Westfield police report rise in incident reports; fire chief updates station projects

Westfield Police Chief Sean Keane reported to the Board of Public Works and Safety that incident reports rose from 1,746 in 2024 to just over 2,000 in 2025, with petty theft and shoplifting accounting for a sizable portion of the increase and a 198% rise in arrests for driving while suspended or never licensed.

"We went from 1,746 in 2024 to just over 2,000 in 2025," Keane said, and he separated activity metrics into overall activity (3,543) and reactive calls for service (1,622 for January), noting that roughly 46% of activity that month was reactive. He described district policing goals that aim to reduce response times and increase officers' familiarity with neighborhoods and trails by keeping officers predominantly in assigned districts for multi‑month periods.

Rob Gaylor, chief of the Westfield Fire Department, said station 4 should be fully operational in the second quarter and that station 5 construction is progressing, with vertical work underway. Gaylor also described EMS operations changes: the department has arrangements with Riverview Health for pharmacy exchanges that help reduce supply costs but did not provide a firm dollar total.

Gaylor said the department saw a 25% decrease in certain types of facility calls after interventions but noted a 5.5% increase in total calls year over year for January. He and Keane answered board questions about how data will be measured going forward and about when new measures (surveys, district policing metrics) will be used to evaluate program success.

Both chiefs concluded their reports without requesting immediate board action; the meeting then returned to public works and adjourned.