2004 Annual Report - City of Fairbanks

PATROL OVERVIEW
The Fairbanks Police Department’s Patrol Division is, by far, the largest
division within the Department. In 2004, our police officers were authorized to
wear a special badge. The five pointed star worn was a “silver” badge with the
City seal instead of the State of Alaska Seal. This badge was reminiscent of the
badge worn by Chief George Norton in the 1930’s. Comments from citizens
were very positive, and other agencies praised the badge’s appearance and
historical relevance.
Officers within the patrol division rose to
the challenges in 2004 with increased
requests for service. In 2004, the
Department took more than 25,500 calls
for service, an increase from 2003. Traffic
enforcement and other self-initiated actions
are not included in this figure.
The entire patrol division received inservice
and refresher training during the
month of March. The topics included
Emergency Vehicle Operation, crime-scene
processing and evidence handling,
firearms, Taser use and certification, and Domestic Violence response. The
City of Nenana hosted the Emergency Vehicle Operation training. In most
cases, the training was conducted by in-house trainers within the department.
The patrol division has a great selection of talented officers who instruct topics
such as firearms, defensive tactics, Taser, tactical training, DUI detection and
Datamaster processing, less-than-lethal technology applications, and
snowmachine safety.
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According to the FBI, the
national average of staffing
levels for law enforcement
employees, which includes
commissioned and civilian
positions, is 3.5 employees
per 1,000 inhabitants.
Staffing levels of
commissioned officers alone is
2.5 officers per 1000 and 2.3
officers per 1000 in cities.
The 2004 staffing levels of the
Fairbanks Police Department,
based upon the 2000 census