Mayor says Florence’s safest city award is deserved

by Mark Cowling | Florence Reminder & Blade Tribune

From left, local businessmen Peter Koulouris and Ty Schraufnagel receive congratulations from Mayor Tara Walter at Monday’s Town Council meeting. Town of Florence

Mayor Tara Walter defended the town’s latest award as Arizona’s safest city despite qualifying on the strength of a prison population that is unable to call the police.

The town provides services to those who live in its boundaries, including the incarcerated, the mayor said at Monday’s Town Council meeting.

“That means whenever there’s a violent attack — an assault, a rape, something happens — our police respond. Our medical teams respond through the Fire Department. So that’s why they count within our numbers,” Walter said.

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