Calera police chief reports more calls, urges consideration of a dedicated traffic unit

Calera’s police chief presented a year-to-date operations report and urged the council to consider creating a dedicated traffic unit to address frequent accidents and recurring complaints.

The chief (referred to as Chief H in the transcript) told the council the department has added three positions in 2025 — a case sergeant for in-school cases, a criminal analyst and a court and community service liaison — and that staffing stands at 36 full-time officers with three recruits recently started in the police academy. “When these three graduate, we will be down three bodies from fully staffed,” the chief said, adding that he considers a fully staffed complement to be closer to 45 officers based on national benchmarks.

The chief reported 19,174 calls for service in 2025 (up from 17,147 the prior year), 542 arrests, 318 investigative-division cases and roughly 896 traffic accidents annually. He said traffic incidents cluster at a specific corridor (described as a recurring hotspot) and recommended a traffic unit trained in traffic investigation and accident response to free patrol officers to answer other calls. “Having a dedicated traffic unit…frees up the shift to respond to calls,” he said.

Council members asked clarifying questions about staffing levels and the timeline for new hires; the chief said the department is close to its near-term hiring goal but still below the level he believes would meet the city’s needs. The chief also described a crisis response team (noted as separate from a SWAT label) that handled five activations in the year and emphasized training and negotiation skills.