Scottsboro Police Chief Ron Latimer came to the Scottsboro City Council on Monday in the hopes of getting a budget amendment for the police departmentâs training funds.
The budget amendment request is for $16,000 due to the Alabama Police Officer Standards and Training (APOST) raising the cost of academy admission in June 2020. The cost was raised from $2,300 to $4,300. When an officer completed their training from the academy, APOST would normally reimburse the police department $1,300 however that reimbursement has also been suspended.
âSince October 2020, weâve sent six newly hired officers to the academy at a cost of $22,800,â said Latimer. âOur total budget is $17,000 for travel and training and thatâs to train 44 sworn, certified officers. That 17 usually gets us through but since this academy price increase plus the suspension of the reimbursements, itâs totally wiped out our total travel and training for this year already. Thatâs why Iâm requesting a $16,000 amendment, of course nearly 10 of that would cover the outstanding academy cost of the two officers that are currently in the academy right now.â