Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Call loads for Sweet Home police and fire services decreased while calls for medical service increased last year, according to the city and Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District.
City police responded to 8,441 calls in 2008 compared to 8,825 in 2007, a 4.4 percent decrease in calls.
This continued a downward trend from a spike in the number of calls in 2005 when police responded to 9,547 calls. In 2006, police responded to 9,002 calls, and in 2004, they responded to 8,854.
The total number of calls does not include traffic citations, which more than doubled from 2006 to 2008. In 2008, Sweet Home police wrote 1,791 traffic citations based on preliminary figures. That is up from 1,156 in 2007 and 835 in 2006.
Police have been emphasizing traffic patrols for the past year, including the creation of a two-officer traffic team; and it’s had a huge impact, based on his and the officers’ observations as well as public comments, Police Chief Bob Burford said. “There has been a significant improvement in driving behavior, especially as it relates to speed and behavior around pedestrians.”
Police haven’t processed 2008 numbers yet, so it’s difficult for them to decide what the numbers mean or why they continue to decline, he said.
Burford suspects that the department’s bellwether crimes – theft, burglary and criminal mischief – probably all decreased in 2008, he said.
“Again, we haven’t looked at the numbers, but it’s my sense that having very, very visible patrols where it’s hard to drive from one end of town or even to the neighborhoods without seeing a patrol car has helped,”he said.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District responded to approximately 1,974 medical calls in 2008, up from 1,917 in 2007. It responded to approximately 213 fire calls, down from 290 in 2007.
Fire department call loads peaked in 2006 with 2,001 medical calls and 390 fire calls. Medical calls have varied between 1,900 and 2,000 since 2004, when the department broke the 1,900 mark for the first time. In 2003, the department responded to 1,689 medical calls.
“For some reason, the last two months of the year, things really slowed down,” Fire Chief Mike Beaver said. The department was running an average of seven calls per shift and running 50 calls ahead of 2007 in October.
He doesn’t know why, whether the economic recession has anything to do with it, he said. It’s unusual for fire and medical calls to slow down that late in the year.
December is usually busy, he said, as people get sick and respiratory problems and depression start showing up.