From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighState agency heads in Kentucky continue outlining their funding needs to budget subcommittees in Frankfort. Right now, there are 876 Kentucky State Police troopers, but ideally, the cadre should be one-thousand-70. A new cadet class begins in April, but KSP Commissioner Rodney Brewer says with attrition and retirements, it won’t go far in boosting troop strength. And the World Equestrian Games are coming up in September. “The planning that we have done thus far for the last year-and-a-half indicate that we’re going to have 100 troopers assigned for 18 straight days to this detail,” he said.Brewer says the private event will cost his agency almost one million un-reimbursed dollars. The agency also has an aging fleet of vehicles, which Brewer says could take several million dollars to replenish. Budget talks in the House are picking up steam, but agency heads like Brewer are being reminded the state could be facing a shortfall of more than one billion dollars next biennium.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.
