11-17-11 Planning and Zoning - Laserfiche WebLink

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Focus Area 3 - Maintaining and Improving Public Safety Services An increase in population, combined with new development and redevelopment, will create an increased demand for public safety services. To keep pace, the City must commit to a gradual expansion of its Police, Fire, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Departments and invest in new facilities, equipment, and staffing to ensure adequate service capabilities, responsiveness, and geographic coverage in the coming years. Police Services The Police Department operates out of its headquarters at 3001 N. 23rd Street; a new 56,000 square foot police RgHRiGiPaI r^° 4 facility constructed in 2007. The building is the Police Department's primary facility serving both its administrative and general purpose needs. The Police Department currently has 108 employees, two reserve officers, and 96 dedicated volunteers;15 this includes 75 commissioned, full-time officers (including the Chief). The department is divided into Patrol Operations and Support Services. The Patrol Division is divided into three patrol shifts. It also operates a traffic/commercial vehicle enforcement section, motorcycle patrol, K9 units, bicycle patrol, SWAT team, as well as an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (a.k.a. bomb disposal) unit. The Police Department's service area is the City -limits, but they FespBREI off site to bethare occasionally called upon to respond to neighboring jurisdictions such as Shoreacres,.Morgan's Point, and areas in the ETJ where the County Sheriff has jurisdiction. The Support Services Division is divided into Criminal Investigations and Support Services (e.g., community services, training, IT, building maintenance, communications (i.e., E-911) and records, animal control, and school resources officers). The City's joint E-911 dispatch center is located within and staffed by the Police Department, which handles dispatch for all emergencies for the Police, Fire, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Departments, as well as the Morgan's Point Police Department. During 2010, emergency dispatchers dispatched 37,190 police calls, 1,582 fire calls, and 2,976 EMS calls for a total of 41,748 calls for service. As the community continues to grow, the Police Department sees a need for additional jailers and a full-time crime analyst, in addition to adding patrol officers to keep pace with the new population. The Police Department also foresees a need to expand portions of the current facility, is La Porte Police Department 2010 Annual Report. A COM UNIT-Y VISION FOR 1A PORTE, TEXAS - 2010 UPDATE