 - Calls to the Shoshoni Police Department were down in November, but the agency is still on track to mark its busiest year on record, SPD Chief Chris Konija said this week. ){kind=link}
(Shoshoni, WY) – Calls to the Shoshoni Police Department were down in November, but the agency is still on track to mark its busiest year on record, SPD Chief Chris Konija said this week.
“Our overall calls for service for the year compared to last year are still up 47 percent – (and we’re) up 66 percent from 2022 and 36 percent from 2021,” Konija told the Shoshoni Town Council during a regular meeting Tuesday. “We’re definitely going to end the year as the busiest year that I can track, as far as calls for service in Shoshoni.”
In November, however, he said cold temperatures caused a decrease in “a lot of our typical weather-related tourism that comes through,” so there was a reduction in “overall traffic counts (and) traffic crashes … which is good.”
The SPD responded to one burglary last month, Konija said, plus one fraud, one domestic call, four drunk driving reports, six traffic complaints, and two traffic accidents – one of which involved an injury.
The other traffic accident was a hit-and-run incident, Konija said, and “we were able to locate the vehicle that ran.”
The SPD also conducted four K9 deployments last month and recorded two controlled substances arrests and two warrant arrests, he said.
Interagency cooperation
During his report this week, Konija also gave the council an update on his efforts to create interagency information-sharing agreements with the Riverton Police Department and Hot Springs County law enforcement through the EFORCE software the agencies use.
“We are going to share information in our database, (and) they’re going to share with us,” Konija said. “(We’re) trying to just be better prepared for events that happen as people move … through the communities.”
The agreements should make it easier to identify “problem suspects that traverse these three areas,” he explained.
For example, if the SPD is looking for a specific suspect, Konija said he can enter that information in the EFORCE database so the other agencies can “help us to identify or find (the) subject.”
“(It’s) just more efficient,” he said. “(And it) gives a lot better detail and information when you contact someone that might not be in our local system. … When we run it through our EFORCE system it will populate if they have a contact somewhere else. We can see their histories in a different jurisdiction.”
He hopes the new agreements will lead to “better communication, better effectiveness, (and more) efficiency.”
“It’s intended (to provide) better detailed information to be more precise with our investigation,” he said.
Councilmember Bob Zent asked whether Konija would pursue a similar arrangement with Fremont County, but Konija said that agency doesn’t use the EFORCE system.
Other agencies in the state do, however, and Konija said the SPD is “going to continue to branch out and look for information-sharing” opportunities with those groups – as well as with out-of-state agencies.
Ambulance
Konija’s report also included an update on Shoshoni’s new ambulance, which he had hoped would be accredited last year.
This week, Konija told the council that EMS officials have “finally” visited Shoshoni to “bless our ambulance so we can get moving.”
“It’s been a long process, (but) we’re at the finish line,” he said. “(We) finally got there.”
He anticipated that the local ambulance “will be operational to respond (to calls) by the end of January.”
It will likely operate for only four days a week to begin with while “we get staffed up (with) EMTs,” he noted.
“Initially we’ll have two EMTs that will be able to staff it, that’s why it’s going to be limited coverage,” he said. “But it still will be operational, and it’ll be (an) asset that we have at our disposal.”
The ambulance will provide emergency transportation to area hospitals for local residents in need of urgent medical care so they’re “not waiting 45 minutes in agony and pain (for) an ambulance to show up,” Konija siad.
“We can already have them treated, stabilized and on transport to the hospital before the ambulance would even currently get here,” he said. “That’s the idea of this.”
As more EMTs join the crew, he added, Shoshoni’s ambulance could also be used to “fill the gap” when other ambulances in Fremont County are unavailable.
“Obviously our intention is not to take over ambulance service for the county,” Konija said. “(But we could) be a force multiplier and … when we can, assist the county.”
For more information, call the Town of Shoshoni at (307) 876-2515.