Fresno Chamber Takes Lead in
Integration of Public Safety Serves and Systems for Fresno
Council Residents
In a step toward enhancing public safety for Fresno County
residents, while reducing the need for future fee increases, the
Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce announced today that it
is taking a lead role in assisting local public agencies as they
work toward integrating certain city and county services
provided through City police and fire departments, the County
Sheriff’s Department, and Homeland Security.
In announcing the decision to make this a central activity for
the Chamber, Chairperson Ruth Evans said, “We believe the
Chamber is in a position to assist these agencies as they move
forward in their collective efforts to integrate public safety
services and facilities. This integration will result in
reducing response times to emergencies, improving communication
among agencies, and generally enhancing the overall public
safety for all residents of Fresno County.”
Recently, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer and Fresno County
Sheriff Richard Pierce asked the Chamber to look 10 years into
the future and identify what our public safety services and
systems should be in order for the County to enhance public
safety and increase efficiencies. Integration of safety services
has been discussed for more than 10 years. Evans said the
Chamber’s decision to commit to this effort was inspired by,
“…the types of crimes we are seeing today, the need to ensure
effective communications among agencies, the concerns that were
expressed by chief Dyer and Sheriff Pierce, and a need to ensure
efficiencies so that additional fee increases are not needed.”
She said that public officials see one of their first priorities
as establishing a regional Emergency Dispatch Center A regional
facility will make it possible to centralize such services as
the 911 Emergency Call Center for Fresno County. Other
improvements under consideration include the centralization of
prisoner processing, crime investigation laboratories and units,
and the purchase of special equipment.
The Fresno Area Chamber has held a series of
information-gathering meetings over the past few months and is
now ready to move forward. “As a third party that is committed
to the well-being, not only of our members, but of all Fresno
area residents, we believe we’re in a position of being a
catalyst among these agencies to help achieve a host of
improvements in the shortest amount of time possible,” Evans
said.
“We are looking forward to helping bring this vision into
fruition, thus enhancing public safety for all Fresno County
residents. Evans added, “This is the right thing to do.”
