Montgomery mayor cites falling crime, urges 911 upgrades and recruitment as council readies budget

Mayor (speaker 6) opened the meeting by framing public safety as a top priority and offering a slate of statistics he described as signs of progress: "Overall crime in Montgomery is down 15%... nonviolent crime is down more than 25% and violent crime has decreased by 12%," he told the council. He also said arrests have risen — "officers are doing this job at a very high level, making nearly 50% more arrests compared to 2025" — and that the city has removed "more than 700 weapons off the streets so far this year."

The mayor said those gains do not eliminate the need to invest in prevention and response. He said the administration is preparing a recruitment-and-retention package for 9-1-1 staff and plans to propose software and technology improvements in the upcoming budget to help call-taking and incident coordination. "We're gonna be bringing forward that recruitment incentive package, before the council just like we did for the police department," the mayor said (speaker 6).

A council member (speaker 8) described recent local shooting incidents and told the mayor that residents had trouble reaching 911 during multi-hour events. "When we have these incidents that are going on for multiple hours... there's kinda two things our residents are experiencing: one is the frustration of hearing gunshots... but the other part is just not getting through to 911," the council member said. He urged the city to study communication solutions that would at least let residents know their calls are received and that units are deployed.

The mayor acknowledged the shortfall in call-taking capacity and said the administration is already recruiting and will include software improvements in budget requests to better absorb high call volumes. He also said the city is considering staff mental-health supports for dispatchers and first responders who routinely handle traumatic calls.

During the remarks the mayor highlighted other civic items — summer programs, reopening of pools, a mayoral internship for 30 students, and a documentary about Montgomery's government form — but centered the public-safety measures as immediate budget priorities. The mayor also recognized two interim appointments in permitting, inspections, planning and engineering: Natasha Miles and Shalita Jones, and invited council members and residents to watch for budget proposals detailing 9-1-1 and public-safety investments.

The administration did not provide detailed line-item costs for the 9-1-1 improvements during the remarks; council members indicated cost estimates will be sought as the budget process begins. The mayor said the recruitment-and-technology package will be presented to the council for consideration.