Budget Conscious Police

Like all other businesses and agencies, in these tough economic times Savannah-Chatham Metro Police is faced with the challenge of trying to do more with less. With some out-of-the-box thinking, the department has been able to maximize return on its resources and take full advantage of some unique opportunities.

Take, for example, research and training. Often in times of financial cut-backs, research and training are the first things to go. SCMPD has taken steps in both areas to maximize resources.
We are all aware, that it is with research that we find better and more cost-efficient ways to do business. Research is important to public safety. Information-sharing on everything from best-practices to terroristic threat levels is paramount to police. SCMPD is participating in a pilot project called CivicUS, which is essentially a think-tank for public safety officials. We are able to reach out to this group of experts and pose research queries that range from event-related questions such as “what kinds of crowds are expected for MLK Day celebrations this year” to more in-depth research such as “how are cities dealing with gun crime on their streets”. Metro is one of only ten departments selected nationwide to participate, free of charge, in this six-month pilot project.

When it comes to training, it is the exception that we send an officer away for training, and in those cases, it is for highly specialized courses that require on-site attendance. We do our best to bring trainers to us, have them conduct “train the trainer” sessions, and then have our own people train a larger group.

Then, there is plain, old-fashion bargaining. The police department has an agreement with a company called Tiburon for service of its Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management System (RMS) – the backbone systems of any police department. The cost of upgrading and adding to the system was going to be very expensive. Metro was able to reach an agreement that will see the upgrade and addition of RMS licenses required to outfit the entire patrol function of the department for a fraction of what was initially quoted – and in a much shorter timeline.

Continuing in the line of technology, SCMPD has also enlisted the support and expertise of local technology experts to help the department determine needs, and review applications and proposals from companies wanting to provide services to the department. Metro worked with the Creative Coast to pull together a technology resource team that helped broker the new deal with Tiburon.

Then, when the need arose to purchase a new truck for the SCMPD dive team and a highly specialized tactical vehicle, we went to the web and found great deals on used vehicles.
Metro is now the proud owner of a ‘new-to-us’ fire truck that is being converted to use as a Dive Team vehicle. New, this vehicle could have cost more than $200,000. Used, we purchased it for $27,000 and our own officers are doing some of the retrofit.

In addition to the dive truck, SCMPD SWAT now has an armored tactical vehicle that can be used in myriad circumstances – bomb calls, active shooter situation, and many other possible incidents that police must be prepared for, but hope will never happen. Again, Metro could have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for such a vehicle, but thanks to a ‘flat earth’, Metro imported a Humber Pig from England for a fraction of what a new SWAT vehicle would have cost. We also worked with one of our valued community partners, in this case Dan Vaden Chevrolet, which painted the vehicle free-of-charge.

We aim to re-invest every penny saved into our most valuable resource – our people. The upgraded Tiburon system will allow us to reinvest some vacant Records positions, and prudent use of funds that must be expended, allow us to make budget adjustments where necessary, while continuing to provide the best service to our residents.

Just as each of you is doing more with less and carefully budgeting your expenses, know your police department is just as prudent with investing your tax dollars to get the maximum effect on public safety.