemental reports, arrests) to be used as a baseline for next year’s comparison. Strack closed by thanking the community for the fee’s support and noting the department is still assessing longer-term impacts as the newest officers complete training.