INGALLS — Ingalls has approved funding for new guns for its police department and heard details about how busy the department is.
Police updates were just some of the topics discussed during a recent council meeting.
Town marshal Chris Thompson asked for permission to purchase seven new generation 5 Glock 9 millimeter pistols with upgrade sights for better accuracy.
The total cost to purchase the firearms is $4,494, with the money coming from the town’s public safety fund.
The town has eight guns that are close to 10 years old and a few others, Thompson said.
Thompson will turn the older guns in for an exchange rate of $99 per gun.
Reserve officers are asked to purchase their own weapon for financial reasons, but Thompson spoke with other marshals in surrounding areas and found the practice is a bad policy.
Purchasing the new guns will give Ingalls four new weapons for new reserves, which Thompson hopes to hire soon, along with giving each full-time officer a new weapon issued by the town.
“That way I’ll know every gun on the street from my department won’t have any modifications or hasn’t had anything done to it,” Thompson said.
In other police business, Thompson said his department processed about 434 calls in August and more than 3,000 total calls since the start of the year.
Dakota Neal, a reserve officer, was injured at his full-time job and was placed on limited duty as a reserve officer.
With a heavy workload and an injured officer, Thompson said he wants to open up a new reserve recruiting process, with hopes of having new candidates trained by January.
Thompson has raised the bar on his officer application process to include a physical test in line with police academy standards, as well as a written exam and a voice stress polygraph.
“It’s the most extensive we’ve ever done, Thompson said.
In other news, town manager Tim Millikan told the council the town’s maintenance crew was doing field training in the mornings, checking roads for potholes, among other tasks.
He also reported:
• The town’s Chevy Colorado was at Goodrick’s to repair the odometer and speedometer.
• He was going to order phones for the maintenance crew.
• Community Crossings Grant-funded roadwork was complete following the installation of thermoplastic striping. Some sections not on the original map were added, as were stop bars at Dollar General intersections.
Millikan also asked about clearing vehicles from the visual triangle at Alfonte Street and State Road 67 after receiving verbal complaints about sight lines.
He said he would like all sight lines at all town intersections to be clear 30 feet from stop signs, which is in line with state standards for community safety.
In other news, councilman Tim Green and Millikan discussed their differences about code enforcement involving a business property in town that may not be in line with town code.
After several contentious minutes, council president Chris Bradshaw stopped the back-and-fourth between the two when it became clear they did not see eye-to-eye on the topic.