An interesting set of statistics was tucked inside Mayor Kim Ecklund’s State of the City address, a voluminous document The Post-Journal has been unpacking over the past several days.

City police officers responded to 10.7% fewer calls in 2024 than they did in 2023, with call volume decreasing from 41,412 to 37,394. On average, daily calls dropped from 113 in 2023 to 102 in 2024. In 2024, the Jamestown Fire

Department responded to 7,786 calls for service, averaging 21 calls per day. It’s a 3.1% decrease from 8,038 calls in 2023 and a 6.3% drop from 8,313 in 2022. Calls for the city’s ambulance decreased 26.1% from 2023 to 2024. The city’s ambulance was used 1,058 times in 2023 and only 782 times in 2024.

Why should you care?

For starters, if call volumes are decreasing then it takes first responders less time to get to your call when you need help. Low priority calls have for years taken a while to be answered because higher-priority calls have to take precedence because there aren’t enough police officers or firefighters to go around. Fewer calls is a good thing for those who find themselves in the midst of an emergency. It can only be a good thing if a police officer or firefighter is on the scene quickly when needed.

What we don’t know is whether this is the start of a trend or merely a one-year, best-case scenario. If, as Ecklund suggests, the decline in call volume for police officers can be tied to better prevention and early intervention by the city police and fire departments then perhaps this decrease in volume is something that can continue in future years and makes the city’s public safety staffing levels manageable for police officers and firefighters while not breaking the bank either. Police officers and firefighters have a job that few have the physical or mental ability to handle, and we have no doubt that the breakneck pace at which they have operated in the past has taken its toll on them.

At the same time, the city’s declining tax base makes simply adding staff to decrease the load on public safety employees impossible without grants that often come with strings attached.

It’s good for everyone – both first responders and city residents – if call volumes continue decreasing over time, especially when the city’s population is decreasing.