By Enrico Villegas
City Insights
It is with great pleasure that I can share with you some exciting accomplishments that have happened over the past few years within Hutchinson’s public safety departments: police, fire and 911/dispatch.
Starting with police, the Hutchinson Police Department (HPD) is now fully staffed for the first time in 20 years. The integrity of the hiring process has remained high to ensure that only qualified individuals are hired as police officers.
The department’s success in retaining officers over the past few years has dramatically improved. We have been working diligently on improving our culture to create a sense of being a team, hence Team Hutch as our new moniker. Police Chief Brice Burlie has done an outstanding job in making sure that it takes root, and it shows.
Another initiative that has the potential to have a profound impact in our community is our crime reduction approach. We operate on an intelligence-led policing (ILP) strategy throughout our force, meaning that our resources (e.g., staffing and tools) are tailored to data-driven decisions. This approach has resulted in reducing crime rates from 30.06 incidences/1,000 population last year to 27 incidences/1,000 present day. In other words, we are striving to prevent crime in the first place.
Lastly, HPD is nearing state accreditation. These have been years of ongoing effort, and they recently completed a mock assessment. The mock assessment shows that HPD is ready for the full evaluation, which is being scheduled for early December. Accreditation can help demonstrate to the residents of Hutchinson and beyond that we take seriously the concept of self-awareness by homing in on our strengths, weaknesses and gaps.
A few fun facts about the Hutchinson Fire Department (HFD):
- •HFD provides fire protection to approximately 107 square miles of territory, that is made up of the city of Hutchinson and Fire District No. 2. This is accomplished by operating out of six strategically placed fire stations across the city.
- •HFD maintains an Insurance Service Office (ISO) class 1 status. This effectively allows for lower insurance rates for the residents of Hutchinson. HFD is 1 of 116 departments in the world that holds this prestigious designation.
A credit to Fire Chief Steven Beer and his leadership team on instilling a culture of growth and development, HFD provides emergency medical services through its first responder program.
All HFD members hold a state of Kansas license as an emergency medical technician. Recently, five members obtained a higher level of service through Hutchinson Community College. These individuals pursued advanced training to become advanced emergency medical technicians (AEMTs).
This nine-month training includes more advanced medical skills that can be performed in incidents. Our goal is to have at least one AEMT on each fire apparatus. The department has 10 members who presently meet these standards.
Finally, our 911/dispatching team. We have improved leaps and bounds in our response times. In 2023, we were averaging 1.5 to 2 minutes per call before being dispatched. We have now reduced this time to 60 seconds or less per dispatch of emergency request.
This was pulled off by having probably one of the most progressive and impressive training and development programs I have ever seen (I would need more than one column to capture this part). Director Kevin Irwin is one of the best in the business; some of the variables that play a part in what has been accomplished by the director are the following:
- •We are fully staffed. Less than two years ago, we had half the number of dispatchers compared to present day; mandated overtime and burnout were a common experience for our employees.
- •Protocol streamlining: We’ve refined the questions posed to callers, in collaboration with first responder agencies. This coordination ensures that responders receive the necessary information to handle emergencies efficiently.
A secret ingredient that we have recently added to help support those who keep us safe is the addition of a professional full-time social worker. We believe in supporting the mental health and longevity of our employees, and the circumstances and events that our public safety professionals find themselves in on a day-to-day basis can be traumatic, and it is our goal to make sure that they get the assistance they need.
Enrico Villegas is the Hutchinson City Manager. He can be reached at Enrico.Villegas@hutchinsonks.gov.