COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo – The City of Colorado Springs will allocate $4.4 million towards the addition of 20 sworn police officers and eight full-time fire personnel in 2020. This investment continues the City’s commitment to add 120 officers to the Colorado Springs Police Department and 32 full-time positions to the Colorado Springs Fire Department by 2022. Additionally, the fire department will place five new fire apparatus in service in early 2020.
“We promised our voters that we would use funds freed up by the stormwater fee to invest in public safety, and meet the needs of our growing city. I’m pleased to say we are on track to add the promised 120 additional police officers by 2022, with the goals of improving traffic safety, shortening response times and better serving our city,” said Mayor John Suthers.
Public safety personnel additions
Colorado Springs Police Department
Adding 120 officers to the Colorado Springs Police Department is expected to increase the number of uniformed police officers per 10,000 people from 14 to 17 officers.
|
2018 |
Added 20 police new officers |
|---|---|
|
2019 |
Added 53 police new officers |
|
2020 |
Add 20 police officers by March 2020 |
|
2021 |
Request to add remaining 27 police officers |
“The addition of 120 officers is momentous; not just for the CSPD, but for the community as a whole. A majority of officers will be assigned to the Patrol Bureau as traffic safety is a top priority for our community. More officers on our roads and voluntary compliance with the basic rules of the road will help make our community safer,” said Police Chief Vince Niski.
With the additional police officers and the opening of the new Sand Creek Substation in June, the department has been able to increase patrol enforcement and restart previously disbanded units, including its gang unit.
Colorado Springs Fire Department personnel additions
The Colorado Springs Fire Department added eight new full-time fire department positions in 2019 as part of the City’s commitment to adding 32 positions to the department by 2022. Accounting for attrition and retirements, in 2019 the CSFD hired, trained and added a total of 39 firefighters to their ranks.
CSFD to place four engines, one aerial ladder truck in service in early 2020
The CSFD is replacing several fire apparatus to reduce the average age of its fleet and the number of apparatus that exceed their replacement life.
In January 2020, four Colorado Springs fire stations will each receive a replacement Type I Engine fire truck. These newly outfitted apparatus will replace aging ones, reducing the average age of engines in its fleet from 14 to nine years and reducing the number of engines that meet or exceed their 17-year replacement life from eight to two. A fifth Type I Engine will be acquired in 2020, further reducing the number of engines exceeding their replacement life to one.
At a cost of $514,000 each, three Type I Engines were acquired through the 2019 General Fund budget, one engine was purchased by the Colorado Centre Metropolitan District Fire Department as part of a mutual aid agreement. These apparatus will be placed in service at Fire Station 2 (314 E San Miguel St), Fire Station 3 (922 W. Colorado Ave), Fire Station 11 (3810 Jetwing Dr), and Fire Station 14 (1875 Dublin Blvd).
Additionally in January, the CSFD will place in service one aerial ladder truck at Fire Station 10 and acquire a second aerial ladder truck that will be placed in service in 2021, after an 18-month planning and production period. Replacing the two ladder trucks will reduce the ladder truck fleet’s average age from 16 to 14 years and the entire fleet of aerial ladder trucks will be within the 20-year replacement life.
Background
Voters approved in the November 2017 election, a dedicated funding source for stormwater that allowed the City to meet its legal and contractual requirements, while freeing up general fund dollars to hire an additional 120 police officers and 32 fire personnel incrementally over five years.