Mayor Hart held a Public Safety Talkabout on Wednesday, April 24th. Our Police and Fire Chiefs gave an overview of where we are now with public safety and what they plan next to not only maintain but improve the level of service.
About 50 residents participated, either in person or by Zoom, in almost 90 minutes of Q&A. They expressed gratitude for the quality of public safety, but also a lot of concerns. I took notes about the concerns raised. But right now, I want to focus on two very positive messages from last night.
Police Chief Flowers told us that total call volume has increased over the past five years. I looked at the department’s call data. He’s right. Calls have increased close to 7% a year since 2019. That’s logical. Our population has increased too.
But here’s the good news. Crimes against people and crimes against property have not increased over the past five years. Is that because we’re all just such wonderful people and Ivins only attracts wonderful people? Of course. Or is it because our Police Department does a great job and makes its presence felt in the community? Of course.
Fire Chief Parker reported that in the two years since he came on board, the Fire Department has changed from a full-time staff of six firefighters and EMS personnel to fifteen, plus Fire Chief Parker and Division Chief Fulde.
That change, plus a lot of other changes, has resulted in Ivins and Santa Clara reaching an ISO rating of 4. Only 14% of fire departments nationwide have an ISO rating better than 4. A fire department’s ISO rating is a measure of how well a fire department can serve the community. The official name for this rating is the Public Protection Classification or PPC. The lower the rating, the better.
That’s a big change from a couple of years ago. Not only that, but he’s also shooting for an ISO rating of 3. Only 5% of fire departments do better than that.
Please share your comments on this topic and tell me about other Ivins issues I have not addressed in recent posts. Email me at Mike@MikeScott4Ivins.com.
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