Oro Valley Chief of Police Kara Riley spoke at our March 9 meeting.
Chief Riley wanted to emphasize the courageousness of the members of the Oro Valley PD. One of the ways was to amend the OVPD Mission Statement to remind the officers and staff, as shown above.
When a resident of Oro Valley calls 911 they are connected to an Oro Valley 911 dispatch operator.
The average response time to a priority one 911 call is 4 minutes 1 second. Seventy-four percent of responses are under five minutes.
All medical calls also have a police unit dispatched, to protect the lives of the medical responders. OV is the only department in Arizona to have such a policy.
OV officers only write tickets for speeding stops 19% of the time, the rest are warnings. It may be not wanting to get into an argument and escalate the situation or it could be compassion during the current economy.
Marked units are deployed, when available, to retail locations during known times of retail theft. This effort seems to be having a positive effect.
The Oro Valley PD has been evaluated and certified by two outside agencies as being outstanding for using a high percentage of best practices.
The town has purchased and is using a new mobile command post. The technology and effectiveness of the unit is such that it is being requested for use all over Pima County.
Drones have become a widely used and effective tool for the department. Drone usage includes crowd monitoring at large events, mapping of accident scenes, and use in investigating inside homes/buildings before officers enter.
Emphasis on officer wellness –
Improvements to time allowed on duty for physical fitness.
Free to the officer anonymous counseling.
Improve nutritional options – Chief Riley and her husband have teamed with the Hilton to provide nutritious meals while on duty, out of their pocket for $3 a meal. This includes box lunches to go for night duty officers.
Personal financial advice, through a program conducted by Golder Ranch.
A competitive pay scale.
Finally, volunteers to assist the OVPD. Last year that amounted to 13,712 hours, equivalent to six full time employees. They now handle the fingerprinting, including Kid ID, helping at large events, and locating missing individuals.
.png)
