EDIE ZUVANICH Special to the Press
HUTTO — Body cameras, bullet- proof vests and ballistic shields are almost a standard part of current- day law enforcement, but in a smaller town such upgrades can be hard to pay for. Fortunately, the state is doling out grants that could pay for up to 100% of these items while funds are available.
“It is no secret that our local cities are growing tremendously,” Hutto Police Chief Jeffrey Yarbrough said. “They’re growing faster than the number of officers you can put on the street. One of our challenges is how do we keep up with the growth in a costeffective way.”
The chief said he has been feeling the double-edged sword of a growing department. With an increased number of officers come increased costs.
On Feb. 16, Hutto City Council gave city staff the green light to apply for three different state grants totaling $226,123 from the Texas Criminal Justice Division.
One application would fund 40 sets of rifle-resistant body armor, a cost of $107,947. This is a 100% grant fund, which if approved will not require any monetary investment from the city.
According to background docu- ments, the public safety office expects to make $1 million for this grant fund for the 2025 fiscal year.
The city will also apply for a grant for six bullet-resistant shields at $40,308. The Bullet-Resistant Shield Grant Program is expected to have $4 million available for FY 2025. This is a 100% grant and would require no matching funds from the city.
Hutto Police Department is also applying to participate in the Body-Worn Camera Grant Program. The application will be for 43 sets of body-worn cameras, with a total value of $103,824.20. The PSO expects $10 million to be available in this fund during the next fiscal year.
This one is a matching funds grant. If approved, the state will award Hutto 75% of the cost for the cameras, or $77,868. The remaining $25,956 will be matched by the city’s police budget.
Council also approved a $150,560 contract with Freeit Data Solutions for police department network upgrades. The project will replace aging servers and storage at Hutto PD to include additional mirrored storage at City Hall for redundancy and business continuity.
This cost was budgeted at $150,000 for the current fiscal year as a priority item. The city said the extra $560 will be accounted for as a budget amendment at the end of the year if needed.
“The new networking systems will prevent the current systems from failing and causing significant downtime,” information from the city said. “They will also greatly increase processing times of data handling and transmission, which will lead to greater productivity. The expectation is that the project will be started in March and completed by the end of April.”
