Salt Lake police officers responded more often in 1992 to 50 S. Main - in front of Crossroads Plaza - than to any other location citywide.
Police were called to the spot 1,575 times during the 12-month period. Not far behind was the Salt Lake Community Shelter, 210 S. Rio Grande, with 1,177 calls.The call records of police, fire and ambulance personnel point to several "hot spots" within the city, areas where law enforcement and medical attention are requested on a regular basis.
During 1992, a two-block area in West Central City was the origin of more calls for nighttime shootings and stabbings than anywhere else in the city for Gold Cross ambulances, response records indicate.
During the hours from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., Gold Cross responded last year to 11 such calls in the vicinity of 125 South to 350 South and 350 West to 575 West.
Gold Cross uses a compilation of past records to predict its busiest spots. The process allows the service to beat the system by "posting" its ambulances valleywide in areas of high call volume.
This year marks the company's silver anniversary, and with it comes a data base of valuable information that reflects Salt Lake City's growth and the resulting pattern of violence and crime. It's been 25 years since the company first provided service with two 1968 Cadillac ambulances and four employees. Today, Gold Cross operates 31 ambulances from six physical stations and temporary posts throughout the valley.
The two-block "hot spot" also falls in an area identified by the Salt Lake City Fire Department as its second-busiest origin of callouts for 1992. The department uses the city's census tracts to chart its call volume.
Aside from a tract that takes up much of the city's west side, the area from North Temple to 400 South and I-15 to West Temple is considered the department's primary "hot spot," Salt Lake City Fire Capt. Dan Andrus said.
That area is also one of the least populated in the city. The tract has a total population of 937, compared to 7,519 residents in the next highest call area, a few blocks away.
That the area has a high call rate, is downtown and has few full-time residents is no coincidence, officials say.