(Riverton, WY) The newly-forming Riverton Community Watch hosted their third meeting with Frontier Ambulance at their Riverton station on Thursday evening, with a presentation and discussion on the processes that happen after calling 911, how local agencies work together in emergencies, and what Neighborhood Watch networks could do to help their local agencies in both emergency situations and the fight against crime and violence.
Present were Mayor Richard Gard, Riverton Chief of Police Eric Murphy, City Administrator Kyle Butterfield, and House Representative District 34 Pepper Ottman.
Diane Lane, Operations Director for Frontier Ambulance, walked the attendees through a presentation on how Fremont County’s EMS responds to emergency situations. Lane has been in the Fremont County’s EMS system since 2008 and has been in Frontier’s directorship position since May of this year.
“When you call 911, it goes through a dispatch center, and then it’s handed out to all Fremont County agencies,” Lane said. “For car wrecks and such, it’s usually ambulance and fire that are paged out together. Law enforcement is involved in pretty much every call we’re in. So we have to have very good working relationships with everybody in the county, and I feel that we’ve done very well with that.”
Lane said that when EMS gets on-scene: “It’s nice to have law enforcement that’s been here for a while…nice to have fire guys that have been here for a while…because when you get on-scene and have multiple patients…the more hands, the better.”
After the presentation, a Q&A session ensued, with subjects ranging from curfews, self-defense measures, not allowing criminals the opportunity to commit crimes from the start, and looking into existing programs and resources offered that might aid those who are in need of correction and rehabilitation.
Mayor Richard Gard said that input and stories from both citizens and business owners are important and need to be told in order to address core issues effectively. RPD Chief Eric Murphy added that citizens need to be proactive in self-defense and in calling 911, and that RPD would assign officers to represent and help in aiding neighborhoods, schools, and business watch groups in their areas and sectors of Riverton.
Frontier Ambulance EMTs stepped forward after the meeting with an interest in helping the community with Hands-Only CPR and Stop the Bleed classes.
The next meeting for Riverton Community Watch will be on Thursday, October 13 at 7 p.m. at Riverton City Hall Council Chambers. All Riverton citizens and business owners are invited and welcome to attend. For more information, visit: RivertonWatch.org