The Palo Alto Police Department is struggling to maintain its programs and anticipates that it will require greater support in the coming years, according to Police Chief Dennis Burns.

In a press interview on Thursday, Oct. 29, Burns listed the department’s budget as $29.8 million.

“It probably sounds like a ton of money and you’re probably wondering where that goes,” Burns said. “We have 160 employees, and of that about 100 are sworn officers.”

Though this sounds like a formidable number, it is down from 170 employees two years ago.

“The city is cutting more and more people, and consequently more police officers,” Burns said.

The effects of the budget cuts are not being felt only by the officers, however. According to Burns, the cuts altered the department’s public relations programs, including a community outreach program.

“In the past, we would reach out to the community outreach people,” Burns said. “Now we have people wearing multiple hats.”

The community outreach division of the force has gone down from 14 employees two years ago to one employee this year.

On top of its pre-existing budget concerns, recent suicides have forced the police department to spend additional resources on a 40-hour program to train officers to diagnose people under stress and to take appropriate action. The department is 60 percent of the way through, according to Burns.

According to Burns, the police department needs a significant increase in resources to improve its programs.

“The police department … is good at not just getting by, but getting better,” Burns said. “We can’t do that now unless they’re going to give us a ton more resources.”