Agenda Highlights 5/27/25
The Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting scheduled for 5-27-25 will begin with the review of the Police Department’s annual report for 2024.
In 2024, there was a 14.07% decrease in Part 1 crime. There were zero homicides in 2024. The Police completed 12,475 offense reports, 5417 arrest reports, 39,114 incident reports, 3,691 accident reports, 4931 traffic citations, and 16,756 traffic warnings.
The Community Relations Unit attended 398 community events and their Food Patrol distributed 6,160 meals.
There was a 78% increase in the number of security checks conducted by the Patrol Unit.
The Crisis Intervention Unit responded to 3,483 calls. They diverted 251 people from criminal charges and referred 1,263 people for mental health treatment.
The Bicycle Unit responded to 1,356 calls mostly downtown and also at Chaffee Crossing.
The Traffic Unit responded to 135 collisions, made 4,070 traffic stops, and assisted with 24 serious/fatal accidents.
The Criminal Investigations Unit took on 4,771 cases and had a clearance rate of 93.27%.
The Crimes Against Persons Unit that deals with violent crime took on 2,166 cases and had a clearance rate of 95.98%.
The Crimes Against Property Unit took on 1,038 cases and had a clearance rate of 78.61%.
The Special Investigations Unit that deals with crimes against children, cybercrimes, and crime scene investigations took on 1,567 cases and had a clearance rate of 99.23%.
The Narcotics Unit made the largest meth seizure to date for this area when they seized 70 lbs of meth at a local hotel. They also made 103 controlled buys, opened 94 drug related cases, and executed 18 search warrants.
The K-9 Unit assisted in 80 felony drug arrests.
The Animal Services Unit received 8,695 calls, an increase of 11%. They brought 1,326 animals to the shelter, an increase of 13%. They reunited an additional 200 animals with their owners. They issued 263 citations/arrests, an increase of 23%.
911 Dispatch received 156,086 calls including 64,932 emergency calls, 57,412 police patrol calls, 15,993 fire calls, and 8,695 animal services calls.
The Board will review the Fire Department’s annual report for 2024.
Firefighters Presley and Baker rescued people and saved lives at a structure fire and Captain Josh Edwards saved the life of a person experiencing a severe anaphylactic reaction.
The Fire Department received 15,880 calls with 70.96% of those being rescue/EMS calls, 385 being fires for a total of 2.42% of their calls, 1,421 being service calls for a total of 8.95% of their calls, and 791 false alarms for a total of 4.98% of their calls.
At fires that the department responded to, 91.52% of the total property value involved was saved with a total of $48,664,531 in property value being saved.
Station #7 was the busiest with 13.06% of all calls, Station #1 was second busiest with 12.51% of all calls, Station #2 was third busiest with 11.71% of all calls. Station #11 was the least busy with 3.08% of all calls.
The Board will discuss potentially requiring requests for Planned Zoning District (PZD) zonings to include a development plan in their submission. The Board of Directors currently has the authority to add stipulations to any zoning approval including requiring a development plan to be submitted before a building permit is issued. Since PZD zoning was made an option in 2013, Planning has processed 131 PZD zoning requests with 118 of those ultimately being approved. The City staff does not recommend that the Board require a development plan to be included for PZDs because they favor the flexibility offered by the PZD and a part of the intent of PZDs is to allow applicants a way to gain financial commitment without the risk of the expense of having to have a development plan crafted.
The Board will discuss the situation regarding Fort Smith providing water and sewer services to Arkoma. The Mayor of Arkoma has been invited to participate in this discussion. The discussion will include the Board responding to a recent press release letter by Arkoma regarding the matter.
