By Nicole Leiva

The Eastvale Public Safety Commission Meeting, held on Jan. 26, started with the appointments of a Chair and Vice-Chair to serve through December 2016, Chris Hook and Anwar Khan were appointed.

The meeting proceeded with the Eastvale Police Department giving an overview of their work reaching out to the homeless during the harsh rains, helping to get many people sheltered. The Police Department representative gave a quarterly report on traffic and reported that the Motor Officer program has been successful in reducing traffic accidents. It was also reported that during the holiday season, they gave out 83 citations and arrested six in the Gateway Shopping Center. During the holidays, many people have packages delivered to their homes and this led to burglaries.  On Dec. 8, a police officer patrolling Schleisman Road saw a vehicle with numerous packages.  The officer stopped the driver and discovered the packages were stolen.

Police Lieutenant Scott Forbes gave a presentation on the Electronic Citation Proposal that would make it more efficient to issue a citation. This would allow officers more time to be in the field. The violator will receive court notification a few days after violation and this enforcement will lead to fewer collisions.

The Riverside County Fire Department then presented some statistics regarding the past year.  In 2015, RCFD had an average response time of six minutes for Priority 1 calls, which was a minute shorter than 2014. The Department also had an average of 220 calls per month and 70 false alarms for the 2015 year. Currently, the average response time is under five minutes, but it is anticipated to increase with El Niño. A second fire station is being built in Eastvale and firemen are preparing for El Niño by gathering sandbags and using new smaller, and more equipped emergency trucks. Lastly, the fire and police departments are joining forces to be more efficient in serving the community. The firemen will be participating in training in how to use body armor to enter homes/buildings to rescue victims.

During the City Staff Report, staff presented their findings on how to improve the Mass Communication Emergency Alert System. Considering the warnings about the upcoming El Niño, staff is proposing to enhance the city’s ability to alert its residents of public safety emergencies through text messages and alerts on the City’s webpage. They presented the Commission with a potential company to contract with, Black Board Connect, which can provide services that enhance mass communication. In addition, it would allow them to send non-emergency messages and important community information. This system would be more effective for most residents in Eastvale, which currently has 16,000 households and 30,000 phone numbers. The Commission voted to bring this to the City Council meeting.

The next Public Safety Commission meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23.