Tinti: “… the cost of doing business …”
KINGSTON – Once a year, Kingston’s chief of police gets grilled. It happens during budget time, when he brings next year’s proposed budget request before the city common council’s Finance and Audit Committee. Chief Egidio Tinti made his 2016 pitch on Thursday night, asking for just over $10 million, including benefit packages.
The budget was scrutinized line by line. The chief said the biggest chunk is personnel costs.
“We look at the cost of doing business in the city for police, changes in personnel costs, fuel costs, equipment costs, technology changes, licensing fees, there’s a number of avenues, including revenue,” Tinti explained. “It’s a substantial budget for the city.”
Tinti’s budget is over $1 million more than last year’s, due in part to a recently renegotiated union contract, plus two expensive software packages which need upgrades. The force is also requesting four new patrol cars for its fleet, which falls under a capital project and is financed through bonds. Older vehicles are swapped out to other departments, keeping the first response cruisers in top shape under maintenance warranty.
The brand new all-wheel drive Fords are police Interceptor models straight off the factory lot, driven for three hard years at roughly 70,000 city miles. These cop cars are then handed off to detectives, administration, building and safety, fire department and the like, where they can survive continued moderate use indefinitely, Tinti said.
Two of the software packages include Mobile Cop and Pocket Cop by InterAct, which deliver critical background FBI, DMV, and other law enforcement database info to officers in the field. One works on mobile computers, the other on a smart phone. License fees have gone up, Tinti noted, and this company has cornered the market. “The [cost] increase is due to that, they know you’ve got to go to them,” Tinti said.
PD Manager by J2SS, which is the department’s current records management system (RMS) is obsolete, and needs replacement. It was purchased in 1999 for $40,000, but has reached end-of-life. Tinti is considering Impact, the premier police RMS software.
“It does everything, not just Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) and RMS, but also evidence, the vehicles, it encompasses all. This program is amongst the best,” the chief said.
A total of $180,000 in the 2016 request is set aside for a newfangled package and may be awarded to a different vendor than Impact. “I’m still looking,” Tinti added. The final decision will be based on a request for proposals and bidding process. He said the State of New York offers a free system called SJS, which is “completely inadequate for any type of law enforcement.” The chief also disclosed that KPD’s evidence locker is “old school,” an archaic bag-and-tag system which pre-dates digital scans and barcodes.
“We have no plans on purchasing drones. I know that is a hot button issue in technology today,” Tinti said. “Right now our biggest assets out there are our patrol cars and patrol officers, as long as we maintain personnel and equipment, our city will be safe,” he said.
