Apopka’s future looks large as the city’s population continues to grow year after year. Public safety services need to stay in lockstep with that growth, but will they?
Apopka’s FY2023-24 Budget Workshop on Tuesday brought Police Chief Michael McKinley and Fire Chief Sean Wylam in front of the City Council to present their status within the last year, what is needed for the upcoming year, and concerns for the future.
McKinley and Wylam submitted their budgets, and both stressed how the growing population of Apopka would create more challenges that they must be prepared for. McKinley said that advocating for the safety of residents will always be his main priority.
“…Investment in public safety fosters trust, makes citizens feel safe, gets people engaged in their communities and supports economic activity, places where lower crime rates are perceived as more desirable…” McKinley said. “When people feel safe, they conduct business in their community and participate in local business, dining, and entertainment offerings.”
McKinley said that one of the biggest challenges the APD faces is “finding qualified applicants” to fill vacant positions and getting a handle on “competitive pay and benefits” has been difficult.
As population density increases, so does the pressure on the APD. McKinley said that soon they will need to add 72 new officers because he hopes to “maintain the state per capita average of police officers.” Florida’s per capita average is 2.32 per 1,000, and Apopka’s is 2.08 per 1,000 in 2022.
“Our lack of growth in the police department is hindering professional growth for our officers and civilian personnel as it inhibits additional promotional opportunities as well as diverse career opportunities,” McKinley said. “This stagnant growth makes it difficult in our recruiting efforts and affects morale within the agency. And affects the services we provide to our community.”
McKinley said that as the City continues to grow, so will the amount of dispatch calls with “response times down slightly” from 2022. In 2022 violent crimes in Apopka rose by 31%, a trend seen throughout the country, and property crimes also have increased with the theft of vehicles and automotive parts being prevalent.
McKinley said that there is an issue of newly recruited officers resigning. He said that they are young and don’t think about retirement or benefits. Most of the City’s police officers have between five to ten years of experience.
“This means approximately 73% of our police officers have less than 10 years experience,” McKinley said. “These officers are well trained and experienced, as well as sought after by larger better-paying agencies’ starting salary for police officers.”
Staffing shortages of communication technicians also is a problem, and those currently employed are having to work weekends, holidays, and 50 to 60 hours a week. McKinley said that he worries if their salaries don’t remain competitive that, other agencies will reach out to them. There are nine vacancies for communication technicians.
“Everybody always jokes that they wouldn’t do what we do for the pay that we get, and we are worth more than what we get, and maybe the market just finally adjusted itself,” McKinley said.
Other additions McKinley said that will be necessary for the future are a training facility that includes an indoor range, a driving course, a fitness course, a canine training facility, and an enhanced training simulator. He said that a substation located in northern Apopka that focuses on investigations will be needed.
Fire Chief Sean Wylam followed McKinley’s presentation and laid out the state of the AFD. He echoed some of the same concerns as McKinley, such as the growth in population causing them to need more employees and resources.
Wylam said that “the national average for firefighters per capita for the last five years” is 1.75 per 1,000 Americans. Apopka’s firefighters are 2.3 per 1,000 residents. There are five vacancies within the Fire Department.
Wylam said that yearly call volume has been trending upward for the past few years, with 2020 as an outlier. So far this year, they have received 9,981 calls.
“We’re about 81% EMS and 19% fire-related calls for the 365 days in 2022,” Wylam said.
The AFD projects revenue from EMS services to be “$1.3 million,” which was also the total amount for 2022.
Wylam said that he’d like to introduce a “pre-fire plan program” that gives them the ability to inspect the structure of buildings in Apopka either every six months or once a year. The purpose of adding this program would be to familiarize firefighters with the buildings and determine if there are safety hazards or code violations.
The AFD also wants to improve its system of documentation by using a digital records management system. By implementing this system, they would have a more efficient way of keeping track of incidents and equipment as opposed to using binders with physical documents.
In addition to their physical fitness requirement, they plan on adding a behavioral health assessment for evaluating mentality.
Next month the construction of Fire Station 6 will begin, and completion is estimated to take eight to twelve months.
The Fire Department will be outsourcing the testing of some equipment like bunker gear, fire pumps, and ladders. They’re purchasing new equipment that is better suited for responding to brush fires and car accidents, as well as purchasing forcible entry door training props and a new jaws of life tool.
According to the tentative budget on the City's website, Apopka will spend $48.6 million on public safety, which represents 59.2% of the general funds.
