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Kern County Fire and Wasco Police report steady call volumes; police note a vehicle-theft uptick
Summary
Fire and police chiefs updated the council on recent incidents and community outreach. Fire reported a new water tender and January incident totals; police described call volumes, recovery rates for stolen vehicles and use of Flock cameras.
Kern County Fire Chief Appleton and the Wasco Police chief reported to the Wasco City Council on Feb. 18 about recent incident volumes, new equipment and community outreach.
Chief Appleton said a new water tender is assigned to Station 31 following problems with the old unit. "It's very nice if you ever...go by and see it," he said. He reported January totals of 207 incidents, 15 fires and 48 medical or rescue calls.
The Wasco Police chief said the department marked about 10 months of operation since its start and has run roughly 15,000 incidents since launch. For the current month the chief reported 820 incidents, with 556 calls for service and 264 officer-initiated events. The chief told the council the department expects calls to rise as weather improves and said they project roughly 17,000 incidents by year-end if current trends continue.
On vehicle thefts, council members asked whether the six reported stolen-vehicle incidents this month represented recoveries or reports. The police chief said two of the six had been recovered this month and cited an overall recovery rate of about 40% for the year. The chief noted that some models, particularly certain Kias, have been targeted and said the Flock camera network "has been a game changer" for directing officers to likely vehicle locations and enabling perimeter or intercept responses.
The police chief also listed upcoming community events in which officers will participate, including an Independence High School career fair, a Black History Month celebration at the True Light Baptist Church, a bicycle rodeo, Read Across America at Teresa Burke and a planned meet-and-greet coordinated by the Woman's Club. The chief said Hall Ambulance regional management plans to increase its presence at council meetings on a roughly every-other-month basis.
