LYNNFIELD — A radio site upgrade, a new keyscan system and a new telephone system topped the police department’s wish list of proposed capital improvements for the 2021 fiscal year.
Police Chief David Breen presented the department’s proposal to the Board of Selectmen.
The priciest item was the radio site upgrade at a total cost of $97,000, with the amount split with the fire department. Breen said this is the final year of the five-year project, replacing dated copper wiring with fiber optics.
The keyscan system project calls for complete replacement of the 10-year-old system at a cost of $23,000, which will also be split 50-50 with the Fire Department.
A new telephone system, with a price tag of $22,000 to be split with the fire department, ranked third in priority.
“A 20-year telephone system is quite old and just not up to speed,” said Breen. “We had two issues last year when we lost phone service. We had 911 but not regular service, but even though we restored service the same day, the system still is not up to speed. It’s just not something you want to happen as it just stifles communications. Emergencies, most people use 911, but some use the old 3131 number.”
Breen is also asking for a new Chevy Tahoe police cruiser at a cost of $39,897.24.
“We had two crown vics and actually took one out of service today because it just costs too much to fix,” said Breen. “It had frame issues, the door wouldn’t close and the mechanic’s advice was to simply decommission it.”
Breen is also looking to replace four computers with Windows 10 operating systems for the station at a cost of $7,000 and two mobile computers with compatible software for the cruisers at a cost of $6,000.
“Our station computers are old and running on Windows 7, which we lost support on as of today, so we have to upgrade to Windows 10,” Breen said.
The final item of the proposal is a new cruiser radar system to replace the existing 10-year system at a cost of $2,500.
“They have much better technology today that releases less radar waves,” said Breen. “To be honest, we haven’t really been using it, so we would like to get rid of that.
Breen’s proposed budget also included several operating expense requests, among them being a $7,800 contractual stipend obligation for crossing guards, $1,300 increase in patrolman’s longevity stipends and increased education credits for officers.
“We now have several young officers reach the 5-10 year levels in which they are now eligible for a stipend of $500-650,” said Breen. “Under the collective bargaining agreement, some officers who were not receiving the school credits will now receive it, so this is a more equitable way of distributing these.”
