Page 26 - N. Richland Hills General Budget

BUDGET OVERVIEW

COUNCIL GOAL 3:
SAFETY & SECURITY

Strive to be the safest community in Tarrant County
and to be prepared for potential natural and man-
made disasters.

Objectives:

• Maintain a low response time

• Maintain low crime rate

• Provide effective and efficient police, fire and EMS

• Engage community in public safety programs and initiatives

• Maintain the City’s ability to respond to all large-scale emergencies

• Partner with the community to support modern law enforcement efforts that value the
sanctity of all human life

Accomplishments:

• In August 2019, the fire department placed a fourth full time ambulance in service. The
addition of the full time ambulance reduced the number of mutual aid calls for service. The
number of mutual aid transfers of patients reduced significantly after the implementation.
The department added six (6) firefighter/paramedic positions to staff the new ambulance.

• The fire department hired and trained seventeen (17) new personnel, a record number of
new employees for a single year.

• Sixty‐three (63) members of the fire department upgraded certification levels beyond the
basic level. Our members completed 7630 hours of fire training, 5482 hours of EMS
training, 3528 hours of professional development, and 451 hours of Hazmat training. Total
training hours for the year across the disciplines was 17,093.

• A Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) is a facility equipped and staffed to receive 911
calls from all partner cities. The North Richland Hills Police Department has created
redundancy in the form of a backup PSAP equipped to provide continuous services in the
event the primary PSAP is inoperable. The backup PSAP was staffed for a disaster
preparedness exercise where all operations were transitioned from the primary to the
backup center without diminishing the level of service provided.

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