Public Safety Center offers tours, demonstrations, and insights into local law enforcement and fire services
PASO ROBLES — The community was welcomed to learn more about the Paso Robles Police Department along with Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at their Open House. Held at the Public Safety Center on Park Street, the event offered demonstrations, tours, and interactions with local police officers and firemen.
Commander Ricky Lehr shared with Paso Robles Press, “An open house is basically us inviting our community down here to the police station to just answer questions, show the public what we do, some of our special enforcement teams, stuff that we’re kind of focusing on [in the community], and basically listening to them and figuring out ways that we can help the community with their concerns or needs.”
The department’s Open House was inspired by the National Night Out movement, an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie, according to natw.org
“We wanted to make it more personal to where we brought the community to us instead of going out in the park,” Lehr explained. “To open our doors more and and let the people inside to see more of how we work and operate and the equipment and building that we use to serve our community.”
A variety of the department’s equipment, including drones, was out on display for the community to explore. Lehr explained how helpful the drones have been to the department since the drone program began at the department about two years ago. Currently, the department is looking to move away from Chinese-branded drones to American ones to avoid any future issues with Chinese control of the drones. However, the American drones are more expensive.
“On a weekly basis we’ll put a drone in the air,” said Lehr. He added the department will use the drones to find missing children — this is the most recent example of the drone’s use — and to locate others who might be running from them after committing an illegal act.
Another piece of equipment out on display was the department’s four e-bikes, which are sponsored by Borjon Auto Center. Lehr says the bikes have been especially helpful for city-wide events like Pioneer Day and the California Mid-State Fair.
Alongside the Paso Robles Police Department was the Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services (PRFES), which provided a demonstration with their heavy rescue team. The team used their new battery-powered extrication tools that were just received thanks to a California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) grant.
Paso Robles is unique in that the city is home to a Public Safety Center where police and fire have a home base together.
Deputy Fire Chief Randy Harris said, “It [the Public Safety Center] helps not only camaraderie but also efficiency of functions when we’re both kind of together and making operational decisions because we work together all the time.”
Harris notes that while California is always in fire season, vegetation fires are down this year in Paso Robles. He attributes this to the mitigation efforts the city has implemented, which includes clearing vegetation in the Salinas Riverbed with goats.
However, moving into the next season just means fire causes shift to things like turkey frying, and inappropriate disposal of ashes into trash cans add an increase risk to house fires in the area.
“The community support here has been incredible,” Harris added. “Our department has grown quite a bit, especially [with] the community voting [to approve] in J-20. Those funds have allowed us to open a third station and meet the community’s needs as far as response goes.”
Measure J-20 is a local sales tax that voters approved in November 2020. The tax is a one-cent general sales tax to maintain “essential/general services, such as fire protection/paramedic services, wildfire/natural disaster emergency preparedness, 911 emergency response times, public safety, equipping first responders; fixing streets/potholes, school protective services, or other local priorities that the City Council and community may identify,” according to prcity.com/968/Measure-J-20
“We are very supported here in this community,” Lehr said. “We absolutely love it and we try to do our best to maintain that support and give a high level of service to our community.”
