Rural Metro

Infobox Company
company name = Rural/Metro Corporation
company
company type = Public Company NASDAQ: "RURL"
company slogan = 50 Years of Serving Others
foundation = 1951
location = Scottsdale, Arizona
key people = Lou Witzeman, Founder
num employees = 8,000
products = Ambulance, Fire Protection
homepage = [http://www.ruralmetro.com RuralMetro.com]
revenue = $500 million USD (2008)
industry = Healthcare|

Rural/Metro Corporation (nasdaq|RURL) is a for-profit emergency services organization — the second-largest in the country — providing emergency medical transportation, non-emergency general medical transportation to healthcare facilities and health management organizations, fire protection services, including community, airport, industrial and wildland specialties, and emergency training services to private and commercial enterprise throughout the United States. Currently Rural/Metro serves more than 400 communities nationwide. [ [http://www.ruralmetro.com Rural/Metro Corporation website] ] Rural/Metro was founded and is still based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Rural/Metro employs over 8,000 people and answers 1.5 million calls for service yearly. Rural/Metro also owns [http://www.swambulance.com/ Southwest Ambulance] of Arizona, however it no longer manages Medstar in Fort Worth.

In 1975 Rural/Metro contracted with Oro Valley to provide its police services, but the arrangement was challenged by the Arizona Law Enforcement Officers Advisory Council, which argued that under Arizona law an employee of a private firm could not be a police officer. Rural Metro, not wishing in incur the legal fees needed to fight the challenge, ended the arrangement in 1977. Nonetheless, during the time in which it operated, burglary rates in the 3.5-square-mile town dropped from 14 to 0.7 per month and stayed at that level. [citation|author=Gage, Theodore J.|year=1982|title=Cops, Inc.|publisher=Reason|edition=March|pages=26]

References