TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Six months after opening the Pima County Sheriff's Department (PCSD) San Xavier Substation, Sheriff Chris Nanos reports dramatic improvements in emergency response times for Tucson's westside residents.
In June, Sheriff Nanos emphasized the need for better community engagement and faster service in the area. The results have exceeded expectations.
Response times for serious calls, including violent crimes, have dropped from 11 minutes in January to between three and four minutes in December.
"That's a significant increase. What is that? Like 60-70% drop in our response times and that's significant throughout the last six months. Every month it's been down incredibly," Sheriff Nanos said.
The improvement stems from relocating services closer to the community. The former station on Kino and Ajo was about 20 minutes away from the westside, while the new substation provides immediate access to the area.
Community engagement increases
Beyond faster response times, the substation has transformed community relations. About 40 to 50 people visit the office daily seeking information and assistance — a stark contrast to the previous location that saw no walk-in traffic due to its distance.
"Immediately, I mean, day one out there, they were getting people stopping in asking for information, asking for how do you handle the court dates or just, just a relationship started forming," Nanos said.
He says this comes from the district commander, Lt. Bill Farmer.
"He literally gets 40, 50 people a day, in and out of that office, where before, zero, nothing," Sheriff Nanos continued.
Westside resident Albert Peña, who expressed optimism when the station opened, has noticed the increased presence.
"They're able to be more present than they did in the past because they have some place to gather to do their paperwork instead of always doing it in their vehicles," Peña said.
Peña also feels confident that if he were to call 911, deputies will be there in no time.
"I feel safer to a sense. You know I felt safe before, but now I feel that hey, when I call them at least now it’s not gonna take them longer to respond because they’re closer," Peña added. "So that's one thing I do like."
The sheriff values this community feedback.
"I'm telling you that warms my heart to hear from a citizen that says I feel safer. The presence is greater. That's the name of the game," Nanos said.
Crime trends remain stable
While response times have improved dramatically, crime trends require longer observation periods for meaningful analysis.
"They seem to be staying right there or trending down very slight. It's just not even a big enough change to say there's a trend yet," Sheriff Nanos said.
Future technology enhancements
The department's next initiative involves upgrading body-worn cameras with AI technology to translate different languages and transcribe reports automatically.
"A report that might have taken the officer 10, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes to get transcribed and done is about 11 seconds and the accuracy is incredible," Sheriff Nanos explained. "So we're working with the Board [of Supervisors] to get this done. And we're talking low level reports. You can save somewhere around the area of 280,000 man hours just by getting my deputies back out on the street that much quicker."
The sheriff acknowledges community concerns about AI implementation but emphasizes careful deployment with privacy protections and data security safeguards.
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PCSD opens new substation on the Westside
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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