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Frequently asked questions:
Police Department
Fire Department
Realizing growth patterns of any
community plays an impressive role in determining
Public Safety needs. What has been the
historical growth of Norman?
How then does the size of Norman directly impact
emergency services?
According to the 2025 plan, the city encompasses 121,134
acres of land and (183.9 square miles). The City’s
Street Maintenance Department maintains 810 miles of streets. The state
maintains 17.5 miles of state highway 9 through Norman. This presents a unique
problem in the provision of public safety to the more rural areas of the city.
This vast land area presents a problem for both police and fire in maintaining a
reasonable response time and presence in the area east of 48th Street East. This
beat encompasses 112 Square miles, more than half of the cities land area.
Police presence has remained the same since 1975 when a police beat plan was
established for the entire area east of 48th Street. This region of Norman
encompasses Lake Thunderbird Recreational area, hundreds of road and highway
miles including Highway 9.
What comparison in crime rate does
Norman have to other communities?
What criteria are used in
comparison with Norman?
We have selected cities in the same conference as the
University of Oklahoma, and cities in the state and region with varying
similarities.
How does Norman’s per capita Police Officer
personnel compare to other Big Twelve communities?
How does Norman’s per capita Police Officer
personnel compare to other cities in our region?
What are the success or clearance rates for the
Police Department with its current staffing levels?
How are Police Staffing Levels
gauged or help in determination made?
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is
recognized as one of the preeminent leaders in the field of patrol staffing and
deployment. The organization has conducted numerous studies to determine the
number of field patrol officers and supervisors required for departments to
maximize human resources. The IACP does not subscribe solely to the use of
ratios of number of officers per capita as the sole basis of staffing decisions.
The model advocates among other considerations, that the primary factors to be
considered in appropriate staffing levels include, population,
emergency calls for service,
response times, time per call, backup officer, and proactive time. A number of
studies have recommended optimum
officer per capita. For example, the Kansas City Preventative Patrol
Experience recommends 2 per 1,000 populations, while the Rand Study recommends
2.3 sworn per 1,000 populations.
What is your snapshot of the current staffing level
of the Norman Police Department?
The Patrol Bureau manning charts for FY-96 authorized sixty
six (66) patrol officers. Ten (10) years later, the FY- 06 manning table
authorizes seventy (70) patrol officers. This reflects a net gain of only four
(4) officers to provide additional police presence for an estimated 21,235
additional residents. As of 11/30/06 the number of patrol officers remains at
seventy (70). The Patrol Bureau provides direct services to the community and is
considered the backbone of the
police department. Quite naturally, the city’s
rapid growth has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of
incidents, vehicles on the street, vehicular accidents, number of residents, and
business that require police intervention. What is abundantly clear is that the
driving force behind the departments needs is the rapid development occurring in
Norman. In looking at the population increase past ten (10) plus years (1996 =
88,481 7/11/2006 = 109,716) one observes that the population has increased by an
estimated 21,235 residents or 24% for the period.
What are some of the contributing factors for the
fluctuations of Police staffing levels?
How does understaffing effect
Norman residents?
Understaffing is impairing the department’s
ability to maintain a police presence and respond to calls for service.
How is the Norman Police
Department “filling the holes” in
staffing deficiencies?
“Overtime” is an inevitable part of police work and all
police departments and law enforcement rely on it to some extent in order to
meet service demand requirements. Overtime cannot be eliminated regardless of
the number of police officers due to court appearances, training and working
past the end of the regular shift to process arrests, unpredictable events and
negotiated contract requirements. Research suggests that there may be a
substantial opportunity to tighten up the process of supervision and managing
the approval of overtime requests, could result in considerable costs savings to
the city. Too much reliance on Overtime can result in undesirable consequences,
such as exhaustion, accidents and the undermining of morale. Indifference of
personnel to provide service without direct monitory or tangible compensation
can undermine professionalism.
What is the reasonable & viable recommendation?
Vote “YES” on May 13th to the .5 cent dedicated
sales tax increase. Thus, as the department is able to increase the time
available for proactive or directed patrol it is highly likely that there may be
a reduction in future calls for service, as well as a decrease in criminal
incidence reported by the public. In addition, added supervisors, investigators,
communications officers, records clerks, and records manager round out the
missing elements in police staffing problems.
By the way, how does the Police Department budget
and per capita costs compare to other communities in
our area?
How about the Norman Fire Department? How has
staffing levels kept up with Norman’s growth in this
organization?
The Norman Fire Department’s
mission is committed to the efficient delivery of quality safety and
protective services to the citizens of Norman. The Department is
well regarded and provides excellent service with-in its resource
capabilities. This is
particularly noteworthy given the increased responsibility of protecting an ever
growing population while the
work force has in the main remained static for 20 years. The Fire
Suppression Division manning chart reflects 111 in 1987, with a resident
population of 88.896,
compared to 116 and a projected current population 109,716 as of July 11, 2006.
This number reflects to a net increase of 5 over the 20 year reporting
period while the city
population has increased by an estimated 20,820 residents.
How many
Fire Stations does Norman have? Where are they
located?
The Norman Fire
Department responds to fire suppression and medical emergency calls with life
saving resources. Currently, NFD provides fire and EMS first responder services
from 7 fire stations. The locations are as follows.
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Fire
Station 1 411 E. Main Street
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Fire
Station 2 2211 W. Boyd Street
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Fire
Station 3 201 E. Lindsey Street (soon to be relocated @
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Fire
Station 4 4545 W. Robinson Street
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Fire
Station 5 1000 168th Street (Little Ax)
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Fire
Station 6 7405 E. Alameda Street
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Fire
Station 7 2207 Goddard Avenue (N. Base)
What
standard equipment is being deployed from each Fire
Station?
The following
summarizes the deployment of the department’s vehicular apparatus’s:
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Station 1 – 1-Fire Engine, 1-Brush Pumper, 1-Mobile Air Supply, 1-1500 Gal.
Tanker, Reserve Brush Pumper, 1-Command Vehicle
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Station 2 –
1-Fire Engine, 1-Brush Pumper, 1-Ariel Truck, 1-Rescue Vehicle
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Station 3 –
1-Fire Engine, 1-Brush Pumper, 1-Reserve Fire Engine, 1-Mobile Command Post
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Station 4 –
1-Fire Engine, 1-Brush Pumper, 1-Reserve Fire Engine
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Station 5 –
1-Fire Engine, 1-Brush Pumper
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Station 6 –
1-Fire Engine, 1-Brush Pumper, 1-Reserve Brush Pumper, 1-Reserve
Fire Engine
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Station 7 –
1-Fire Engine, 1-Hazardous Materials Response Unit, 1-Brush Pumper
The department has
39 vehicles in its fleet. A number of these units are quite expensive and
require a significant commitment of personnel time and effort to maintain. From
all appearances they are superbly maintained. The department’s apparatuses are
generally viewed by staff as being in reasonable condition.
To what extent has the work load
or call volume increased
over the recent years with the Norman Fire Department?
What type
of “calls”, other than Firefighting, occupies the members of the Norman
Fire Department?
65.7% of the
NFD annual emergency activity is directed at emergency first responder medical
calls. NFD as a first responder provides a fully staffed engine company with all
members trained to a minimum of certified first responder on board. However, it
should be noted that while NFD personnel are first responders, they may perform
Basic Life Support due to advanced training and protocol adjustment under the
auspices of EMS Medical Director. The National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) standard 1710 outlines the standards for provision by First Responders.
The Norman Fire
Department responds to emergency calls for rescue and extrication of trapped
victims from hazardous situations. Those responses include individuals entrapped
in vehicles, structural collapse, trench cave-inns, confined space incidents
i.e. manholes, farming accidents, situations involving above and below grade
rescues.
Just how quick can Norman
Firefighters respond to
our emergencies?
Rapid response
and appropriate resources are foremost in providing high quality services in
getting to the scene of an emergency quickly. The reason the department houses
at least one fire engine in each one of the seven fire stations is to rapidly
respond to all types of emergency incidents whether it be heart attack,
vehicular accident, or a major building fire. NFD reports an annual average
response time to all emergency calls for the year 2006 to be 5.62 minutes
including one minute for what is known as turnout time.
Response time
is defined as beginning when units are en route to the emergency incident and
ends when the responding fire company arrives at the scene.
Do the
response times of the Norman Fire Department meet acceptable
standards?
NEPA Standards
1710 has established four (4) minutes as the goal for 90% of the responses. NFD
has historically tracked average response times by station and included the one
minute that the NEPA standards allows for turnout time (from the time the alarm
sounds in the station and the fire engine is rolling) in the number. This
reflects the only practical method for the department to produce an accurate
record of response times. At some point the City’s Computer Aided Dispatching
System needs to be revisited and programmed to automate this information. The
system deficiencies are revealed in its inability to distinguish between the
number of calls exceeding the 5 minute goal and averaging with numbers with
those of those less than 5 minutes. It should be noted that residents living
further from a fire station are in many cases not receiving acceptable response
times on a consistent basis.
ISO Ratings
are important for the community who pays for Home Owners
Insurance. What exactly is the “ISO”?
The Insurance
Service Organization has for many years done evaluations and ratings of the fire
protection provided in communities. This system is called the ISO Public
Protection Classification Program or PPC. The PPC process grades a community’s
fire protection on a scale of 1-10 based on the ISO’s Fire Suppression Rating
Schedule with “class 1”being the best.
Many insurance
companies use ISO’s PPC evaluation as a factor in setting the premiums the
insurance company would charge for property insurance; the better the
community’s grade, the lower the premiums the insurance company would charge
rate payers. ISO data on fire loses indicates that communities with better fire
protection as evaluated by the PPC do in fact tend to have lower losses from
fire damage than other communities.
Ratings are
based on water supply, fire equipment, personnel and the alarm paging system.
What then is
ISO rating for Norman?
When ISO rates
a community’s fire protection, they prepare a “Classification Detail Report”
which shows in detail how much credit the city received in the rating process
for each item reviewed. ISO also prepares an improvement statement. Norman was
last rated in 1994. At that time the city was rated a “class 3” urban and “class
9” in the more rural area of the city.
As pointed out
earlier, ISO recommends that fire stations in an urbanized area be situated in
such a manner that all residences be located within one and one half road miles
of a fire station and no more than five (5) road miles in the rural area.
What other
tasks/responsibilities does the Norman Fire
Department encompass?
The Fire
Marshall’s office is responsible for the management and enforcement of all City
of Norman municipal fire codes. What they have accomplished with the current
staffing compliment is nothing short of remarkable. The Fire Marshall under the
code is responsible to develop and implement a public fire safety program as
deemed necessary for the general welfare with respect to the potential fire
hazards within the City of Norman Jurisdiction.
This office
also has the authority to develop and implement a public fire safety program as
deemed necessary for the general welfare with respect to the potential fire
hazards within the jurisdiction. The Fire Marshall has the authority to ensure
that appropriate or duly authorized public fire safety education programs or
public fire safety messages are disseminated to the general public. Under the
current staffing plan, the office only devotes 7% of the overall manpower to
public education. Due to short staffing public education programs have been
reduced 50% over the past 5 years.
The Fire
Marshall’s office is also empowered with the authority and mandate to inspect,
at reasonable times any building or premises for dangerous conditions or
hazardous material as set forth in the code of the City of Norman.
In addition,
The Fire Marshall shall require submittal of plans for review and approval prior
to construction. This office shall be permitted to delegate to other qualified
individuals such power as necessary for the proper Administration/Management and
enforcement of the code.
Presently, the
division is using approximately 7% of its total complement for engineering/Plan
Review. Due to this being a priority responsibility, 100% of all documents
presented are reviewed. Currently, proper filing of plan review reports,
documents are lacking and additional staffing would greatly improve this area.
Plus, The Fire
Marshal’s Office has the responsibility to investigate the cause, origins, and
circumstances of any fire, explosion, or other hazardous condition and to take
custody of all physical evidence relating to the cause. Trained fire
investigators are certified to be commissioned with police powers by the Council
on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET). The division currently uses
18% of its appropriated resources on investigative activities.
Norman Fire
Stations are currently staffed in what way?
Each of the 7
station location houses an engine company that requires a minimum number of
firefighters on each call. The following table reflects the current authorized
staff by station location:
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Station 1 –
6 Personnel x 3 shifts =18
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Station 2 -
9 Personnel x 2 shifts = 18 + 8 x 1 shift =26 Total
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Station 3 –
5 Personnel x 3 shifts = 15
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Station 4 –
5 Personnel x 3 shifts = 15
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Station 5 –
4 Personnel x 3 shifts = 12
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Station 6 –
5 Personnel x 3 shifts = 15
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Station 7 –
5 personnel x 3 shifts = 15
Total = 116
How are community
staffing levels determined?
Norman and most
community’s level of staffing are determined by the national standard of care or
“Expected” standard of minimum care. These standards have been and continue to
be determined by a number of professional organizations. The National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA) standards are commonly used as a benchmark by fire
service organizations in establishing rules, regulations, and standard operating
procedures. NFPA standard 1710 mandates that all engine companies shall be
staffed with a minimum of four (4) on duty personnel. These standards are
designed to ensure firefighter safety and protect the city against liability by
citizens who may suffer harm from loss of life and/or property.
How does
Norman view staffing shortages in light of
these Standards?
In most all
negligence cases, relating to the fire service, one of the most important
questions for the courts to answer is whether or not the standard of care was
met. While Norman follows these standards, short staffing has resulted in one
company being temporarily removed from service. In addition staffing shortages
requires that firefighters be paid overtime at one and one half the regular rate
to fully staff these companies to cover vacations, sick leave, on job injuries
and military deployments.
Why are
shortages in Staffing Levels NOT to be
ignored?
National
studies have shown that the ability of firefighters to carry out tasks relating
to saving lives, controlling fires, preventing injury to citizens are directly
related to staffing levels.
How does the
Norman Fire Department compare to other cities in
relation to staffing levels?
Much like the
FBI’s “Crime in America” publishes data on police staffing, the International
City Managers Association publishes fire staffing data by population range and
number of cities reporting in each population range. Norman is listed in region
(West South Central in the) according to the ICMA year book. The average number
of employees is 1.66 per 1.000 population including civilian. By this standard
Norman’s compliment is 52 short with total employees numbering 129. The per
capita uniform staffing listed in the 2006 ICMA Municipal year book, shows the
2005 Staffing as follows:
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City
Classification – 100,000 -250,000
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Uniformed -
1.53 per 1,000 Population
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NFD - 1.14
Per 1000 Population
The Norman Fire
Department staffing ratio and total employees per capita is substantially below
cities of this region of the country in the same population range.
How does the NFD
compare to cities within the
OKC metro area?
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Metropolitan Comparison
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City
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Population
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Total Employees
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Uniformed Personnel
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Uniformed per 1,000 Population
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Oklahoma City
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531,688
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981
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848
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1.9
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Norman
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109,716
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129
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127
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1.14
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Edmond
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74,000
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116
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113
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1.53
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Midwest
City
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54,000
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92
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86
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1.74
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Moore
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49,000
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60
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59
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1.32
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Why are
staffing levels and response times important
to maintain?
The current
facilities locations from which fire and emergency medical respond are a key
element in the level of life saving protection for the public. The primary
consideration for fire responses is to ensure that the total time does not
exceed the six to nine minute flashover time. Flashover is the instantaneous
eruption into flames, which generate a tremendous amount of heat, smoke, and
pressure, with enough force to push beyond the room of origin through doors and
windows. The combustion process then accelerates because there is an even
greater amount of heat to move to unburned objects. The average response time
for all emergencies for NFD is 5.62 minutes. This means that a number of calls
are in the 2-3 minute range, while others far exceed the 4 minute response time.
Calls in the urban east, southeast and northwest areas of our city are well
outside the ISO recommended one and one half road miles, outside the optimum
response time, and exceed the NFPA standard response time goal of 4 minutes.
What
benefits are included in building two new Fire
Stations?
This added
configuration creates a number of benefits. Fire suppression and response to
life threaten medical emergencies is lacking in the east and north sectors where
serious voids exist both in distance (road miles) and response times. Both of
these areas experience a number of fire and medical calls. By situating stations
in these areas, it will significantly enhance the safety of citizens in east and
north Norman. Indeed, in the majority of calls, this will enable the department
to reach fire and medical emergencies with-in the optimum 4 minutes road time.
The
implementation of these recommendations will have an immediate impact on the
health, safety and welfare of the Citizens of Norman. With the changes to be
made with the passing of this dedicated sales tax, under its staffing and
deployment patterns, the NFD should be able to respond within the optimum
response time of 5 minutes to 90% of the calls in urban Norman.
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