Tacoma police disband violent crime team as drive-by shootings, homicides skyrocket
At a time when drive-by shootings have spiked 60 percent in Tacoma, a personnel shortage has prompted the police department to eliminate its Violent Crime Reduction Team.
The team was assembled in 2006 to focus on gangs then broadened in 2016 to include all violent crime. It focused on cases involving gangs, drive-by shootings and graffiti, and also assisted with special investigations involving federal agencies.
At its height, there were nine members. Most recently there was one sergeant and four officers.
In February, the team was disbanded.
“The sergeant and officers were reallocated to better fit the needs of the department at this time,” spokeswoman Wendy Haddow told The News Tribune.
The move was necessitated by a personnel shortage. Because of a number of retirements at the start of the year, the department was down 31 full-time patrol positions March 1. Budgetary restrictions mean they can only fill 13 positions, which they’re in the process of doing.
Police officials said they hope to bring back the team but are unsure when that would be possible.
Disbanding the task force comes at a time when violent crime in Tacoma dropped 1 percent from 2018 to 2019, according to FBI crime statistics. Data for 2020 is not yet available. Violent crime was down nearly 8 percent since 2016.
Violent crimes like rape, robbery and aggravated assault are down a smidge, but homicides are at the highest since 1994. There were 38 homicides in the city last year. Eight remain unsolved.
Drive-by shootings also continue to skyrocket.
In 2018, there were 121 drive-by shootings in Tacoma. There were 157 in 2019 and 200 last year, for an increase of 60 percent over the last two years. Police say 30 of last year’s drive-by shootings were gang-related.
Most of the recent drive-by shootings happened between South Sprague Avenue and Martin Luther King Junior Way, and between South 19th Street and South 9th Street. The second highest area was between South Tacoma Way and Warner Street, and South 47th Street and South 38th Street.
It was not immediately known how many arrests were made. The News Tribune has filed a records request to find out.
Pierce County prosecutors have filed 175 counts of drive-by shootings against suspects in Tacoma since 2016, records say.
Charles Mann, chairman of the Central Neighborhood Council, said he was unaware the team had disbanded but has faith in police to continue solving crimes no matter where the task force members are assigned.
“I really think the Tacoma Police Department has their hands on most of the crime that goes on in the city and they are going to just run along with what they’re doing,” Mann said. “If they have extra personnel, they’ll assign them to those duties.”
Police say disbanding the unit should not have an impact on solving crimes in Tacoma.
“Though the Violence Reduction Team was disbanded, the work the team was doing is still being carried out by officers in SID and detectives in CID,” Haddow said.
The Special Investigation Division and Criminal Investigation Division work on cases involving homicides, assaults, missing persons, drugs and prostitution.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
