Public Safety

Woonsocket Public Safety Study
Posted: May 05, 2016 9:39 PM EST
Updated: May 19, 2016 9:39 PM EST
By Samantha Fenlon

A full review of staffing at the Woonsocket fire and police department will soon be done as part of a public safety study.

The city council voted unanimously this week to start looking for a company to analyze both departments.

"Some people feel that we are understaffed. Some people feel that we need to find ways of saving as much money as we possibly can. As I said earlier our financial condition in this community is not as good as it should be. So for a combination of reasons we need to look at all of the departments,” said City Councilor Roger Jalette.

Last year the same measure failed. Since then, Jalette says councilors have been getting many calls from concerned residents.

"Sometimes it's best to go outside of the community and have somebody look at it and give us some new insight,” said Jalette.

Public Safety Director Eugene Jalette explains that both the fire and police departments have seen cuts in recent years. Currently the police department has 90 people and the fire department has 107.

"Maybe we can be more effective if we have substations, I'm just throwing these ideas out there and maybe being more community oriented in some aspects. Hopefully the study will be able to identify some needs to make us more effective to,” said Eugene Jalette.

Public safety officials do say their current response times are good.

"We'll be analyzing all of their recommendations discussing it with both police and fire department and making decisions accordingly," said Roger Jalette.

He says there’s no rush but the council is looking to get bids from companies as soon as possible.