BRUSLY — The Brusly Police Department is handling more than twice the call volume it did a year ago, the budget is feeling the strain, and the department has two officers per shift. So they built their own surveillance equipment.
Department incident records show 1,197 total calls for service in the current budget year running July 2025 through July 2026, compared to 531 calls over the same period a year prior — a 125 percent increase, with the budget year not yet complete.

"We've had some concerns expressed about overtime budget and revenue in general," Assistant Chief Thomas Southon told the council Monday night. The department's budget outlook has been complicated by weaker than projected sales tax revenue, which the town relies on heavily to fund operations.
To cut costs, the Detective adjusted his own schedule, working a swing shift during hours he would typically be called out on overtime. "I took it upon myself to stop getting called out and using overtime for that,"

The sharpest single-category increase was in agency assists — calls where Brusly officers helped neighboring departments. Those jumped from 41 last year to 226 this year. Medical calls rose from 39 to 152. Traffic-related incidents also climbed significantly, with traffic accidents up from 63 to 88 and traffic problems up from 22 to 91.

Rather than wait for more resources, the department built its own. Southon and Lt./Det. Keegan Allen constructed a solar-powered surveillance trailer for under $9,000 — a fraction of the $40,000 to $80,000 price tag for comparable commercial units. The base was a surplus trailer obtained from the state for $2,500. A $5,000 camera and additional supplies completed the setup. The trailer can run entirely on solar power.

The trailer was first deployed at Cinco de Mayo at Rio Cantina, then moved to Alexander Park, where the department has been fielding vandalism complaints since the pickleball courts opened. The department also brought four older cameras back online, giving Alexander Park seven cameras total.

"This is not supplementing patrols in any way," Southon told the council. "Our officers are still going to patrol, still going to answer calls. It is put up so that we can go back and have video footage for evidence and investigations."

Lefeaux credited aggressive patrol and the department's Flock license plate reader network with keeping serious crime out of Brusly. He said the town has gone more than two years without a vehicle burglary. "They don't come here because our guys are out, the cameras are out, and we're always working," he told the council.

In April alone, the department responded to 123 calls, made 22 arrests, and issued 208 citations with 294 total violations. Flock alerts for the month totaled 90, including 35 violent person alerts, 48 sex offender alerts, and one stolen vehicle recovery.