South Lake Tahoe City Council approved more than $1 million Tuesday night to buy a new ladder truck and add two new police officers.
The City approved spending more than $93,000 to hire the new officers and help address what Police Chief Brian Uhler calls a problem of "chronic" understaffing.
Uhler said, "I basically laid out a bunch of what's been happening in our police department and in our community, and ultimately our city council agreed to add two more officers. Which is great."
Uhler says in the summer of 2018 there were 196 occasions where people who called asking for help had no officers available to respond to the calls. In those occasions, officers would either get cleared from other calls or get help from mutual agencies.
The Police Chief says a proper level of staffing is good for the community because it allows officer to not only respond for calls to service, but it also allows officers to do proactive policing. Officials say enhanced police presence can help prevent future crimes.
Uhler also says having more officers will not only ensure resident's safety, but police officers as well.
"Having one officer respond to a call to service when it should be two officers is really dangerous. We certainly want to make sure our officers are safe." Police Chief Brian Uhler said.
Meanwhile, the ladder truck will replace one the City got in 2014. The city sued the manufacturer of the truck, because the truck was defective.
The city settled with the maker of the truck for more than $1.7 million. They'll spend about $1.2 million the new truck.
The Interim Fire Chief of the South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue, Jim Drennan says the truck they ordered has a 107 foot reach with the ladder. Other fire engines at the station only have a 24 foot reach with a ground ladder. It can be used for rescue, auto extrication, low angle rescue, large vehicle stabilization, and carrying various equipment.
The new truck will be going to a station that will be reopening Fall or early Winter in 2019. Drennan says the reopening of the station will enhance response time.
Officials say the money will help improve the safety of both residents and first responders.
