City of Yuma Parks & Recreation, Fire, Police Calls for Service & Incidents
Date:
09/17/2009 (Last updated: 09/21/2009)Summary:
Employees of the City of Yuma Police Department, Fire Department and Parks & Recreation Department responded to the following calls for service and reports of vandalism and graffiti this week.Contact:
For This Reporting Period and Year to Date
Yuma, Arizona - Employees of the City of Yuma Police Department, Fire Department and Parks & Recreation Department responded to the following calls for service and reports of vandalism and graffiti this week.
Yuma Police Department
For the week of August 31st through September 6th, Yuma Police Department responded to an average of 156 calls for service per day. During this week YPD:
- Responded to 1,095 calls for service
- Documented 245 police reports
- Responded to 42 non-injury accidents
- Responded to 10 injury accidents
Significant incidents and community events include:
- On August 31st, a fatality collision occurred on Airport Loop north of
County 14th Street - On September 5th a severe thunderstorm caused flooding, a downed
power pole and other various calls for service.
The Drive Safe Location was 16th Street and our targeted intersection was Avenue A and 32nd Street. As of August 31st, Operation Drive Safe has resulted in 2,189 citations being issued.
From January 1st to September 6th, the Yuma Police Department has:
- Responded to 43,943 calls for service
- Documented 9,470 police reports
- Responded to 1,671 noninjury accidents
- Responded to 662 injury accidents
- Responded to 3,574 alarm calls resulting in 18 police reports
Last Fiscal Year (July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009), the Yuma Police Department:
- Received 27,832 9-1-1 calls
- Received 109,450 incoming calls in the Public Safety Communications office
- Issued 4,010 Traffic Citations
- Made 748 Juvenile Arrests and 2,113 Adult Arrests
Red light violations cause over 5,000 traffic accidents a year in Arizona[1]. Arizona traffic law requires motorists approaching an intersection to reduce their speed regardless of the color of the traffic signal. Doing so prepares motorist to stop for signal changes, as well as other hazards. A yellow traffic signal is a warning that the red signal is about to be activated and motorist should be braking rather than accelerating. Motorists facing a steady red traffic signal are required to stop prior to entering the intersection. Motorist should do their part by braking on yellow, stopping on red, and always Drive Safe!
[1] Source: Arizona Department of Transportation
Remember to follow all lane, speed and turning restrictions, as they are enforceable traffic violations.
Yuma Fire Department
For the week of September 6th through September 12th, Yuma Fire Department responded to 190 Emergency Calls for Service, which included:
- 4 Commercial Assignments, for false fire alarm pulls
- 12 Motor Vehicle Accidents, with 21 total patients, with one rollover, one involving a pedestrian, one involving a motorcycle, and one involving three vehicles
- 155 Other Medical Emergencies (serious to minor), five for difficulty breathing, nine for chest pain, fourteen fall victims, three unconscious people, four seizure cases, four diabetic emergencies, ten patients with mental problems, one near drowning, three calls for a child locked inside of a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries
- 19 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments for a cat stuck in a garage door mechanism, a back hoe that ruptured a gas line in the resident's back yard, a cable wire down in an alley way, a couch on fire in an alley way, a snake removal from a resident's front yard, a snake removal from a local playground, a vehicle fire, and various alarms
From January 1st to September 12th, the Yuma Fire Department has responded to 7,724 emergency calls for service, which include:
- 254 Commercial Assignments, Including -13 fires in businesses, 10 fires in apartments, and various alarms
- 21 Hazardous Material Responses
- 12 Mutual Aid Assignments
- 734 Motor Vehicle Crashes
- 5,874 Medical Emergencies (serious to minor), Including - 810 for difficulty breathing, 527 for chest pain, 748 fall victims, 510 unconscious people, 192 seizure cases, 183 diabetic emergencies, 123 possible stroke cases, 105 poisoning/overdoses, 141 patients with mental problems, 50 allergic reactions, 57 calls for a child locked inside of a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries
- 829 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments, including - 40 fires in private residences, 64 dumpster fires, 17 grass or brush fires, 17 fires outside of a structure, 48 vehicle fires, and various alarms
Last week Yuma Fire Department personnel responded to four commercial fire alarms that turned out to be false alarms. three of these alarms were triggered by someone who set off the alarm knowing there was no fire. Setting off a false alarm is not only against the law; it puts other people's lives in danger. Every time emergency vehicles respond, there is a chance of a crash occurring. People that pull false alarms are legally responsible for any harm that comes from their act.
Every year there are up to a quarter million false alarms reported to U.S. Fire Departments. Every year, some of those responses end in tragedies. Another serious concern is while fire personnel are tied up on false alarms, they are not able to respond (or their response is delayed) to the medical emergencies that make up more than 80% of our calls for service. Last year, 677 of YFD's responses were for false alarms.
Please, have a talk with your children about pulling false alarms. Explain to them the lives they are endangering and the risks they are taking. Pulling a false alarm is playing with fire!
Parks and Recreation Department
For the week of September 9th through September 15th, City of Yuma Parks and Recreation Department:
- Responded to and cleaned up 103 incidents of graffiti
- 76 rounds of 9 hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- 521 rounds of 18 hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- The Putter Inn served 5056 meals
- 22 events were held at the Yuma Civic Center with an attendance of 874 people attending those events
- A total of 99 games were played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
- The Yuma Art Center hosted 4 events with total attendance of 1,275
- 79 ramadas, parks and fields were rented for special events
- 19 programs were offered through the City's recreation program, with 2,512 members of the Yuma community participating in those programs
Since July 1, 2009:
- 706 incidents of graffiti have been addressed and cleaned up
- 837 rounds of 9 hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- 5,558 rounds of 18 hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf Courses
- The Putter Inn has served 4,291 meals
- 315 events have been held at the Yuma Civic Center with an attendance of 19,369
- A total of 1,339 games were played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
- The Yuma Art Center hosted 25 events with a total attendance of 4,239
- 833 ramadas, parks and fields were rented by Yuma area residents
- 317 programs were offered with 73,481 people attending those programs
Vandalism continues to be a problem in our parks and playgrounds. Six sprinklers were damaged by unknown persons at Kennedy Park causing $150 in damages. The toilet paper holder in the restroom at the West Wetlands Park was pulled off the wall causing $75 in damage. The drinking fountain at Keegan Park's restroom was damaged costing taxpayers an additional $100.00.
There were 103 cases of graffiti abated this past week of September 9 thru September 15, 2009. Parks and Recreation crews are cleaning up an average of 60 cases of graffiti per week for the Fiscal Year starting July 1st.
Vandalism and graffiti clean-up costs the Yuma taxpayers over $200,000 each year. Please help us reduce vandalism by reporting incidences of crime to 78-Crime and Graffiti to the hot line of 329-2828. If you witness a crime in progress, call 9-1-1.
For More Information
For further information, please contact Greg Hyland, CPM, the City of Yuma's Director of Communications & Public Affairs at (928) 373-5023 or by e-mail or Dave Nash, City of Yuma Public Affairs Coordinator at (928) 373-5015 or by e-mail.
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Media Contacts
Members of the media may contact Director of Communications and Public Affairs Greg Hyland, CPM at (928) 373-5023 or (928) 580-4751, or Public Affairs Coordinator Dave Nash at (928) 373-5015, or (928) 941-0199.
