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Public safety panel forwards three ordinances including $225,388 DCJS grant for police
Summary
The Richmond Public Safety Standing Committee voted to forward three ordinances to council: acceptance of a $225,388 DCJS grant for police violent-crime overtime and a gun-violence analyst; creation of a $2 million safety-camera special fund; and $150,000 from VDEM for an AI radio-transcription pilot. The committee recommended approval.
Chair Trammell opened the meeting and the committee considered a block containing three ordinances that the panel voted to forward to the full council with a recommendation to approve.
Rick Edwards, chief of police for the City of Richmond, said ordinance 20-26-057 would accept $225,388 from the Department of Criminal Justice Services to support violent-crime overtime, fund a gun-violence analyst position and provide training and officers for a Spring Forward deployment during Richmond Public Schools’ spring break. "We have 604 sworn officers," Edwards said when asked about staffing levels, adding that authorized strength is 755.
Chief Edwards also described ordinance 20-26-058, which would create a safety camera program special fund and appropriate about $2 million in anticipated fines and fees to support the program. He said the program currently requires one full-time employee and four part-time sworn officers to review footage and that personnel costs run about $500,000 a year. "The program is labor intensive," Edwards said.
Jackie Croats, deputy director for the technology division of Emergency Communications Preparedness and Response, described ordinance 20-26-072 to accept $150,000 from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to implement an AI-based radio-transcription service. Croats said communications officers "will be able to review the transcriptions" and that the system will make radio traffic searchable and time-stamped; a committee member asked whether a human reviewer would validate transcripts.
After staff and administration described the three papers and committee members asked questions, Speaker 6 moved to forward the block and Miss Abubakar seconded. Miss Abubakar and Chair Trammell recorded "Aye," and the motion was approved.
The committee’s action sends the three ordinances to the full Richmond City Council for further consideration.
