Palm Bay council approves police staffing study funded by impact fees

Stockton Reeves, executive director of the Center for Public Safety, told the Palm Bay City Council a comprehensive staffing study will analyze call volume, patrol deployment, minimum staffing, overtime use and multi-year workforce projections to help the city plan police staffing and long-term facility needs. "We do staffing studies... to answer the question: how many people are we going to need today, tomorrow, five years, 10 years down the line?" Reeves said.

City Manager Morton confirmed the study’s scope will include stakeholder engagement, patrol deployment and projections that will inform a subsequent space-needs analysis. Councilman Kenny Johnson asked whether the resulting data would be used to determine where the police expansion or new facility should be located; Morton and Reeves answered that the staffing data will directly inform any later space-needs and site planning work.

Council moved to authorize use of police impact fees to fund the study. The motion, made by Councilman Johnson and seconded by Mayor Medina, passed 5-0.

Reeves said comparable studies can produce extensive documents (he cited examples ranging from 174 to more than 500 pages depending on city size) and can include cost estimates and peer reviews of projected construction and technology costs. Deputy Chief Spears and other command staff have begun providing data to support the study, Reeves said. The city manager said the study is intended to give council a phased, predictable approach that avoids sudden staffing requests from departments.

The next step will be contract finalization and data collection; staff said more detailed timelines and deliverables will be presented back to the council when available.