Public Safety services must be the top priority for our residents and business owners.  For more than 30 years, as it still is today, the City of Port Orange has proudly ranked among the safest cities in the State of Florida.  That does not happen by chance.  It is achieved with a commitment to effective leadership, seeking out the best prospects for hire, choosing employees that understand the values of our City and having residents that are always engaged in the process. 

I believe we have some of the best Law Enforcement professionals in the State, and they choose to work in our City, because they want to be part of our community and values.  Our Police Officers will be properly equipped and well trained with the tools they need to protect our community and respond to the needs of our residents.

Our Port Orange Fire & Rescue (POFR) Department is another organization that plays a valued role in public safety every day in our City.  As our community has grown, we have seen a shift in priorities and calls for service.  We have worked hard to effectively adjust to those needs.   About 98% of all service calls for the POFR Department are non-fire related calls for service.  The overwhelming service demand for these professionals every day is response to medical (EMS) incidents.  Over the past few years, we have placed a high emphasis on increasing the number of certified paramedics and significantly increasing paramedic pay to maintain and attract the very best medical first responders for our City. 

One of the things I am most proud of accomplishing for our residents is establishing our own effective Emergency Medical Transport.  We identified shortfalls from the County EVAC department, and the lack of timely ambulance response services in our City.  This has been a countywide problem for many years, and still begs to be improved.  In Port Orange, we decided that playing politics or a waiting game when lives were on the line was simply not an option.  Thus, we approved and implemented our own Emergency Medical Transport unit.  To say it has been a resounding success would be understating it.  This service has not only been everything we needed it to be, but it has generated enough revenue from transport insurance collections to pay for itself.  In fact, we will soon be putting a second Emergency Medical Transport unit in service for our residents, to even further our response to life-saving efforts. 

While EMS calls for service may be the overwhelming service demand, rest assured that our POFR Department is incredibly well equipped and trained to effectively respond to fire-related calls for service when those needs arise, and they will.  They are simply the best of the best at what they do.  As Mayor, saving lives will always be of the highest priority, and we will keep our Public Safety departments ready and capable to fulfill those commitments.