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Police chief details call volume, drug seizures and a costly communications upgrade; urges capital planning
Summary
Chief Ryan McGee reported 14,290 calls for service in 2025, significant drug‑seizure activity, equipment and vehicle replacement needs, and an estimated $800,000 communications upgrade; he urged council to weigh consolidation grant opportunities and maintain a cruiser replacement plan.
Chief Ryan McGee presented a detailed review of the police, animal-control and communications budgets and urged council to consider long-term capital planning.
McGee said the department handled 14,290 total calls for service in 2025 (11,711 police-only) and highlighted enforcement results including $44,423 in drug forfeitures, 16 firearms seized, 19 search warrants and 13 arrests. He emphasized that some large forfeiture and seizure totals are tied to cases handled by the town’s assigned MD agent and may take time to flow through the courts before funds reach the town.
On equipment and capital, McGee described three near-term needs: ballistic vests due for replacement (total cost $27,468 with a possible grant to reimburse up to 50%), replacement of Tasers under a multiyear contract (he cited ~$18,764 this year for year two of a five-year contract), and a cruiser replacement program budgeted at roughly $92,000 per year to retire vehicles on a schedule and avoid escalating repair costs.
McGee also said the town’s dispatch consoles and radio infrastructure will require replacement, and initial contractor estimates place total replacement costs — consoles plus back-room radio equipment and portables — at roughly $800,000. He described exploratory outreach to the county about consolidated dispatch, saying a state consolidation grant could offset equipment costs and that staff will prepare a full April presentation with cost comparisons and tradeoffs if the council directs.
Councilors asked about staffing, reserve officers, costs charged to contract towns for animal control, and the fiscal trade-offs of skipping planned cruiser replacements. McGee said the department is operating at 17 of 18 full-time officer slots (one frozen), that three of four reserve positions are vacant, and that charging models for neighboring towns are based on population and five‑year call averages.
