Department of Public Safety briefs appropriations committee on staffing, grant delays and radio replacement plan
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Summary
The Department of Public Safety told the House Appropriations Committee its divisions face staffing shortfalls, delayed federal grants for emergency management, and a phased radio refresh funded by a new accrual account; VCIC will use a $1 million grant to speed fingerprint processing.
The Department of Public Safety presented its fiscal highlights to the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 9, outlining staffing pressures across the Vermont State Police and other divisions, uncertainty in federal emergency-management grants and an ongoing radio-replacement plan.
Commissioner Jennifer Morrison, who led the presentation, said the Vermont State Police remain short of authorized staffing but reported positive recruitment trends: 2025 was “the first year that we have hired and put out into the field more than we have lost through attrition.” She cautioned full recovery will take years and suggested it could be three to eight years before staffing is back to comfortable levels.
Morrison told the committee that Vermont Emergency Management relies heavily on federal grants, and that 15 of VEM’s 31 positions are tied to federal funding streams such as the Emergency Management Planning Grant and the Homeland Security Grant Program. She warned committee members that those grant awards have been delayed: “we will be completely out of money by March,” she said, unless the federal funds materialize.
The Vermont Crime Information Center (VCIC) highlighted long fingerprint turnaround times caused by paper-based submissions and limited staff. Jeff Wallen of VCIC said the agency now has “approximately right now 65 digital live scan units across the state,” but many are controlled by local law enforcement and scheduling varies. Morrison and Wallen told the committee a roughly $1,000,000 grant is intended to rebuild VCIC systems and reduce background-report turnaround to about three or four weeks.
On equipment and capital planning, Morrison described a radio-replacement strategy that begins with a $500,000 appropriation to a new special accrual fund. The department said finishing a planned refresh is important so radios remain the same generation of technology across the fleet; a previously expected congressionally directed $2.2 million grant was not released and cannot be relied on.
Other highlights presented to the committee included the forensic laboratory’s statewide evidence work and drug-trend monitoring, the Division of Fire Safety’s urban search and rescue responsibilities and training needs, and a $500,000 federal Assistance to Firefighters grant award for a ladder truck that requires a 50% local match. Morrison said the agency is exploring options including used apparatus and creative sourcing to meet match requirements.
Committee members requested a written summary of VCIC’s background-check modernization plan and timelines; the department agreed to deliver that report within a few weeks. The committee closed the DPS portion of the hearing and thanked department officials for the briefing.
