South Metro and Arapahoe County report improved cardiac-arrest survivability, crime declines

South Metro Fire and the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office gave the Centennial City Council a quarterly public-safety briefing on March 3, reporting improvements in medical response outcomes and year-over-year crime trends.

South Metro Fire officials said Centennial logged 9,970 total calls in 2025, of which 6,730 were emergency-medical-service calls and about 120 were fires. The department reported cardiac-arrest survivability in the district of roughly 12.5 to 13 percent, compared with a national average of about 7 percent. "So it's almost twice the national average," the fire chief's office said, noting that training and system changes drove the result.

Fire officials highlighted a new field blood program launched in August that places packed red blood cells on certain response vehicles. "Since August when we implemented the program, we've used blood about 27 times," the chief said, adding that the program coordinates with hospital partners to rotate units and avoid waste. South Metro told council the program has produced a roughly 70 percent increase in survival rates for patients meeting the clinical criteria and that those patients have spent about four to five fewer days in the hospital on average.

Officials also flagged operational challenges tied to lithium-ion-battery fires and continuing wildfire preparedness work with county and regional partners.

Arapahoe County's chief reporting to council said crime reports fell nearly 14 percent from 2024 to 2025 and that the sheriff's office logged 47,473 total calls for service last year. Arrests were up about 9 percent, and reported auto-theft incidents fell from 314 in 2024 to 164 in 2025. "We're arresting more people for the more serious crimes and letting the courts do their process," the sheriff's representative said.

The sheriff's office also described the community-resources unit's programs, including neighborhood watch-style efforts, security surveys, and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design reviews. Officials invited council and residents to the senior-safety summit scheduled for March 14 and encouraged participation in the office's Citizen Academy.

Council members asked follow-up questions about whether South Metro partners with mobile blood-donation vans (staff said they run internal donation days and work with hospitals and community centers), the size and timing of recruit academies (target about 20 recruits per academy, two academies a year), and school-safety measures such as Operation Safe Start, speed trailers, and the STOP program for bus-arm violations.

Council took no further action on the reports; the meeting moved on to other agenda items and then to executive session at the end of the night.