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Plano police report low crime, staffing shortfall and expanded tech in school safety briefing
Summary
Police Chief Ed Drain told the joint meeting the department is hiring toward a 50‑officer target, reported historically low crime rates, described response‑time goals and outlined increased use of real‑time information systems, license‑plate readers, drones and school marshal protocols.
Chief Ed Drain presented the department’s performance measures, staffing status and new operational tools. He said the department is currently short of its target but has 20 job offers outstanding and the largest academy class planned since his tenure; the hiring goal is to add 50 sworn officers by year‑end.
"Currently today, we are at 3 84 officers," Chief Drain said. He described four longstanding performance measures — crime rate, traffic safety, timeliness of service and quality of service — and noted Plano’s crime rate is at historically low levels. He said the department aims to respond to priority 1 (emergency) calls in under five minutes and to other calls within eight minutes, and he presented response‑time data showing the department is meeting aggressive targets.
Drain described technology investments that feed a real‑time information center (traffic and private cameras, about 90 license‑plate readers and drones) to give officers up‑to‑date information while responding. He also reviewed school resource officer training, mandatory in‑service active‑threat training twice a year, crisis‑intervention training, and procedures for access control such as issuing and reclaiming proximity cards for officers assigned to campuses.
Trustees and district staff asked about drone deployment (currently launched from patrol vehicles; drone‑as‑first‑responder remains under review and affected by federal restrictions) and thanked officers for coordination with school marshals.
