WADSWORTH: The city's safety chiefs -- Safety Director Matt Hiscock, Police Chief Randy Reinke and Acting Fire Chief Ron Likley -- presented their monthly and yearly reports at the City Council's Safety Committee's session late last month.
Hiscock said one of his goals is to have a dedicated school resource officer. Reinke explained that would be an officer whose main responsibility would be to deal with the schools.
Reinke noted there is already a school liaison officer who does work with the schools, however the schools are not the only responsibility of the liasion officer.
Hiscock explained that a school resource officer would have a "full-time dedication" to the schools, along with more access to school facilities and students in order to aid in crime prevention,
Committee member John Sharkey said with what is going on our society "every individual needs to be watchful of everything that goes on."
Some parents earlier presented their concerns to the council. Those parents were eager to have something done immediately to assure the events of Newtown, Conn. did not occur in Wadsworth.
Reinke also announced four patrol officers of the police department retired last year. They were Dan Boyd with 26 years experience; Joel Woolard, 26 years; Mark Petrus, 25 years and Frank Kaiser, 30-plus years. Hiscock acknowledged two new officers are in various stages of becoming members of the department.
Hiscock also pointed out Fire Chief Ralph Copley retired December 31. Copley had served as Chief for 10 years and had been with the department for 30 years. A test to determine the next chief is expected to be given in late February or early March according to Human Resources Director Jim Kovacs.
Sharkey termed the retirements of the patrol officers and Copley as "a great loss to the city."
Likley announced the fire department had 249 fire calls in 2012, which was more than an 11 percent increase from 2011. Likley also said there were 1859 calls for emergency medical service in 2012, which was an increase of 6 percent over 2011. The Fire Chief heads both the fire and EMS departments.
Reinke noted the police department had 13,177 calls for service in 2012, which was an increase over the 12,420 calls in 2012. Reinke also added "Ozzie," the city's police dog has been certified for another two years.
