2019 Flagstaff Police Department Annual Report

FLAGSTAFF POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2019 Accomplishments In 2019, the Communications Center hired ten and continued training eleven Emergency Communications Specialists (ECS). Staff answered a total of 298,476 calls from the public. This included 66,159 calls that were received via 911 and 232,317 non-emergency incoming calls. Staff dispatched 80,419 calls for service to law enforcement and fire units.

Personnel was able to keep fire response time from receipt of call to dispatch at or under one minute, (0.22 seconds) a National Fire Protection Agency best practice. Additionally, the Center maintained a 12-month average patrol response time of 4.01 minutes, from receipt of call to arrival of the first unit on the scene of priority one calls, better than the national benchmark and in line with our goal of under five minutes. City and County staff continued to work with our onsite Geographic Information Systems (GIS) employees on regular updates of the CAD and Vela maps. These maps are utilized to assist communications personnel to direct public safety responders who respond to 911 and all other call activity as they travel to the location of an incident. Map enhancement is an ongoing priority to maintain maximum efficiency and accuracy of call responses.

On medical calls, while emergency services are physically responding, communications personnel perform Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD). An emergency medical dispatcher is a certified telecommunicator, tasked with the gathering of information related to medical emergencies, and offering assistance and pre-arrival medical instructions by voice prior to the arrival of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The term Emergency Medical Dispatcher is also a certification level and a professional designation, certified through the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch. In 2019, 15,768 Emergency Medical calls were received by the Flagstaff 911 Communications Center and EMD was attempted or performed 81% of the time where EMD was possible.

In 2019, all Emergency Communications Specialists completed monthly training from Police Legal Services, an online training tool used to strengthen the professional skills of Emergency Communication Specialists by reinforcing classroom training and supplementing agency-specific practices. Many of the Emergency Communications Specialist Supervisors (ECSS) attended several of the “Investing in you” (IIU) training offered by the City of Flagstaff. ECSS also attended leadership training and completed several courses through Fred Pryor.

The hiring process was updated in 2014 using the CritiCall screening program. “CritiCall”, a pre-employment multitasking testing program assists in identifying candidates who have the multi-tasking skills to be outstanding team members in an emergency communications center.

Staff from each 911 Center in Coconino County, the Arizona State 911 Office, and City and County GIS groups met regularly in 2019 for information sharing, planning and problem-solving. Semi-annual Communications Users Group meetings continued in 2019. This group is comprised of stakeholders from all public safety agencies in our county who assist the current and long-range planning process.

The Flagstaff Police Department in conjunction with the Flagstaff Fire Department, members of Coconino County, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Flagstaff’s GIS teams, continue to work on a Route Based Dispatching project. This is a Global Positioning System (GPS) program within the CAD system that will recommend the closest fire Page 85