Phoenix Fire Department expands senior lockbox program, officials acknowledge Spanish materials were not translated
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Summary
Phoenix fire officials reported the citywide expansion of a lockbox program that lets qualifying residents register keys for nondestructive emergency entry. Fire staff said translation of program materials into Spanish was an oversight and committed to producing Spanish-language resources and outreach to Latino neighborhoods.
Assistant Chief Justin Alexander of the Phoenix Fire Department told the Public Safety & Justice Subcommittee on Oct. 1 that the department expanded its community risk reduction lockbox program citywide after a 2023 pilot and has registered and installed hundreds of lockboxes for qualifying residents. “The purpose of the lockbox program is to provide quick access to qualified residents,” Alexander said, describing installations for Phoenix residents over age 55 or with mobility issues and the department’s process for registering codes with dispatch.
The program began as a pilot in Council District 1, Alexander said, and in January 2025 it was made permanent and moved to the community risk reduction division with a new intake platform and map-based installer tools. Alexander said the program had completed 586 records in the database as of mid-September and that installations had recently increased to roughly 40 installs per month.
The presentation prompted questions from Councilwoman Guardado about whether program materials and outreach were available in Spanish. “What specific steps has the city of Phoenix taken … to ensure that the information about the lockbox program is available in Spanish?” Guardado asked, noting low counts of registered lockboxes in districts with large Spanish-speaking populations.
Chief Duran, Phoenix Fire Department chief, replied that he was responsible for translating the information and that materials had not been fully translated. “We, unfortunately, did not translate all the information, forward-facing information to our community into Spanish, and it was something that was an oversight on my part here,” Chief Duran said. He added the department will use existing translation contracts and committed to translating the materials.
City staff member Lori Bates told the committee the nontraditional, incremental rollout contributed to the omission and that translations were already in progress. “When that came to Chief Duran’s attention and my attention, just a few days ago, we discussed … getting those materials translated immediately. That’s actually already underway,” Bates said.
During discussion, Guardado pointed to disparities in registrations across council districts and said language access and proactive outreach to districts 4, 5, 7 and 8 should be a priority. Vice Mayor O’Brien thanked fire staff and community partners for the program’s work but also expressed gratitude to Guardado for raising the equity concern.
The subcommittee did not vote on the program; staff characterized the exchange as a commitment from fire staff to translate materials and expand outreach. No ordinance, contract award, or budget vote related to the lockbox program occurred during the meeting.
The program’s stated near-term goals are to complete 500 installations in 2025, continue partnerships (including with Phoenix Realtors), and adjust staffing to meet demand. Alexander said premise alerts in the dispatch system are used to track whether enrolled lockboxes were utilized during responses.