Prescott PD

Protecting Everybody's Hometown

Prescott Arizona, the first capital of the Arizona Territory in the 1860’s, now a historic destination city with a population of less than 50,000. Located 100 miles northwest of Phoenix “Everybody’s Hometown” is the third largest metropolitan area in Arizona. The towns of Chino Valley to the north, Prescott Valley and Dewey-Humbolt to the east make up the Quad City area.

With 60 Law Enforcement Officers and a limited budget, the Prescott Police Department (PPD) is tasked with patrolling over 40 square miles of city and rural areas.
Public Safety and property protection are top priorities. “With towns in close proximity pursuits sometimes spill into our jurisdiction”, says PPD Deputy Chief Jon Brambila “and we coordinate with our fellow Quad City LEOs and the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) to ensure that the pursuit is terminated in a timely manner as our historic town square is a popular destination for tourists and locals.”

Expanding Capabilities and Public Safety with Limited Policing Budgets

In 2019, the Prescott Police Department acquired its first Nighthawk as a safe and quick vehicle pursuit mitigation technology. The first NightHawk was purchased by PPD with a credit card “NightHawk is priced in that sweet-spot that doesn’t require major paperwork or approval for equipment purchases”, says Deputy Chief Brambila, “We immediately realized that NightHawk would cost-effectively expand our capabilities and mitigate the risk of casualties by enabling our team to quickly terminate pursuits before they enter our town”

Leveraging Law-Enforcement and Continuing Education Grants stimulates expansion of the NightHawk Program

Thanks to several grant programs, Prescott Police Department added two more Nighthawk units as part of its Officer Safety Solutions program.

"Grant money is stated in the budget as additional funding that most Police Departments plan to pursue, in the PPD it does not count against the budget and is therefore encouraged" comments Deputy Chief Brambila, “There are grants out there that are available to all Law Enforcement Agencies. We utilize Federal Grants such the Bureau of Justice Assistance Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program (JAG) to obtain these types of advanced policing technologies. There are other avenues for funding, for instance, in Arizona we have Native American Tribal Grants where the tribal gaming commission is required to set aside a percentage of gross earnings to share across the state for various initiatives, including law enforcement and public safety."

The Arizona Attorney General (AGO) sets aside monies for purposes of funding requests by Arizona law enforcement agencies to procure police safety equipment that is not currently funded by other sources, with the goal of awarding funding to every eligible law enforcement agency in Arizona that requests qualified funding.

"The AGO provided grant funding to any Arizona Law Enforcement Agency that responded to a solicitation letter they sent several weeks ago. The grant amount was based on the number of officers in the Prescott Police Department. We were given a specific amount of money to spend on officer safety equipment and the Night Hawk was approved in our application" said Deputy Chief Brambila.

PPD will now have 3 units deployed in its Patrol fleet and Deputy Chief Brambila created lesson plans and presentations for teaching PPD officers how to utilize the system. "The NightHawk greatly benefits our department and expands our capabilities, we now have an advanced pursuit termination system to protect our town, having expanded capacity means an even safer community, and our team will get Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training (AZPOST) continuing education credit for the NightHawk training class” says Deputy Chief Brambila.

Information on JAG => https://bja.ojp.gov/program/jag/overview

Contributing Writer

Deputy Chief Jon Brambila began his law enforcement career in 1999 with the City of Prescott (AZ). He holds a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Oklahoma and is a recent graduate of the 270th class of the FBI National Academy. Jon has held positions within his organization as an FTO; as a Sergeant in Patrol, Training and Recruiting and in the Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy. As a Lieutenant, Jon has served in the Support Services Bureau since 2014. He has also moved through the ranks of his SWAT team as an operator, team leader and served as the team commander for over 15 years. Jon has also served as the Secretary for the Arizona Tactical Officer’s Association since 2012 and is currently serving as the Vice President for the Association.