Committee reviews police staffing, overtime and camera requests as part of 2026 budget

The Committee of the Whole met March 5 to review the police department’s proposed 2026 budget, with discussion centered on staffing levels, overtime costs, cadet hiring and requests to expand camera systems and strike a financial plan for ShotSpotter and Flock Safety equipment.

Why it matters: The police budget is a major driver of this year’s departmental spending and changes in grant support (HUD/CDBG/ARP) mean the general fund is absorbing costs once covered by outside sources. Council members pressed for clearer accounting of reimbursable overtime, accumulated time (AT) liabilities and which funds will carry new recurring costs.

City finance staff walked council through the police packet and said baseline personnel counts used to build the budget include three captains, eight lieutenants and 30 detectives, with roughly 82 patrol officers used as the patrol baseline. Finance staff also noted the payroll baseline excludes a 20th-payroll and retro adjustments; with those items included the packet lists a 2026 payroll total for the police uniform unit of $10,224,924 and an additional retro/20th-pay-related cost of about $265,000.

Chief Sharon Cole and other police representatives described the cadet program and hiring pipeline: the academy typically runs 6–7 months, staff said, and the city has authority to hire up to 30 cadets with roughly 15 in the training program at a time. Police said several candidates have passed civil-service and OPATA/OPA steps and a small group will be sworn in the following week. Council asked for the written cadet agreement and for clearer documentation on recoupment of academy and equipment costs when participants quit; staff said the law department is pursuing recoupment of roughly $10,000 in one recent case.

Council members repeatedly raised overtime and AT (accumulated time) impacts. Finance staff said contractual holiday/obligated overtime in 2025 was about $280,000, reported separately from reimbursable overtime; the packet also shows larger total overtime figures when reimbursable hours are included. Police staff explained much overtime is voluntary and driven by staffing shortages; council asked staff to consider quarterly OT check-ins to monitor trends and identify limits to consecutive hours for safety.

Technology and surveillance requests prompted detailed questions. Staff identified a one-time radio-system upgrade for the 9-1-1 center with an estimated cost near $300,000 and ongoing prorated service fees. The packet also lists requests for camera systems: an expansion of Flock Safety cameras, additional robotic cameras and a service contract for ShotSpotter. Staff said the law department believes portions of the Flock expansion could qualify for BlueLine funding and proposed moving about half of the Flock request into that fund to reduce general-fund pressure. Council asked for corrected unit counts and clearer labeling on the packet (several items showed “1” in the unit column despite representing multiple cameras).

A council member said a three-year ShotSpotter grant covering parts of the 7th Ward expired in December and that the system was turned off in some neighborhoods in February. Police staff said they submitted a grant application the day before to restore ShotSpotter coverage and that the vendor would not remove hardware while funding is sought.

On fleet and take-home vehicles, council again requested an updated list of vehicles, mileage and GPS status. Police staff and the law department advised that state law allows employees to live outside city limits and that the city cannot force residence location, but staff said they had provided a vehicle list to a council member in October 2024 and can update it.

Next steps: Council asked for more detailed line-item labeling on camera requests, the written cadet agreement and periodic overtime reports. Staff said they will present legislation on using BlueLine funds for ShotSpotter and will continue to pursue grant funding.