LYNCHBURG, Va. – Lynchburg Police are hoping to get the green light on its proposed budget from city leaders Tuesday night.
The city is looking to approve the Lynchburg Police Department’s fiscal 2022 budget at $19.9 million dollars.
More than 80% of that will go toward salaries and benefits, which police say is needed, as the department continues to face challenges in recruitment.
Police say each year they lose about 24 sworn officers. In July 2021, the academy needed to hire 20 people but was only able to hire four.
The police department is also seeking final approval for a grant they received that would bring more capabilities to the body camera system officers were given in 2016. The capabilities would include real-time GPS data as well as live streaming.
It’s something police say is crucial to keeping the public safe, and something that would be useful during critical incidents such as last summer’s riots.
“If we’d had this live-streaming system, that would have allowed our supervisors who were at a different command post site to be able to see live streaming from officers on the ground and what was going on,” Community Relations Coordinator Carrie Dungan says. “Any time we have events like that, any information we can get to protect both the public and our officers is crucial.”
City leaders will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.