The Cincinnati Police Department is a step closer to getting some technology upgrades for its police cruisers.
City Council voted Wednesday to use $2 million from last year's city budget surplus for information technology equipment.
Mayor John Cranley said that is important.
“This technology improvement will increase the number of officers on the street on a daily basis and help deal with the problem,” Cranley said. “It doesn’t solve all of the problems, but it will be an immediate step that can take effect frankly faster than the recruit class.”
Council also approved a plan to start the city's next police recruit training class a month earlier. It will begin on January 3rd instead of sometime in February.
Some on Council were pushing for an even earlier start date, but the police department said it could not do that.
Council Member Chris Seelbach supported the change.
“Our police officers play an incredibly important role in making sure our city is safe and we don’t have enough officers,” Seelbach said. “This is the right decision, it will make us safer. It is not the silver bullet, but it will make our city a better place.”
The January recruit class will have at least 40 members, and could increase to 55 if the city receives a federal COPS hiring grant. City Council approved that grant application Wednesday.
