Arizona Department of Public Safety faces possible 15 percent budget cut

Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Roger Vanderpool says a 15 percent cut to the budget of DPS would certainly send a message to drug and human smuggling cartels that Arizona is “open territory”.

In addition, motorists in outlying areas of the state would essentially be “on their own” should they become involved in a serious collision or have their vehicle break down. In areas where officers may remain, collision response times would be greatly impacted.

DPS submitted a budget scenario, which can be viewed by accessing the link below, revealing what the possible 15 percent budget cut would look like at the agency and how public safety would be impacted.

Aside from civilian support services, the agency stands to lose a significant number of officers, including a large sum of officers assigned to the agency’s Highway Patrol Division.

Under the worst case scenario, 570 law enforcement positions would be eliminated, equal to the size of the entire City of Tempe Police Department.

To view the budget reduction exercise documents please click on the link below:

Budget Reduction Report