The Metro Nashville Police Department’s budget is growing even though the city has seen a reduction in major crime as compared to this time last year, according to police chief John Drake, who also said homicides are down 28% during a May 21 budget hearing.
During the proceedings, Drake presented key details and initiatives from the department’s proposed $329 million 2025-2026 budget, up from the $308M 2024-2025 budget.
Though the increase will cut into staff level shortages, with 61 of the department’s 141 open positions included in the budget proposal, Drake said other key wish list items did not make the cut this year.
Even if the department were to reach full staff at 1,658, Drake said keeping up with Nashville’s growth will always cause the department to be short on people.
“We had firm out of Boston do a staffing study, I believe was about three years ago, that said if we were fully staffed, we would need another 175 more officers to be effective in our city. And that was three years ago,” Drake said. “And so I would say, if we got to 1,658, that number (175) could easily double to about 250 to 300 more above that 1,658.”
Because of staffing levels and budget restrictions, certain projects were pushed to the back burner for budgeting purposes, adding to a growing wish list, Drake said.
What’s in the budget?
One of the biggest line items in the proposed budget is $3.2 million for improvements to the Rapid School Safety Team, a tactical unit created in the wake of the Covenant School shooting.
The proposal also includes funds for school resource officers and more staffing, adding 23 full-time employees.
A third school resource officer will be added to comprehensive high schools while plans remain firm to add additional school resource officers to elementary schools, the proposal said.
Metro Councilmember Zulfat Suara asked Drake if his department was working with the sheriff’s office on school security, noting the sheriff’s office provides security for various Metro buildings.
Suara does not support school resource officers, she said.
During his response, Drake said he views school resource officers as more than security guards or a uniform presence.
“They are there to build relationships,” he said.
What’s not in the budget?
Drake cited a $1.8 million expansion for the alternative police unit as one of the projects that didn’t make the cut.
Created in February 2022, the unit helps reduce response times for full-time officers on minor crimes, Drake said. It is made up of retired, unarmed officers who do not need police cruisers or other law enforcement equipment to complete reports.
In some instances, Drake said victims of minor crimes have waited as much as 10 hours for a report as officers worked other major calls for service. The alternative unit helps prevent those wait times, he said. In 2024, the unit responded to more than 38,000 calls for service and authored more than 30,000 reports.
Another wish list item for a future budget, Drake said, is a line item supporting the entertainment district, which patrols Lower Broadway on evenings Thursday-Sunday.
The entertainment district was first staffed by officers from precincts all over the city in the wake of tourism industry officials’ call for increased arrests and aggressive prosecutions of disorderly people downtown.
It became permanent in 2023.
But MNPD has since struggled with retention within the district because officers did not prefer the shift hours and locations, the chief said.
A request for $4.2 million to fund the entertainment district is not included in the 2025-2026 budget, he said during the May 21 hearing.
“We will find a way to make it happen,” he promised.
The final wish item Drake noted was an increase of $330,00 to allow the department to keep 72 existing high-mileage vehicles in its fleet. The funds would pay for maintenance and fuel costs while also covering costs for radio equipment and bicycle repair.
Keeping the 72 vehicles will allow the department to have more officers on the street, the chief explained.
“We keep growing as a police department. Although we have the vehicles replaced, we keep growing and we have officers that need cars,” Drake said. He told councilmembers during the May 21 hearing that officers can sometimes wait more than an hour to gain access to a cruiser and begin patrols.
The budget and finance committee will begin work sessions May 27 to discuss final budget submissions.
Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at [email protected] and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.