Dear Des Moines residents,
As firefighters of South King Fire & Rescue, we have concerns about public safety and potential service delays for the Citizens of Des Moines. South King Fire & Rescue serves fire and emergency medical services for the cities of Des Moines, Federal Way and a small area of unincorporated King County.
For decades, King County Fire District No. 26 (Des Moines Fire) and the Des Moines Police Department have enjoyed a close working relationship –something which is not common in a lot of jurisdictions. Three years ago, King County Fire District #26 merged with Federal Way Fire, creating South King Fire & Rescue. After the merger we have been able to continue this close working relationship. Our relationship creates a more cohesive, efficient and safe working environment out on the streets of Des Moines, ultimately making a safer community for our citizens.
A staffing reduction in the Police Department is a concern to us and should be a concern to the City Council and Citizens of Des Moines. Our No. 1 priority is the citizens we serve and time is of essence when mitigating emergencies. The level of service provided and the safety of our community hangs in the balance.
Firefighters are severely handicapped if we are not safe while doing our job and if we enter an unsafe scene. Potentially, we could become part of the problem and not be able to help our citizens. By cutting Police staffing, a ripple effect could delay our services. There are a number of situations (i.e. – violent crimes, assaults, domestic violence, overdoses and suicides to name a few) where the fire department doesn’t enter the scene until Police go in first and verify it is safe for the Fire Department to enter. By reducing staffing in the police department, our response times to such scenes could be significantly delayed, thus delaying the fire department’s ability to enter a scene and mitigate an emergency in a timely matter.
Reducing Police staffing could have a significant impact on the health and safety of the Citizens of Des Moines. We encourage you to reconsider your decision to reduce Police staffing. We need, at the very minimum, to keep current staffing levels to maintain a safe community which the citizens of Des Moines deserve!
Scott Ervin
Vice President, South King County Professional Firefighters
IAFF Local No. 2024
Federal Way
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