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Board of Alders approves $750,000 federal earmark for police technology and communications
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Summary
The Board of Alders voted to accept a $750,000 federal earmark for the police department and public-safety communications, funding license-plate readers, stop-sticks and GPS bumper trackers; members pressed officials on training, data storage and oversight before a voice vote approved the order.
The New Haven Board of Alders voted to accept a $750,000 federal earmark for the Department of Police Service and the Police Safety Communication Department, alderpersons said during the April 21 meeting.
The allotment, presented by a police official, will be used primarily to buy additional automated license-plate readers, resupply stop-stick/spike devices used to disable fleeing vehicles, and procure GPS tracking devices that attach to vehicle bumpers. "We've had great success with this now," the police official said when describing existing equipment the grant would expand.
Why it matters: Officials said the equipment would support enforcement and public-safety communications and help sustain recent reductions in violent incidents. A committee member asked whether officers are trained and authorized to deploy the devices; another member replied that "without training, we are not allowed to use" certain devices and proposed a district-by-district training plan to ensure safe deployment.
Officials also discussed the communications backbone that carries radio traffic across the city. An agency official said the earmark would help fund upgrades to microwave links and dispatch consoles, allowing the city to move toward digital, encrypted communications and to create redundancy for dispatching from multiple city locations.
Questions and oversight: Alders pressed for details on data storage and vendor installation; a committee member asked how data collected by license-plate readers or GPS devices would be stored and who would have access. Officials said they would return with implementation plans, training protocols and district access plans before full deployment.
The vote: A committee member moved to approve the order and the motion was seconded; the board approved the grant by voice vote. The transcript records a voice vote in favor but does not list a roll-call or numeric tally.
What happens next: The order authorizes the mayor to accept the federal earmark and to sign any project-authorizing documents needed to deploy the equipment; officials indicated follow-up work on training and data-handling procedures would be developed for alder review.
