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Police and Fire Chiefs summarize 2024 activity, outline training and equipment plans for 2025
Summary
At the Town of Dover council meeting, the police chief reported 2,945 traffic stops and multiple departmental training initiatives for 2024; the fire captain outlined volunteer hours, equipment grants and planned SCBA and quick-attack pump acquisitions for 2025.
The Town of Dover’s police chief and fire captain presented annual reviews and near-term plans at the council meeting.
“In 2024, Police Department has made 2,945 traffic stops in the city,” the police chief said, reporting that officers wrote 1,629 citations and issued about 1,209 warnings. The chief said the department made 35 drug-related arrests, responded to 107 accidents (14 with injuries) and logged roughly 1,182 calls for service. He also reported 48 K-9 deployments, about 2,000 hours of law-enforcement training and several officers moving on to SWAT basics, bringing the department’s trained SWAT complement to six.
The chief said the department supported major community events, is completing a gym for staff fitness, and will present a five-year vision to the council after further internal consultations.
The fire captain told the council the department handled about 132 total calls in 2024, with 81 originating in the town and 51 from Stewart County. He described more than 2,500 hours of volunteer duty and training, equipment upgrades funded by a fire commission grant (turnout gear), and new battery-powered extrication tools.
“We did get new turnout gear, top of the line turnout gear from a grant from the fire commission,” the captain said, adding the department also secured extra batteries and other rescue equipment. The captain said the department conducted live-burn training for several firefighters and completed several station upgrades, including a day room and in-bay call notification monitors.
He also described pending and planned purchases and grants: a FEMA grant that assisted with a proposed quick-attack mini pump (described as a 1,500-gallon-per-minute pump on a smaller chassis), a planned grant application to replace aging SCBA air packs and bottles, and a state-funded volunteer stipend program that would pay $600 to volunteers who complete a minimum of 30 training hours.
The fire captain said the department expects to expand training into hazmat awareness and operations, rope and water rescue, and confined-space awareness levels in 2025.
Council members heard that the department’s most recent ISO rating review is in progress and that staff expect an improved rating from the prior classification once the official report is returned.
The council will receive the police chief’s five-year vision and additional updates on pending grants and equipment once departmental reviews are complete.
