IRONWOOD, MI - Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - On January 30, 2008, Ironwood Public Safety Director, Bob Erspamer prepared his 2007 Annual Report of his department. At the Chronicle, we believe it is important to have this information available for general public review. Here is that report:

PERSONNEL

The staffing at the department declined again 2007. Officers John DeMay and Chad Novascone both resigned to accept positions elsewhere. There was one new hire; Officer Jake Edwards joined the IPSD team. Jake is a graduate of Western Michigan University and the police academy at Kalamazoo Law Enforcement Training Center. Jake also served in the U.S. Army, serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

The other addition to the City is Liz Sweeney. Liz was hired as the part-time Administrative Assistant to the City Manager and Public Safety Director. Her duties at IPSD include receiving telephone calls and walk-in traffic, typing letters and correspondence, entering complaints in the police management program, maintaining and filing confidential police and fire reports and records, assisting with budgets and annual reports, and attend various meetings.

The department consists of 13 full-time employees, down from 14 a year ago and down from 18 two years ago. Listed below are the current Public Safety Officers.

Director - Robert Erspamer; Detective - Rod Passuello; Sergeant - Ron Carpenedo; Fire Officer - Andrew Leiphart; Senior PSO - Adam Clemens; Senior PSO - Michael Rimkus; Senior PSO - Jamie Chiapuzio; PSO - Brandon Snyder; PSO - Sheryl Saippa; PSO - Matthew Sterbenz; PSO - Andrew DiGiorgio; PSO - John Colassaco; and PSO - Jake Edwards

FIRE ACTIVITIES

The Ironwood Public Safety Department remains the area's only full-time fire protection agency. IPSD is responsible for fire protection to the City of Ironwood, Township of Erwin, the first responder to Gogebic Community College. The IPSD has also been contracted for fire protection at the new Wal-Mart Superstore on Country Club Road. All IPSD officers are on-call 24 hours a day. IPSD is supplemented by the Ironwood Volunteer Fire Department.

IPSD responded to 49 fire calls in 2007, compared to 64 in 2006. There were more notable fires in 2007, but less false alarms than in 2006. The average response times for the IPSD officers to arrive on the scene of the fire call was only 4.5 minutes. There were no fatal fires in the City in 2007 and only minor injuries sustained to firefighters.

Through the efforts of Detective Passuello, a 1969 ladder truck was donated to IPSD. Several IPSD members donated many hours of their time by sanding, taping, painting and overall updating of the truck. The 85-foot ladder was much needed to safely fight fires in taller buildings. Several local businesses also donated paint and other materials for the truck.

Some of the fire training in 2007 included fire truck driving, SCBA review, apparatus and pumps, hose connections and training on the new ladder truck. Officers conduct fire training while on duty at IPSD.

IPSD staff gave several tours of the fire hall to local head start, pre-school, grade school and home schooled children during the year.

D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)

The DARE program went unfunded again this year. Because of this, Officer Rimkus teaches the DARE program while on-duty at IPSD. DARE is a program that gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence. Rimkus teaches DARE to 6^th grade students in the Ironwood Area Schools and the All Saints Christian Academy.

INVESTIGATIONS

Most major investigations are led by Detective Passuello. During the past year, Passuello along with IPSD officers investigated and successfully prosecuted suspects for a variety of criminal complaints. Offenses included crimes against persons, such as Robbery, Criminal Sexual Conduct and Domestic Violence.

Property crimes included Auto Theft, Arson, Embezzlement, Home Invasion, Identity Theft as well as various Larcenies and Weapons Violations.

The majority of our drug cases involved marijuana, but we are seeing an increase in other narcotics violations, especially methamphetamine. In the past two years there have been three "meth labs" located in Ironwood, the most of any Upper Peninsula community.

Drug Enforcement will continue to be a top priority with the IPSD staff. Because of this, IPSD along with the Iron County Sheriff's Department, Gogebic County Sheriff's Department, Hurley Police Department and the Lac Vieux Desert Tribal Police have formed a multi-jurisdictional drug task force. GIANT, or Gogebic-Iron anti-narcotic team has been very successful in a short period of time.

TRAINING

The department remains committed to maintaining professional police and fire training as one of the top priorities. IPSD is a member of the Upper Peninsula Law Enforcement Training Consortium, which provides law enforcement training at a minimal cost. This past year, some of the training has included: Legal Update, Firearms Qualifications, Domestic Violence Training, Radar School, Ethics, Emergency Driving and Firearms Simmunitions.

Two members of the department became certified in specialized areas. Sergeant Ron Carpenedo went to a six-week school and became certified as a Computer Forensic Examiner. Ron can now analyze data from seized computers here at IPSD. Information can be taken from these computers and used in court for cases such as child pornography, drug information, I.D. theft, etc. In the past, these computers had to be sent to the State Crime Lab where there was a 12 to 16 month wait. Carpenedo is the only certified examiner in the Western U.P.

Officer Andrew DiGiorgio became a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician. DiGiorgio accepts appointments to inspect child car seats free of charge at IPSD. He is only one of a few technicians in the U.P.

GRANTS/DONATIONS

Grant programs have been cut back or in some cases eliminated completely. However, the Ironwood Public Safety Department continues to place a great deal of importance on grants, state and federal. The department received a $15,000 grant for smoke detectors to be given to City residents. Hundreds of smoke detectors were given away. Also, we received a grant for 9-volt batteries to be given away for use in smoke detectors.

IPSD once again received a USDA grant, which covered 55% of a new squad car. Administrative Assistant Liz Sweeney wrote a grant for new bulletproof vests for IPSD. This federal grant will cover 50% of the costs of the vests. The largest grant of the year was through Jim Loeper's office. IPSD received $18,000 grant for radio equipment. Each officer now has his/her own police radio. Also, Sergeant Carpenedo's computer training was covered by a 100% grant.

ADDITIONAL POLICE FUNCTIONS

The department again assisted in several parades and special events. Some of these included the Festival Ironwood, the John Jarvi Run, Memorial Day activities, the Gogebic County Fair and Sledfest.

IPSD is in its fourth year of patrolling downtown on foot in the summer months and its third year of bicycle patrols in the downtown and Longyear Park areas.

During the winter months, IPSD officers periodically patrol the City's snowmobile trails on the department's two snowmobiles. These snowmobiles were purchased several years ago from D.N.R. grant.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Members of the department donated their off time to several community events. Some of these include: IPSD Bicycle Safety Program, Shop With A Cop, Big Brothers/Big Sisters Bowl-athon and the Victim Services Law Enforcement Hockey game.

BUILDING & VEHICLE MAINTENANCE

Fire Officer Leiphart is responsible for the repair and maintenance of IPSD vehicles and the building grounds. He is also responsible for all fire equipment and apparatus. The Ironwood Public Safety Department building is in good overall condition with no major repairs or renovations planned. All of our equipment is in good condition, thanks mainly to grants we received in the past few years.

The police vehicles are in good overall condition, however; some are getting very high in mileage. Hopefully, the USDA grant will assist us in purchasing a new car soon. The patrol vehicles are listed below:

2006 Ford Explorer 4x4 36,337; 2001 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 95,565; 2004 Chevy Tahoe 2wd 126,202; 2002 Chevy Tahoe 4x4 95,572; 2007 Ford Crown Vic 8,899; and 2004 Ford Crown Vic 116,738

The fire vehicles are also in overall good condition. Because of the age of the trucks, one or two should be replaced within the next 5 to 10 years.

1999 Pierce Fire Truck; 1987 Seagrave Fire Truck; 1976 Ford 4x4 mini-pumper (brush truck); and 1969 Ford 85-ft ladder truck

STATISTICS

IPSD purchased a new program this year, Crimestar. Crimestar is a modern police program, which replaces our old program, L.E.I.R.S. which was a DOS program. Crimestar will enable us to retrieve many mroe statistics and is a more accurate records management system.

Since we started with Crimestar on July 1^st, half of the years statistics are on the old L.E.I.R.S. program and half on the new Crimestar.

The department responded to 4,884 calls for service in 2007 and made a total of 734 arrests. Officers patrolled 119,345 miles in 2007 in department vehicles.

To view the IPSD Statistics [CLICK HERE].

Jim Albert