Police and fire commission receives department updates

Rhinelander police chief Lloyd Gauthier provided a review of his department’s monthly activities during the Sept. 17 meeting of the Rhinelander city council’s police and fire commission.

In his April report, Gauthier said the department handles 654 calls for service. In May, there were 717 calls. June’s numbers were almost the same with 719 calls. July, he reported, had 769 calls to which his department responded.

April’s calls resulted in 34 citations, which Gauthier reviewed in his report. Fifty-nine citations were issues due to calls for service and self-initiated officer activity in May. There were 54 citations in June, 48 issued in July and 68 in August. These citations ranged from underage consumption and shoplifting to disorderly conduct, traffic violations and Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) violations. 

Gauthier’s reports also highlighted mental health expenses each month. Those year-to-date mental health related expenses amounted to $1,112.52 as of the end of August. The costs of responding to mental health crisis calls included overtime, call time, meals, benefits and federal mileage costs.

The police department personnel also went through a variety of trainings over the summer. These included departmental emergency vehicle operating course training and open records training in April, several conferences and workshops in May such as range training, Glock armor training, death scene investigation training, force science instructor training and several others, which were attended by certain personnel. One training was reported for July, which was the defensive tactics instructor course and August included a K-9 e-collar training for an officer.

His reports also detailed K9 usage of the summer months. K-9 Odin was deployed 11 times in April, once in May, one time in July and seven times in August. K-9 Jason was deployed nine times in April 12 times in May, four times in June, nine times in July and six times in August. The K-9 officers were deployed primarily for vehicle sniffs in which they located several illegal drugs. They were also deployed for tracking a person a few times over the course of the summer.

K-9 Odin was involved in two presentations in May, one at Rhinelander High School and the other for Kiwanis. He was also involved in the K-9 fundraiser at People’s State Bank/Casa Mexicana in June.

K-9 Jason was also involved in presentations. He was involved in a summer school presentation at Crescent Elementary and also attended the June K-9 fundraiser. 

Gauthier also updated the commission on purchases for the department that had been approved by the Rhinelander City Council over the last few months. The department will be changing out their service pistols, moving from .40 caliber weapons to 9 mm handguns. The cost of this change was set at just over $28.850 and included not only the pistols themselves but also sights, holsters and extra magazines. It also took into account the trade in of current weapon as well as unused .40 caliber ammunition.

Three permanently fixed radar speed signs were also approved by the city council. This would allow for one speed sign to be placed at each in road to the city. 

A new radar station, Gauthier said, was also approved. The new station would also have the capacity to keep track of data such as the times of day when the most speeding occurs in a specific place. This would allow better use of limited staff time to patrol those areas where the most violations were occurring at certain times.

In August the city council also approved the purchase of a Dodge Durango squad car from Brickner’s Park City Dodge. While Gauthier said there was a strong interest in keeping with the same make and model of vehicle the department currently had, which was a Dodge Charger, only electric models were available currently. He said he got word Dodge would be bringing back a gas-powered Charger, but one was not available at this time. 

The department also received a favorable trade in for their current squad through Brickner’s who had been a long time partner of the department.

Assistant Fire Chief gives report

Assistant fire chief Adam Johnson came before the commission to give updates on department activities over the summer.

For the month of May, the department responded to 153 calls.  Seventy-one of those calls were listed as emergency medical service incidents. Rescue and EMS incidents numbered 34. Other responses included a building fire, a motor vehicle accident with injuries, a carbon monoxide incident, a passenger vehicle fire and several others. 

In June, the department saw almost the same amount of calls, responding to 157 calls that month. Eighty of those were emergency medical service incidents listed as “other.” Rescue/EMS incidents were tallied at 35. Other incidents included a downed power line, a building fire, a cooking fire contained to a container, a gasoline or other flammable liquid spill, two gas leaks, six public service assistance calls, and various other call outs. In June, the department responded to 10 fire or EMS calls outside of the city as mutual aid. 

In July, there were 185 calls to which the department responded, according to their report. Sixty one of those were listed as emergency medical incidents and 46 were Rescue/EMS incidents. Other incidents that month included 11 false alarms or false calls, four motor vehicle accidents with injuries, a building fire, a search for a lost person, a downed power line and several other types of incidents. The department responded for 13 fire/EMS calls through mutual aid outside of the city in July.

August saw department personnel respond to 164 calls. Again, the most calls were for rescue/EMS, at 61, with 52 emergency medical service incidents. There were also several motor vehicles incidents, both with and without injuries, to which the department responded, public service assistance, citizen complaints, a special outside fire, a hazardous condition, a carbon monoxide leak and activation of smoke detectors or alarm systems as well as other types of incidents. 

The fire department report also highlighted some of the vital trainings personnel had undergone over the course of the summer. These included monthly EMS training, monthly fire training and safety committee meetings.  Continued employee training such as ground ladder deployment, EMS skills, mapping and testing, hose advancements, ropes and knots training, driver/operator operations training, and a triannual airport exercise at the Oneida County Airport were just some of the ongoing trainings listed on the report. 

The department also took place in several public relations activities over the summer. These included a career and job fair at Rhinelander High School and a Career on Wheels at Nativity. Personnel taught first aid and CPR skills to Cub Scout troops and Nicolet EMT students attended the fire department for field clinicals early in the year. CPR/AED training was also provided to the local pickleball group. The department also participated in other activities such as the James Williams Middle School 3K run, “Cops on the Roof” Special Olympics, CPR training for postpartum mothers, the Fourth of July parade, many sports escorts, home inspections for fire hazards, BMX EMS coverage and a wealth of other activities.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].