We are fortunate to have a well trained and professional police force and fire department. The police chief and fire chief have decades of experience in their respective fields. Anything the police chief or the fire chief have ever asked funding for, I have provided the funding for. Working with the police chief and the fire chief, ideas to improve the police and fire departments have been proposed and implemented.

During my time as mayor, I increased the police training budget from $50,000 to $100,000 and then again from $100,000 to $125,000. Before I leave my time as mayor, I plan to fund police training at $150,000, which the police chief and I think will be sufficient. Police training is what gives our police officers the tools they need to navigate unpredictable situations. Training has included but is not limited to: de-escalation tactics, implicit bias awareness, autism awareness, and duty to intervene.

Speeding and traffic related issues are two of the three most common complaints I get as mayor. As such, I funded the creation of a police traffic unit, have installed lighted crosswalks at key crossings in the city and have more on the way, installed speed radars throughout the city with more on the way, created a permanent speed hump ordinance so residents of neighborhoods can petition the city to have speed humps constructed on their residential cut through streets.

I have also stopped the practice of taking out debt to pay for police cruisers when we know we need to purchase three new cruisers each year and retire three. By budgeting for the replacement of cruisers, we no longer take out debt and pay interest on the debt.

When Coronavirus hit, I made sure that police and fire (and all departments) had the personal protective equipment they needed to stay as safe as possible. When COVID-19 wasn't covered by the contract with the police and fire unions, I added it to the contracts. I added HEPA air purifiers to all offices that have two or more people. I followed the state and federal government guidance and requirements and enforced those guidelines to keep city employees, their family and the public safer than they would have otherwise been under a less rigorous enforcement of best practices.

When the fire chief came to me in March 2019 and asked for two new fire gear extractors in the July 1 budget, I did better. I purchased one immediately, and then planned the second for the July 1 budget. The city ended up getting a grant for the second one.

When the fire chief asked me to make sure that every firefighter has two sets of turnout gear, I made sure it was in the budget each year. We are no on a rotation cycle where we budget the older set of gear replaced on a regular basis.