Some Tacoma council members want more patrol officers in response to uptick in crime
Three Tacoma council members are pushing for increased police patrols, citing an uptick in crime and the lowest staffing level of police in years.
In the letter, council members Robert Thoms, Lillian Hunter and Conor McCarthy express concern about the city spending more than $500,000 on public safety studies but not taking enough action to keep residents safe.
“We are concerned that we have over-studied this issue when we should have taken action. We cannot continue to over-analyze this safety crisis: we know we need more presence, less lethality and we are absolutely committed to public safety transformation,” they wrote. “The status quo is not working. In fact, we are failing our entire City. Our community is suffering.”
It was sent Tuesday to Mayor Victoria Woodard and City Manager Elizabeth Pauli.
Woodards said the issues highlighted in the letter are not new and were already being discussed among city leaders.
“It is not as easy as hiring more officers and putting them on the streets. All of the officers we have at the city are working,” she said, adding that the city is working on defining safety. “Safety doesn’t mean the same thing to every person. We need to understand what the entire community needs because the needs will be different, and we as a city are responsible for responding to everyone’s needs in the city.”
Interim Chief Mike Ake is expected to give a presentation to the City Council within the next two weeks so it can consider options for addressing the rise in crime.
Surge in homicides
There has been a surge in homicides in Tacoma since last year, which reflects the national trend.
Last year was the deadliest in Tacoma since 1994, with 32 homicides.
There have been 17 this year.
Arson fires in the city have also skyrocketed 193 percent this summer and car thefts are up 22 percent, according to city statistics.
From June 1 to Aug. 1, there were 82 arson fires, records show, up from 28 arson fires in the same time span last year.
Yet, overall crime is down in Tacoma, including rape, sexual assaults and drug violations.
“Both the increase in violent crimes and the lack of clarity on a plan to address public safety from City Hall have left the downtown community feeling unsafe, unsupported and extremely disheartened,” according to an Aug. 3 letter from 33 downtown Tacoma business owners sent to the City Council. “We have seen reductions in staffing at the Tacoma Police Department, fewer officers on patrol in downtown, officers hesitant to respond due to HB 1310 and an overall absence of clarity and response.”
House Bill 1310, which went into effect last month, bars law enforcement officers from using physical force unless there’s probable cause to make an arrest, prevent an escape or protect against an imminent threat of harm.
Staffing is down
Police staffing is down.
There were 364 commissioned police personnel budgeted as of July 31 but 18 of those are being held for financial restrictions. There are 326 commissioned police positions are currently filled, police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said.
That’s lower than previous years, when there were 354 commissioned personnel in 2020, 353 in 2019 and 336 in 2018.
Patrol numbers are faring slightly better.
There were 194 patrol officers and specialists working in Tacoma as of mid-July, which is down from 202 last year and 201 in 2019. It’s still higher than the 187 patrol officers who covered the city in 2018.
That translates to about 21 officers patrolling the city at any given time, according to a study done by 21st Century Policing Solutions.
Patrol is the department’s largest division and to ensure there were enough officers to work the streets, Ake earlier this year disbanded or reduced some special units and assigned them to patrol.
Not everybody believes extra patrols are the answer to making the community safer.
Miriam McBride of the Tacoma Action Collective said funds would be better spent on mental health services, youth programs, reducing homelessness and community-based groups getting trained in being an alternative to law enforcement responses.
That’s something TAC and other community activists have been saying at city meetings for more than a year.
“All these things are solutions that would have prevented an uptick in crime, and the city literally ignored it,” McBride said. “We definitely would not feel safe with more police. We’ve already seen the harm that they’ve caused, especially with the Manny Ellis case. A raise in police officers is only going to create more cases like this.”
Manuel Ellis was a Black man who died March 3, 2020, after police restrained him. Video captured him saying: “Can’t breathe, sir, can’t breathe.” Three officers have been charged in his death.
The council members acknowledged in their letter that some residents, especially communities of color, might not feel comfortable with additional police and said they believe having them work together in “non-emergency interactions” will help build trust.
“Yet, we also know that the path forward to a community where everyone feels safe requires us not only to authentically and substantively transform our policing practices and personnel, but also to address the scourge of violence, murders, shootings, drive-bys, and arsons in our City, which are only exacerbated and perhaps perpetuated by the lack of police presence and attention,” according to the letter.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 11:59 AM.
