BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
FOR GLASGOW NEWS 1
Teamwork seemed to be theme for Monday’s Glasgow Common Council regular meeting, as the leaders of the three city departments with public safety as their No. 1 focus each took their turn providing annual reports.
After the first of the three reports, Mayor Henry Royse commented that after hearing these three reports, local residents “should sleep a whole lot better knowing who is running the show.”
911 telecommunications
Beverly Harbison, director of the 911 dispatch center formally known as the Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Communications Center, pointed out that her department doesn’t just provide its service for the city of Glasgow.
“We do all communications for police, fire and EMS for all of Barren County; we do all of Metcalfe County’s EMS; we answer all 911 calls for Barren and Metcalfe counties,” she said.
What she called a snapshot of the statistics for the department included figures for the 2022 calendar year. The emergency telecommunications staff handled a total of 107,471 incoming calls in that year, with 80,258 considered administrative (nonemergency) calls and 27,213 that were 911 calls.
In 2022, a total of 36,380 calls for service were dispatched to Glasgow fire and police departments, 7,153 were to Cave City police and fire, and 1,129 to Park City fire and police, she said, noting that policing in the Park City area is done through the Barren County Sheriff’s Office.
Calls dispatched to Barren County agencies including BCSO, the volunteer fire departments, Glasgow-Barren County Emergency Management, dive team and coroner totalled 16,702.
A total of 10,954 calls were dispatched to Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Medical Services – 9,460 in Barren County and 1,494 in Metcalfe County.
The grand total for calls for service was 72,314.
Harbison also showed several photos within her presentation to illustrate some of the community outreach, training and other activities in which her department participates.
April Dunbar, the assistant director of the dispatch center, is second vice president of the Kentucky Emergency Number Association, she said.
“We’re proud of her for that,” Harbison said.
Royse pointed out that some of the personnel are also trained to do emergency medical dispatching, through which they can walk callers through some of the initial steps they should take while awaiting the arrival of the ambulance or other medical first responders. For example, he said, one day when he stopped by to sign some paperwork, a dispatcher was helping a woman who was in labor.
“I applaud the quality that you all demand,” the mayor said.
Fire
William Rock II, chief of the Glasgow Fire Department, said the three public safety departments “all work great together,” and reiterating a thought on Harbison’s last slide, he said the dispatchers really are unsung heroes.
He likewise showed photos of some of his department’s activities, beginning with the new truck received last year and different types of fires. He said most people think of structure fires when they think about the department’s responses, and those are not just houses, but there are also car fires, field fires and landfill fires, for example.
Rock’s figures were from July 1, 2022, through May 1, 2023, and in that time, they had 1,062 runs.
Of those, 55 were fires; 383 were emergency medical calls to assist EMS, including motor vehicle accidents and vehicle lock-ins; 197 were alarms; 137 were “good intent” calls, where someone has called in because they see smoke, for example, but they often turn out to not be emergency situations; 215 person-in-distress or lift-assist calls, the latter of which has become the most rewarding part of the job for him as he’s gained years, he said. He said they inspected more than 184 businesses and those are done on an ongoing basis. The personnel also turn on and check each of the city’s 900-plus fire hydrants each year to ensure they work, and they hand-inspect every inch of the 15,000 feet of hose they have every year.
Rock said he’s currently down three personnel and another just gave notice and another is retiring Aug. 1. He shared the names of the three new staff members from the past year as well as the four who have been promoted.
He discussed the importance of fitness and training, and he said the firefighters themselves take care of almost all the department’s maintenance and installed new flooring themselves.
Police
Glasgow Police Department Chief Guy Howie, pointing to Harbison and Dunbar, said, “These ladies right here are truly your first responders, because that’s where it starts, is with them.”
displayed an image listing many community events – 90 in 2022 and 29 so far in 2023 – with which his personnel assisted. They ranged from the Martin Luther King Jr. Day walk from Barren County Courthouse to First Baptist Church, to 5k races and concerts.
“We probably touch the lives of more citizens doing public events than we do responding to calls for service, and we have the opportunity to do positive things every day in this community,” Howie said.
He said that with the help of a grant, the agency was able to obtain 32 car seats in March, and, as of May 9, eight of those had been distributed at no charge to families in need, with 24 seats remaining and more on backorder.
The GPD’s 35,000 calls for service in calendar year 2022 included 1,559 for domestic trouble, 644 motorist assists, 603 reckless drivers, 449 escorts (e.g. funeral processions), 377 thefts, 367 fights, 297 shoplifters, 252 break-ins in progress, 227 hit-and-runs, 159 transports, 1,200 noninjury collisions and 457 injury collisions.
“Folks, we injure more people in Glasgow than all the crimes put together in traffic-related accidents,” Howie said. “So, we’re going to focusing a little bit of effort on where those accidents are happening and what we can do to prevent those accidents through selective enforcement.”
Moving into the 2022 crime figures, Howie reported there were 115 assaults, two murders, two arson cases, 23 sexual assaults, three robberies, 46 burglaries, 119 shoplifting incidents and 25 auto thefts.
“Our thefts across the board are going up this year, and that is a trend not just in Glasgow but across the country,” the police chief said.
Animal control officers, who serve the entire county rather than just the city, responded to 3,287 calls for service in 2022 and so far this year, that number is 1,247. Last year, 216 citations were issued, and 140 have already been issued this year. In 2022, 542 animals were impounded, and that number is at 196 so far in 2023, Howie said.
Recruitment is a major focus for the department at this time, he said, with seven openings currently. He said they’ve been able to hire several individuals who were already certified officers, and three are currently in academy training.
He also spoke about proactive enforcement, partnerships, technology and personnel development, particularly as he has a “very young department.”
“When we have a neighborhood or an area that is deteriorating, that allows the criminal element to come in. If they see a place that doesn’t really seem to care about what’s going on in the neighborhood, then they think it’s an easy target for crime,” Howie said. “So we’re going to look at those through partnerships.”
The chief gave a shout out to Sheryl Pena, the city’s code enforcement officer.
“She’s awesome,” he said. “That’s a big part of cleaning up areas is through code enforcement. She’s done an awesome job.”
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