Sheriff Babeau: improved response times, reports access

Emergency response from our Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputies has improved in 2009. In the past, our deputies averaged near 15 minutes for a priority one call. (Such as a car accident with injuries, crime in progress, domestic violence or other priority emergency.) This summer we improved to 13.6 minutes, and we have now achieved an average of 12.5 minutes. We often arrive faster than this and certainly keep safety in mind when responding.

The redeployment of our deputies into beat assignments has proven successful. Patrol deputies are now permanently assigned to a smaller geographic area. Each deputy is assigned one of 18 patrol beats. This allows your assigned patrol deputy to become more familiar with your neighborhood, schools, businesses and criminal activity. This also allows dispatch to directly send the assigned or the closest deputy to your emergency. All of these reforms have resulted in improved visibility of our patrol deputies, who take ownership of their assigned beat.

This summer, I reported our secretaries eliminated the past backlog of nearly 10,000 law enforcement reports, which prevented reports becoming available to the public for months. We trained our deputies to immediately enter and upload their own reports to avoid future backlogs. This also ensures that you can get a copy of your report within two weeks (as long as the investigation is complete).

Records Manager Andrea Kipp and our records staff have made great strides to improve customer service and ensure improved access to available public records in a timely fashion. Until now, citizens had to show up in person at our records office in the lobby of our Florence headquarters to get a report. Starting immediately, you may obtain a copy of you report at our substations in San Manuel, Casa Grande, Johnson Ranch, San Tan Valley and Gold Canyon.

We are also going online with accident reports. Soon, you will be able to obtain a vehicle wreck report on-line 24/7. Kipp estimated that our in person requests will be reduced by 80 percent for accident reports. This improved productivity will save taxpayer dollars and make it easier for you to obtain requested information and reports.

These improvements are more examples of the fine work that our 700 full-time men and women have achieved in 2009. They have been very supportive of me and have embraced the many changes since I became sheriff. Their passion and dedication to serve our Pinal families is simply amazing. I’m very proud of their hard work ethic and their discipline, as their workload (crime) has increased. Together, we are fully committed to improve operations and law enforcement service, until we attain our goal in becoming the finest sheriff’s office in Arizona. We are coming closer to achieving that goal.

Respectfully, Sheriff Paul R. Babeu

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