Agenda Highlights 5/23/22
The Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting scheduled for 5-23-23 will begin with the annual report from the Police Department. Highlights of the 2022 report will include
There was a 10.31% decrease in Group A crimes (homicide, sexual assault, robbery, arson, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft)
The department came in under budget for the year.
Of the 59 internal complaints investigated, 34 were sustained. Of the 30 citizen complaints investigated, 4 were sustained.
The Patrol Unit received 63,371 calls for service, made 9305 traffic stops, made 4,701 arrests, and made 20,800 non-enforcement contacts with community members.
9 new patrol cars were added to the fleet. The take-home vehicle program was started for officers that live in Fort Smith. New uniforms were issued.
38 new officers were hired.
The bicycle unit was restarted after an over ten year long absence.
The Crisis Intervention unit conducted 700 follow ups, diverted 28 people from prosecution, and made 114 voluntary and 8 involuntary referrals for mental health help.
The Airport Unit was involved with 132,061 passengers and received zero complaints.
The Communications unit received 144,789 calls with 64,098 of those being 911 emergency calls. These calls included 75,813 patrol requests, 6773 animal warden requests, and 15,227 fire fighter requests.
The Communications unit received a phone system upgrade that includes the ability to exchange text messages.
The Animal Wardens responded to 6,463 calls. They reunited 375 lost animals with their owners, sent 1,072 animals to the shelter, relocated 318 wild animals, and rescued 95 animals from situations involving animal cruelty.
The Animal Wardens established a no-adoption list for people charged with animal cruelty. They also added 2 new vehicles to the fleet.
The Information Desk filed 1,969 offense reports, 1,441 incident reports, performed 2 arrests, and completed 347 fingerprint requests.
The Central Records Section handled 13,601 offense reports, 4,732 arrest reports, 38,160 incident reports, and 3,690 accident reports.
The Quartermasters redesigned the forms for issuing and tracking uniforms and equipment. The new forms are more efficient and accurate.
The Crimes Against Persons Unit that deals with violent crimes were assigned 1,713 cases and cleared 1,648 of those for a 96.2% clearance rate.
The Narcotics Unit was commended by the FBI for their assistance in the Organized Drug Crime Enforcement Task Force. The top 3 drugs seized by the unit were meth, fentanyl, and marijuana.
The Special Investigations Unit that deals with crimes against children, the sex offender registry, cyber crimes, computer forensics, and crime scene investigation worked 882 cases and cleared 824 of those for a 93.42% clearance rate.
The Property Crimes unit worked 1014 cases and cleared 881 of those for an 86.88% clearance rate.
De-escalation training and tactics were a major focus for the department.
The Food Patrol distributed 5,400 meals to residents of high crime areas.
Some things the Police Department is looking forward to in 2023 include the merging of the 911 call centers and implementing the new Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management System there, the new Flock safety camera system including automated license plate recognition, the start of the Public Safety Cadets program, offering drivers education classes for students, and establishing a new sobering center.
The Board will hear the annual report from the Fire Department. Highlights of the 2022 report will include
The Fire Department received 15,225 calls (up from 14,885 in 2021).
They responded to 10,802 EMS calls (up from 10,583 in 2021) making up 70.88% of their calls.
They responded to 448 fire calls (up from 356 in 2021) making up 3.03% of their calls.
The total property value involved in the fire calls was $104,205,685 and the total property value lost to fire was $5,901,405. So they saved 94.34% of the property and only lost 5.66% of it.
The busiest fire station was #7 at 5411 Euper Lane with 2027 calls (13.38% of the total calls), the second busiest was Philip P. Christensen Station #1 at 500 North 5th with 1927 calls (12.66 % of the total calls), and the third busiest was station #2 at 1127 North Greenwood with 1725 calls (11.33% of the total calls). The least busy station was #11 at 8900 Massard Road with 474 calls (3.11% of the total calls).
The average response time to calls was 3 minutes and 23 seconds.
The Board will discuss the future of the hydroelectric generator at the Lee Creek Dam. This item was originally on the agenda for the 1-24-23 meeting that was cancelled for bad weather.
At the most recent inspection of the dam by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), it was noted that the hydroelectric dam was no longer functional and that no energy is being produced. Minor repairs and a study must be done regardless before any next steps are taken, but there are two main options for moving forward. Either the generator can be repaired at a cost of $3-5 million that is likely to produce a negative return on investment from the revenue generated by producing electricity, or the City could surrender the FERC license and remove the generator. One top concern with removing the generator is that since the generator was originally included to reduce red tape with Oklahoma questions are raised about how removal would impact Phase 2 of the Lee Creek Dam expansion that would cause there to be more reservoir in Oklahoma. The other top concern with removal is that some FERC projects require the stream to be returned to its natural flow state if the project is ended so questions are raised about how that would impact the drinking water supply reservoir.
