A recent study showed that a project to consolidate police and fire efforts in the city of St. Joseph is not only saving money, but potentially saving lives as well.
According to the Herald Palladium, the study was conducted by the St. Joseph Public Safety Dept. and compared how emergency personnel responded to two different fires of similar size and intensity.
One of the fires occurred before police were trained to respond to fires, and the second happened after officers were trained.
At the first fire, seven personnel responded to the scene of the fire within three minutes, some of whom were paid overtime for their efforts. At the second fire, 16 officers responded, none of whom were working overtime.
The study showed the second fire was cleared half an hour faster than the first. Frank Walsh, St. Joseph’s city manager noted that the city was on track to spend about $100,000 less on overtime in the 2013 budget.
