City of Yuma Parks & Recreation, Fire, Police Calls for Service & Incidents

Information For This Reporting Period and Year to Date As of July 1, 2010

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 period of Monday, June 14th through Sunday, June 20th, Yuma Police Department responded to an average of 164 calls per day. During this period YPD:

• Responded to 1,149 calls for service
• Documented 226 police reports
• Responded to 53 non-injury accidents
• Responded to 15 injury accidents

Drive Safe Location was Giss Parkway / 3rd Street and our targeted intersection was 16th Street and Yuma Palms Parkway. As of June 13th, the Yuma Police Department has issued 1,277 citations in Project Drive Save areas.

From January 1st to June 20th, the Yuma Police Department has:

• Responded to 31,288 calls for service
• Documented 6,436 police reports
• Responded to 1,209 non-injury accidents
• Responded to 434 injury accidents
• Responded to 2,193 alarm calls resulting in 11 police reports

From January 1st through April 30, 2010, the Yuma Police Department:

• Received 70,290 Incoming phone calls into the Public Safety Communications Center
• Received 15,508 9-1-1 calls
• Issued 2,990 Traffic Citations
• Made 1,347 Adult Arrests and 449 Juvenile Arrests

In Calendar year 2009, the Yuma Police Department:

• Received 208,555 calls into the Public Safety Communications Center
• Received 52,035 9-1-1 calls
• Issued 8,288 Traffic Citations
• Made 1,317 Juvenile Arrests and 4,164 Adult Arrests
• Responded to 84,332 calls for service
• Documented 13,740 police reports
• Responded to 2,384 non-injury accidents
• Responded to 933 injury accidents
• Responded to 5,085 alarm calls resulting in 25 police reports

Driving on roadways under construction can be confusing and time consuming due to restricted driving lanes, speed limits, and turning restrictions. When driving in a construction zone, be sure to observe all posted traffic control devices. Plan ahead if a construction zone is in your daily driving route. Leave earlier and prepare for detours from your normal driving route, or take a completely different route to avoid the construction zone. Driving restrictions in construction zones are in place for the safety of workers, pedestrians and drivers. Remember to follow all lane, speed and turning restrictions, as they are enforceable traffic violations, and as always Drive Safe!

Yuma Fire Department

For the week of June 20th through June 26th, Yuma Fire Department responded to 176 Emergency Calls for Service, which included:

• 5 Commercial Assignments including an An unattended cooking fire in an apartment, a fire at a restaurant, a false 911 call from a child, and various alarms.
• 2 Mutual Aid Responses that included backfilling a Somerton fire station while they responded to a fire, and assisting Seely, California with a hay farm fire.
• 10 Motor Vehicle Crashes - 1 involving a pedestrian, and 1 involving a motorcycle.
• 138 Other Medical Emergencies (serious to minor) - 3 for difficulty breathing, 4 for chest pain, 19 fall victims, 6 unconscious people, 5 seizure cases, 5 subjects with mental problems, 2 diabetic emergencies, 21 trauma injuries, 1 poisoning, 3 calls for a child locked inside of a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries.
• 21 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments that included: 2 separate calls for vehicle fires, a hair dryer sparking, several calls for the smell of natural gas in the area, several calls for smoke in the area, a trash can fire, and various alarms.

From January 1, 2010 through June 26th, 2010, the Yuma Fire Department has responded to 5,547 emergency calls for service including:

• 155 Commercial Assignments: 6 fires in businesses, 7 fires in apartments, and various alarms.
• 17 Hazardous Material Responses. 13 Mutual Aid Assignments.
• 463 Motor Vehicle Crashes.
• 4,347 Medical Emergencies (serious to minor): 197 for difficulty breathing, 284 for chest pain, 572 fall victims, 168 unconscious people, 192 people with an altered level of consciousness, 125 seizure cases, 98 diabetic emergencies, 50 possible stroke cases, 12 poisonings, 338 subjects with mental problems, 8 allergic reactions, 1005 with a trauma injury, 24 calls for a child locked inside of a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries.
• 552 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments: 33 fires in private residences, 27 fires, 12 grass or brush fires, 14 fires outside of a structure, 29 vehicle fires, and various alarms.

According to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) research, every Fourth of July, thousands of people (most often children and teens) are injured while using consumer fireworks. Despite the dangers of fireworks, few people understand the associated risks - devastating burns, other injuries, fires, and even death.

There are far more U.S. fires reported on a typical Independence Day than on any other day, and fireworks account for more than half of those fires, more than any other cause of fires. In 2008, fireworks caused an estimated 22,500 reported fires, including 1,400 structure fires, 500 vehicle fires, and 20,600 outside and other fires. These fires resulted in an estimated $42 million in direct property damage.

US hospital emergency rooms treated more than 7,000 people for fireworks related injuries in 2008 and nearly nine out of ten of those injuries involved fireworks that Federal regulations permit consumers to use. The highest rates of injuries were for children aged 5 to 9 years old. Even those sold as "safe and sane" fireworks (meaning, they don't blow up or fly), like sparklers, reach temperatures of over 1000 degrees, leaving your child with a red hot piece of metal in their hand. More than half of all fireworks injuries are from burns.

According to a recently released NFPA report, from 2001 to 2005, an average of 1 person per year was killed in fires started by fireworks, while 6 people per year were killed directly by the fireworks themselves.

Fireworks are illegal in the state of Arizona, but with statistics like these, do you really need a law to convince you or your children not to use fireworks? Yuma has several professional fireworks displays planned. Have a happy and safe 4th of July and don't play with fireworks. It's the law, and the safe thing to do.

For more information, contact the City of Yuma Community Relations Office at 373-5023.

Parks and Recreation Department

For the period of June 16th through June 22nd in the City of Yuma Parks and Recreation Department:

• The Graffiti Busters Crew responded to and cleaned up 37 incidents of graffiti
• 23 rounds of 9-hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
• 684 rounds of 18-hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
• The Putter Inn served 549 meals
• 40 events were held at the Yuma Civic Center with 2,356 people attending those events
• 111 organized games were played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
• The Yuma Art Center hosted 4 events with a total attendance of 111
• 136 ramadas, parks and fields were rented for special events
• 125 programs were offered through the City's recreation program, with 9,409 members of the Yuma community participating in those programs

Since July 1, 2009:

• 3,350 incidents of graffiti have been addressed and cleaned up
• 22,751 rounds of 9-hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
• 41,116 rounds of-18 hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
• The Putter Inn has served 46,516 meals
• 1,203 events have been held at the Yuma Civic Center with an attendance of 141,656
• A total of 6,741 games have been played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
• The Yuma Art Center hosted 158 events with a total attendance of 42,801
• 7,527 ramadas, parks and fields were rented by Yuma area residents
• 2,081 programs have been offered with 218,510 people attending those programs

There were 37 cases of graffiti abated during the period of June 9th through June 15th, with a total of 3,350 removed from July 1st to date.

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.

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