PHOENIX — Phoenix City Council is set to review a police budget on Tuesday afternoon that includes millions of dollars aimed at hiring civilians and bettering the relationship between the department and the community.
The pubic safety reform proposal includes $3.7 million for the department to add 75 civilian positions to the department to improve accountability, transparency and community relationships.
Phoenix PD is down more than 325 civilian positions since the recession in the late 2000s. The majority of positions added would be to add staff to ensure data reporting compliance with the National Incident-Based Reporting System.
The budget includes $500,000 for a comprehensive review of the Phoenix Police Department with a deep dive into practices and policies.
The largest part of the proposal includes $15 million to add 130 more positions with the City of Phoenix Community Advocacy Program, which gives resources for responding to behavioral and mental health crisis response calls.
According to the proposal, the one-time cost of $11.6 million represents a set-aside for the phased-in approach of the program expansion across two to three years. A $3.4 million ongoing cost represents the estimated staff and equipment that will be implemented the first year of the expansion.
The city council will meet Tuesday afternoon to review the proposal.