Police and fire departments present annual reports to the city council | News, sports, jobs

TR PHOTOS BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper, left, and Acting Fire Chief Christopher Cross, right, presented their annual reports to the City Council during Monday night’s regular meeting.

Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper and Marshalltown Fire Chief Christopher Cross presented their annual reports to the City Council during Monday night’s meeting, providing a general overview of how 2023 went for both departments and the biggest challenges they face have to cope with the future.

MPD: Staffing, wellbeing and community outreach are key areas of focus

Tupper, who is in his 13th year leading the MPD, was first to take the podium and noted that National Police Week is currently taking place May 12-18, along with an open house at the new police/fire facility on Monday evening takes place.

It was another busy year for the MPD, with a total of 30,679 call-outs (approximately 590 per week) and 2,956 criminal cases/reports filed, up from 27,711 and 2,747 in 2022. As Tupper often says, the department even has work for 50 Officials even though their budget is only for 42.

“Our department is very busy. There’s a lot going on and we’re putting a lot of time and effort into not only addressing criminal issues, which is what you’d expect from us, but we’re also putting a lot of time and effort into public relations to address quality of life issues and try to bring positive ones “Building relationships in the community,” the chief said. “And we are blessed to have a lot of support from the community. It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with the people who work in the police force. (The staff) have done a really good job of building support, building legitimacy and transparency, and all of that is a high priority for us.”

Too much is still being asked of police officers both in Marshalltown and across the country, Tupper added. As he prepares to retire from the MPD in the near future, Tupper predicted that “many changes” would be on the horizon in law enforcement, including more civilians working in police departments and dealing with matters not necessarily assigned to police should be.

Recruiting quality officers is another well-known challenge, especially since Marshalltown competes with the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines metro areas and requires larger amounts of money to recruit them, which Tupper said is not sustainable in the long term.

“We have to be innovative. Marshalltown is innovative. That’s what we’re built on, right? And we have to be innovative here in policing,” he said.

He then addressed what he sees as the biggest challenges facing the department: recruiting and hiring officers (including a parking enforcement officer), and continuing to build and maintain trust in the community and budget. As an annual reminder, Tupper noted that the MPD has no budget for community outreach, but the program continues to thrive “on a shoestring.”

From there, he added another priority: wellness.

“My profession has done a terrible job of taking care of each other and the people who work in my profession over the 32 years I have worked. Therefore, well-being is a priority, especially for the younger generation that is coming into the labor force. A better work-life balance is important and I think we need to take better care of each other,” Tupper said. “That’s why we implemented a pilot project this year to try to improve mental and emotional well-being. It’s important to your police officers, which is why we’re working to address this issue and provide more resources. We are also having some important discussions about fatigue.”

He said fatigue is a major problem among police, fire, 911 and emergency medical services, and Tupper said they are working to find solutions. One area where he says the MPD has done an “outstanding job” is keeping up with technology – the chief praised MPD Employee of the Year Wyatt Shelangoski and his staff in a recent TR article about the award Comments – and he felt that staying up to date will play a crucial role in recruiting and retaining officers in the future.

At the June 24 meeting, Tupper plans to appear before the council to discuss the need to replace body and dashboard cameras, which are no longer optional equipment, and he also praised the success of Flock’s public safety cameras so far.

“(It’s a) great program. It already helps us solve crimes. It improves police efficiency and the effectiveness of our police force,” he said.

The MPD has finally received permits from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the remaining cameras should soon be installed and operational along Highway 14. Drug-related crime remains a key priority for the department, as Tupper indicated it is the driving force behind all other types of criminal activity that the MPD regularly deals with, such as burglaries and thefts.

“A lot of people involved in these crimes are chasing $20 so they can buy drugs,” he said.

Starting June 3, Tupper plans to assign an additional investigator solely to work on drug crimes without hiring additional staff, and he urged city councilors and those in attendance to advocate for drug task forces when they work with state and federal governments Lawmakers are speaking out because funding has declined in recent years. Finally, the chief spoke of the need to continue the Marshalltown Police and Community Team (MPACT) program, which brings two social workers into the MPD to handle non-urgent, non-criminal calls, as that funding also nears its end.

“They have to find a way to keep this program going. We are looking at federal grants, but we need to maintain this program,” Tupper said.

The Chairman praised Councilman Gary Thompson for his initial support of MPACT and his advocacy for giving the MPD $150,000 in initial funding when it only wanted to request $25,000. As he concluded his remarks, Tupper told the council that the most common complaint he hears daily is speeding, both in person and on social media, which he believes is a good thing because it’s better than dealing with to deal with a huge increase in violent crime.

Still, he wants the MPD to address it, and he believes the Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) cameras have been helpful in that regard, along with officers patrolling the streets as much as possible. Finally, he thanked the public and council for their support, as well as MPD staff.

Without questions or comments from the City Council, Mayor/Acting City Manager Joel Greer thanked Tupper for everything he has done, adding that the effort has been “phenomenal.” The full 2023 report is available at https://www.marshalltown-ia.gov/DocumentCenter/View/9945/2023-Police-Department-Annual-Report-?bidId=.

MFD: Change in leadership and decline in fire damage mark another busy year

Acting Fire Chief Christopher Cross, who has held the title since late March, presented the final report of his now-retired predecessor, David Rierson, who served the MFD for almost ten years.

In 2023, the MFD responded to a total of 3,476 emergency calls between fire and EMS, and the average fire response time was 7 minutes and 40 seconds for fire and six minutes for EMS. The total amount of fire damage was halved in 2023 as there were 17 fewer structure fires – in 2023 the loss was about $200,000, compared to about $400,000 in 2022.

Overlapping incidents are still a concern for the MFD, with 858 runs either doubled or tripled in 2023.

“It takes us longer to get to places where we have multiple calls queued. When there are two or three runs going on at the same time, it takes us longer to finally complete the call, which means we can serve whoever needs it, whatever they need,” Cross said.

Similar to the MPD, Cross and MFD leaders would like to hire more staff, but they have backed away from the plan to apply for a federal grant because it would ultimately be up to the city to cover the full salary of the new employees once they arrive the funding runs out.

“I would like to discuss this with you again if I had the opportunity in the future as an official fire chief,” he said.

Cross said the inspection department has increased its performance and productivity and has a good relationship with its supplier. He also discussed proposed legislation regarding EMS as an essential service and said he would support making it a requirement in Iowa law.

“Solving this overall problem will likely require conversations across agency and community boundaries, and it will likely require a lot of collaboration to be able to resolve it because I don’t think any single entity can solve a problem on its own because “The problem is large and it will take money to fix it in order to staff it,” Cross said. “And I think the only way to avoid being abandoned in the middle of this forest is to work together. I’d be happy to introduce you to some ideas. I am pleased to be able to introduce these to you.”

The MFD also utilizes a wellness initiative that aims to combat cumulative trauma, be it emotional, psychological or physical. The local union is working to form peer assistance groups, and cardiac screening is another focus since 43 percent of firefighting deaths are due to heart attacks, strokes and overexertion.

“We’re trying to put together a wellness program that we can budget for that targets the most at-risk employees who are over 40 years old and have been on the job for at least 10 years, and then 50 years and more because we have one “There is a good mix of these employees across all ranks of the fire department,” Cross said.

Due to Rierson’s retirement, the department is currently in a transition period, but Cross is confident that MFD leadership and staff will perform their duties to the best of their ability and make his leadership role easier.

There were no questions from the mayor or city councilors and a full copy of the report can be viewed online at https://www.marshalltown-ia.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/79.

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