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Police chief outlines staffing, records backlog and proposes public-safety IT specialist
Summary
Police Chief reported current staffing at 118 of 127 (expected to reach 123 after five hires), described a roughly $823,559 year-to-date overtime picture for fire (context), detailed private-duty revenue growth and explained a proposed public-safety IT specialist (estimated salary about $99,000) to support police, fire and dispatch operations and new technology needs.
Police Chief Rob Rosado presented a detailed operating-budget overview to the joint finance and personnel committee, framing staffing shortfalls, rising operational mandates and technology needs as the main drivers of the department's budget request.
Rosado said patrol constitutes roughly 70% of the department, with current staffing at "118 out of 127" and five officers scheduled to start March 23, bringing staffing to 123. He told the committee that recruiting and retention remain challenging and estimated the full per-officer training and onboarding cost at roughly $100,000.
On revenue, Rosado said private-duty assignments generated about $716,000 in the most recent year, contributing to a two-year total he described in the presentation as more than $1.4 million. He said those revenues are one reason the department can offset some personnel costs and that the proposed half-year traffic-sergeant position is to be funded in part by speed enforcement revenue when the program runs.
Rosado asked for a new public-safety IT specialist to handle roughly 40 systems used across police, fire and dispatch. The job description attached to the personnel resolution estimates a salary "a little under, 90 about approximately 99,000"; Rosado said the higher-end figure was chosen to attract qualified candidates. City Manager Brian Daniels and police staff emphasized the position supports all three public-safety departments.
Councilors pressed Rosado on several points: how retro pay and FICA shifts are reflected in the budget, where projected cannabis and parking-ticket revenues appear, the scale of the records-clearing backlog ("approximately 8,000 records" that have been dumped and require manual clearing) and whether overtime or a full-time civilian hire would be the best way to address that backlog. Rosado estimated the immediate overtime to process the backlog at about $31,000 and said that even with overtime the department would not be fully caught up.
On body-worn camera report writing features and AI-assisted tools, Rosado said the state has paused some functionality and asked for a statewide policy before re-enabling certain automated report-writing features.
The personnel committee later approved the personnel resolution to post the technology support specialist position by voice vote in the personnel-only portion of the meeting.
Rosado closed by reiterating public-safety priorities: sustain reductions in violent crime, keep proactive community engagement and invest in technology and personnel to maintain service levels.
