Press Release

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

Date:

07/22/2010

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:

Greg HylandDirector of Communications & Public Affairs

Information For This Reporting Period and Year to Date As of July 22, 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, July 5th through Sunday, July 11th, Yuma Police Department responded to an average of 161 calls per day. During this period YPD

Responded to 1,132 calls for service
Documented 234 police reports
Responded to 24 non-injury accidents
Responded to 5 injury accidents

Significant Incidents & Community Events

On July 6th, Yuma Police Department was called to a homicide at 4:30 am in the 400 block South Madison Avenue. A 17 year old victim was stabbed by an adult male during a disturbance. The suspect turned himself in to YPD officers the next day.
On July 8th T.A.G.S. & YPD Graffiti Task Force named their second graffiti suspect "Rouge, Rouger " in efforts to identify this vandal.
Drive Safe Location was Avenue A and our targeted intersection was the 24th Street and Avenue A. As of July 12th, the Yuma Police Department has issued 1,570 citations in Project Drive Save areas.

From January 1st to July 11th, the Yuma Police Department has:

Responded to 34,665 calls for service
Documented 7,140 police reports
Responded to 1,304 non-injury accidents
Responded to 460 injury accidents
Responded to 2,469 alarm calls resulting in 12 police reports

From January 1st through May 31, 2010, the Yuma Police Department:

Received 91,088 Incoming phone calls into the Public Safety Communications Center
Received 19,434 9-1-1 calls
Issued 3,642 Traffic Citations
Made 1,693 Adult Arrests and 569 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

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

Yuma Fire Department

For the week of July 11th through June July 17th, Yuma Fire Department responded to 182 Emergency Calls for Service, which included:

0 Commercial Assignments this week.
10 Motor Vehicle Crashes - 1 involving a bridge, 1 involving a bicycle, and 1 involving a pedestrian.
156 Other Medical Emergencies (serious to minor) - 3 for difficulty breathing, 13 for chest pain, 19 fall victims, 8 unconscious people, 5 seizure cases, 14 subjects with mental problems, 1 diabetic emergency, 27 trauma injuries, 1 possible stroke, a child locked inside of a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries.
28 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments that included: a cat in a tree, 2 calls for bees swarming, a small fire outside of a shed near a residence, a small brush fire from hot barbecue coal being discarded improperly, power lines down in an alleyway, a smoldering tree stump in an alleyway, an illegal trash fire behind a residence, a call for people stuck in an elevator, a vehicle fire, and various alarms.

From January 1, 2010 through July 17th, 2010, the Yuma Fire Department has responded to 6,133 emergency calls for service including:

167 Commercial Assignments: 6 fires in businesses, 7 fires in apartments, and various alarms.
17 Hazardous Material Responses.
13 Mutual Aid Assignments.
496 Motor Vehicle Crashes.
4,828 Medical Emergencies (serious to minor): 216 for difficulty breathing, 310 for chest pain, 648 fall victims, 193 unconscious people, 216 people with an altered level of consciousness, 137 seizure cases, 107 diabetic emergencies, 55 possible stroke cases, 12 poisonings, 372 subjects with mental problems, 8 allergic reactions, 1,098 with a trauma injury, 28 calls for a child locked inside of a vehicle, and miscellaneous other illnesses and injuries.
612 Special Duty, Public Assistance, and Residential Assignments: 35 fires in private residences, 31 dumpster fires, 13 grass or brush fires, 14 fires outside of a structure, 32 vehicle fires, and various alarms.

So far this year, the Yuma Fire Department has responded to 48 calls for a person in cardiac arrest. According to the University of Arizona's Sarver Heart Center, every year more than 160,000 people die of sudden cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is a condition where the heart suddenly stops pumping blood. In many cases, the heart goes from a regular heartbeat to random twitching (called ventricular fibrillation). When something like this happens blood stops moving through the body. In this condition, quick action must be taken for the person to have a chance of survival. These recommended actions are often referred to as the "Chain of Survival" and are:

Calling 911 (Getting the Paramedics on the way)
Starting CPR
Defibrillation (Using an Automated External Defibrillator-AED- if one is available)
Early Arrival of Advanced Care (Paramedics)

The Yuma Fire Department has been providing instruction in the new "Continuous Chest Compression" CPR (that does not include mouth to mouth resuscitation) since February of last year, and has trained over 2,100 people in more than 100 classes! Studies have shown CCC-CPR is not only more likely to be used, but also is more effective than traditional CPR.

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

Parks and Recreation Department

For the period of July 14th through July 20th in the City of Yuma Parks and Recreation Department:

The Graffiti Busters Crew responded to and cleaned up 32 incidents of graffiti
10 rounds of 9-hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
474 rounds of 18-hole golf were played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
The Putter Inn served 359 meals
59 events were held at the Yuma Civic Center with 2,159 people attending those events
126 organized games were played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
The Yuma Art Center hosted 3 events with a total attendance of 324
216 ramadas, parks and fields were rented for special events
89 programs were offered through the City's recreation program, with 8,656 members of the Yuma community participating in those programs
6 programs were offered at the Yuma Art Center, with 24 attendees

From July 1, 2019 to July 20, 2010:

115 incidents of graffiti have been addressed and cleaned up
44 rounds of 9-hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
1,718 rounds of-18 hole golf have been played at Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes Golf courses
The Putter Inn has served 1,123 meals
146 events have been held at the Yuma Civic Center with an attendance of 7,448
A total of 300 games have been played at City of Yuma athletic facilities
The Yuma Art Center hosted 8 events with a total attendance of 984
529 ramadas, parks and fields were rented by Yuma area residents
328 programs have been offered with 21,655 people attending those programs
121 programs were offered at the Yuma Art Center, with 24 attendees

There were 32 cases of graffiti abated during the period of July 6 through July 13th, with a total of 115 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.

Follow the City of Yuma on Twitter

You can now follow the City of Yuma and receive the latest information from your Twitter account. The City's Twitter address is www.twitter.com/CityOfYuma. (This link will take you to an external website that is not part of the City of Yuma official website.)

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.