WellSpan, York City Police plan new initiative to provide additional protective services

York City Police will station four officers at WellSpan York Hospital under a new agreement announced on Tuesday.

These hospital resource officers will provide protective services in an ongoing effort to find innovative solutions to an epidemic of violence in the city, according to a news release.

“The HRO (Hospital Resource Officer) model is based on the success of school resource officer models across the country,” said York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow.

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Hospital resource officers will work collaboratively with WellSpan leadership and security teams on emergency preparedness, including planning and implementing access control measures at entrances and exits, opportunities for mutual aid, training, education, and other efforts to improve safety and security and reduce violence across the city.

Currently, one officer is stationed at the WellSpan York Hospital Emergency Department in the evening and early morning hours. Providing four officers will better cover the size of the campus, how many people are there, and offer services 24 hours a day.

"It will help not only the employees that are serving at the campus," said Muldrow, "but it will help the consumers at a time seeking care and summoning needs in many situations."

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As part of a three-year agreement, WellSpan will cover the cost of one sergeant and three officers, beginning Feb. 7, to maintain the physical security and safety of WellSpan facilities within York.

The main goal is to de-escalate any situation.

Though the hospital has not seen an increase in security issues or violence on its campus, officials have monitored the increase at health centers across the country. This is their attempt to be proactive.

“Having dedicated officers on-site who are specially trained to work in this environment and who know our leaders, staff, and our facilities, is key to fostering an environment of mutual support to maintain the security and safety of our patients, visitors, and team members," said Victoria Diamond, senior vice president, WellSpan Health Central Region, and president, WellSpan York Hospital.

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The hospital employs 5,000 people, and a little less than 2,000 people are walking in and out of the building daily, according to Diamond.

"Any time you have large groups of people, safety should be something you think about," Diamond said.

Instead of calling officers later in the process, they will be available on-site.

The hospital may make changes with entries and exits and need the police to help guide people throughout the day, but most importantly they are to help victims.

"We had victims who had been in our emergency department, and we had to call the police to take a statement," said Diamond. "It's always better to make that happen sooner than later."

Katia Parks covers public safety issues for the York Daily Record. Reach her at KParks@ydr.com. Follow her on Facebook (@Katia Parks), Twitter (@parksphoto), and Instagram (@katialparks).

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Wellspan Health and York City Police establish new protection initiative