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Fire and police chiefs present annual public-safety data; council discusses adding Community Service Officers
Summary
Atwater’s fire and police chiefs presented 10/01/2024–09/30/2025 public-safety data showing thousands of incidents and declines in several crime categories; the police chief recommended expanding Community Service Officer (CSO) roles to handle many priority-3 calls.
The Atwater Fire and Police departments presented annual public-safety data to the City Council on Nov. 10, and council members pressed chiefs on EMS delays, equipment needs and a proposal to expand Community Service Officer (CSO) capacity.
Fire department staff outlined a proposed data-driven framework to track call volumes, response times, staffing, inspections and other operational metrics. For the reporting year (Oct. 1, 2024–Sept. 30, 2025) staff reported 4,589 incidents within city limits, including 3,222 medical-aid calls, numerous engine and truck responses, and a wide variety of inspections and mutual-aid exchanges. Fire staff recommended monitoring response-time components and standards of coverage using NFPA guidance.
"There were 4,589 incidents within the city limits of Atwater," the fire presenter reported, and then reviewed incident types, engine responses and inspection counts. Council members asked whether equipment or additional resources could reduce EMS delays; staff said current service is supported by the city and suggested adding a second Lucas device as a future consideration.
The police chief reported crime statistics for the same period, noting declines from the prior year in crimes against persons, property crimes and group-A offenses. He provided call-priority totals: 679 priority-1 calls; 4,165 priority-2 calls; and 20,855 priority-3 calls. The chief said CSOs could handle a substantial portion of priority-3 calls (estimated 36% definite, another 45% possibly manageable depending on details) and described tasks CSOs could perform (noninjury crashes, animal control, parking complaints, evidence transport, live-scan fingerprinting and traffic control).
"As you could see by the percentages, having CSOs definitely would benefit the department," the police chief said, and staff noted the city has two part-time CSO positions approved in the budget and is moving to interview candidates.
Council members thanked both chiefs for the data and asked follow-up questions about equipment, mutual aid and staffing; chiefs said interviews for CSO positions are scheduled and staff will bring recommendations when ready. No formal council action was taken on staffing at this meeting.
