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Paris police outline staffing gains, evidence-room risk and outreach programs
Summary
City police leaders reported staffing improvements after pay raises, detailed ongoing workloads for patrol and investigations, warned that a leaking roof threatens evidence storage, and described expanded community-outreach and surveillance programs.
Paris police leadership gave council a wide-ranging briefing on March 23 covering staffing, evidence handling, dispatch pressures, animal-shelter workload and community-outreach programs.
The police chief introduced recent command-staff changes and said the department has made steady recruitment gains after a council-approved pay raise but remains understaffed in patrol by eight officers. The chief reported a total sworn headcount of 57 and said roughly 34 officers were currently assigned to patrol with additional trainees in the academy. "Two years ago we were 21 officers down," the chief said, noting the pay increase had improved hiring outcomes.
The department recorded 10,580 calls for service since the start of the fiscal year and has set up a telephone-reporting unit to take non-emergency reports when patrol resources are constrained. The Criminal Investigations Division has been assigned 191 cases since January; the department also leads a nine-county auto-theft task force.
Staff emphasized a facility concern: roof leaks are active at multiple PD locations and currently threaten property in the evidence room. The chief warned that if evidence becomes wet the city risks losing cases and described evidence intake/out-processing numbers (667 exhibits taken in and 1,262 out-processed since Oct. 1, fiscal year). He said repairing roofs is a near-term priority.
The briefing also covered the animal shelter (staff reported shelter intake activity and recent facility upgrades), ongoing shortages in dispatch staffing and the growth of community-outreach events led by the new outreach coordinator, Kimmy Snowden. The department credited downtown video surveillance and license-plate readers with substantially reducing crime in the plaza area and said it plans to expand cameras to parks as funding permits.
Council did not take formal action on the briefing, but the police chief's testimony reinforced the council's subsequent direction to pursue financing for roof repairs.
