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Alexandria Fire Department nominates deputy chiefs

By Will Vitka

Alexandria, Virginia’s fire department named its deputy chiefs of administration and operations Wednesday.

Chief Corey Smedley appointed Francis Doyle Jr. as deputy fire chief of administration; Paul Ruwe was appointed deputy fire chief of operations.

Doyle’s appointment is effective Feb. 14; Ruwe’s, Feb. 28.

“The Alexandria Fire Department is currently working toward accreditation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence,” Smedley said in a statement.

“Doyle’s and Ruwe’s extensive backgrounds and knowledge in various aspects of fire and emergency services will support our organization’s journey as we continue to improve our workforce and the services we provide to the community.”

Alexandria sees early success pairing police, mental health professionals

By Luke Lukert
A program pairing police with mental health professionals to better handle people in a mental crisis is finding early success in Alexandria, Virginia, according to a report commissioned by the city.   The Alexandria Co-Response Program, or ACORP, is a collaboration between the Alexandria Police Department and the Department of Community and Human Services. The one ACORP team is comprised of an officer and a behavioral health clinician. The team responded to 145 calls between October 2021 and February 2022. More than half of the calls were for unusual behavior or self-harm threats. During that time, the Alexandria Police Department saw 958 behavioral health calls total. The majority of behavioral health calls came while the co-response team was off duty. According to an initial evaluation compiled by the Omni Institute, calls handled by the ACORP team were much more likely to be resolved on the scene or diverted to other services. Overall, of the calls that could have been arrests, 71% were diverted to other services by ACORP.
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