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Bristol police win grant to replace vehicle radios; department will refine foot-patrol reporting
Summary
Police Chief Bruce Nason said a federal Homeland Security Grant has a positive recommendation for about $61,000 to replace vehicle radios and announced the department will split foot-patrol stats to distinguish school coverage from downtown business checks.
Bristol Police Chief Bruce Nason told the Selectboard on May 11 that the department’s federal Homeland Security Grant application has received a positive recommendation and, pending final federal approval, is expected to provide approximately $61,000 to replace vehicle radios.
"The current vehicle radios [are] severely outdated," Chief Nason said, describing the funding as needed "to correct some of the issues with the old technology." Nason clarified that the department’s handheld portables were replaced in 2018–19 and that the current request covers the radios installed in patrol vehicles and the base station radio only.
Nason also said the department will change how it categorizes foot-patrol statistics after reviewing last year’s data. "Roughly 600 of those patrols were at Bristol Elementary School during student arrival, dismissal, and school events, and approximately 396 were business checks and downtown foot patrols at night," he said, adding that the prior single-category rollup obscured those distinctions. Town Administrator Gregory Faust said more granular reporting "will strengthen the Department’s competitiveness for future grant applications," calling the detailed counts "very big numbers, outcomes, statistics."
The bureau offered to meet with community groups that want to discuss police services; the grant remains subject to final federal approval.
