Transport and video tape

CHENEY – The city’s police and fire chiefs were asked by City Council at its Nov. 24 meeting to peer into their crystal balls and offer a view of what their departments might look like in the future should certain aspects of their operations change.

For Fire Chief Tom Jenkins, that look involved the ongoing issue with emergency medical response in the community — specifically ambulance service. City officials have expressed past dissatisfaction with the performance of American Medical Response (AMR), particularly with response times, and the company just recently agreed to a one-year extension of its contract with Cheney and the county after first indicating it was willing to end that contract on Nov. 13.

According to statistics presented to the council, the department is estimated to respond to 1,508 calls in 2020, a 4 % decrease from 2019 but one that includes what Jenkins estimated was about 300 fewer calls due to a reduction in students and staff on campus at Eastern Washington University due to COVID-19 restrictions. Of those 1,508 calls, roughly 67 % are emergency medical service calls — calls that can compounded by other EMS or fire calls and add overtime costs to the department’s annual budget, which is proposed in 2021 to be $2.141 million.

Cheney and other county agencies floated the idea of forming their own ambulance service. Last Tuesday, Councilman Vince Barthels localized that more to just Cheney, noting the number of calls related to EMS and that about 370 of the 497 fire-related calls were either fire alarms, false alarms, canceled en route or hazmat calls.

“My question is, if our sole-focus was EMS related-support calls, and there was another entity, call it (Spokane County Fire) District 3 or somebody else that handled the structure-fire components, the fire components, what would our department look like if it was solely-focused on EMS-related calls?” Bartels asked, noting that in eliminating the 370 non-fire calls, the percentage of EMS to fire calls would rise.

“It would be just like AMR living in the city full-time, and AMR is willing to do that at a cost,” Jenkins said.

To provide its own EMS system, including transport, Jenkins said the city would need to bring on at minimum two emergency medical technicians, or advanced EMTs, “around the clock, 24-7” just to staff one ambulance. The city would need at least 2.5 – 3 ambulances in order to handle any contingencies that occurred.

“As of right now, a contractor is probably still the cheapest way versus us providing internal ambulatory support,” Jenkins said.

For Police Chief John Hensley, one of the outcomes of public calls for reforms to law enforcement carried the possibility of having the biggest impact to his department’s operations — the use of body cameras. Hensley, who said he is an advocate for their use, is concerned the requirement to use body cameras will come in the form of an unfunded mandate from the Legislature, something that would create a strain on the department’s nearly $3.2 million 2021 budget.

“Are you hearing somewhere that 2021 Legislature is on the brink of mandating all police departments require body cameras?” Councilman Paul Schmidt asked.

City Administrator Mark Schuller, who sits on an Association of Washington Cities subcommittee on law enforcement, said what they are hearing is the Legislature will likely look at other issues regarding law enforcement, such as removing roadblocks to getting rid of officers whose professional conduct is undesirable. If body cameras are brought up, there would be some advocacy for state assistance in funding them, such as through grants.

“I don’t think they’re going to put that back on city’s knowing that there are so many budget issues across the state with COVID and everything else going on,” Schuller said.

On June 25, the Washington Association of Sheriff’s and Police Chiefs sent a letter to Gov. Inslee and all state legislatures with 13 recommendations for improving the performance of law enforcement — one of which was the implementation and use of body cameras. Other recommendations dealt with the use of force situations, something Cheney officers had to do nine times in 2020 vs. six times in 2019.

Hensley said using body cameras would not only provide transparency for the public, but protection for officers.

“If you’re on camera you’re going to make sure you follow all the rules to the best of your abilities,” he said. “And the bottom line is I want to continue a sense of trust with the community and the way you do that is you open yourself up to potential criticism, but I think it’s necessary for us to progress as we go.”

While the costs of the technology are known, what hasn’t been firmly established is the costs of video storage and maintenance. That latter could require staff specifically dedicated to reviewing, redacting and releasing footage to meet public records requests.

“The storage (requirement) I think is for, what is seven years,” Councilwoman Teresa Overhauser said. “The storage of video, particularly at a frame rate that’s actually valuable is going to be enormous.”

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].