The Frankfort Police Department building is stuck in the past, according to its police chief, and he’s hoping an income tax hike will fix that.
The Clinton County Council has approved doubling the Local Income Tax, to generate more funding for public safety agencies.
Frankfort Police Chief Troy Bacon says that’ll allow his department to expand.
“Right now, you can come into the police department and you may come face-to-face with a suspect, or maybe someone who has victimized you,” Bacon says. “There’s no real separation between people that come in and the people we have inside. So the new renovation will separate that, make it more secure.”
The chief says increased department funding will help existing officers, as well as draw in more applicants.
“We’ve had two officers leave the department to departments that have nicer, newer buildings that allow them to do their job much better,” he says. “We can do all that we can to recruit somebody, but like I said, when you walk into our building, you’re back in the 1970s again. That’s hard to overcome.”
Bacon says the department will focus the money on updating and expanding space and resources – for example, the IT room, interview rooms and evidence storage facilities. He says new vehicles, protective equipment, a crime lab and body-worn cameras are also in the works, plus a raise for existing officers.
He says amenities like those are key to attracting officers to a small community in West Central Indiana.
Bacon says the plan is to gut the existing building – something he hopes to see started by the first of the year.
