Tacoma police have plan to reduce violent crime. Will it work?
Tacoma police have a multi-pronged plan to tamp down violent crime in the city, including a new specialized team and increased patrols in crime-ridden areas.
The plan comes amid a surge in homicides and an uptick in assaults, burglaries, robberies, arson and vandalism.
“We recognize the traumatic effects that violent crime can cause, and we are committed as a department to doing everything we can to safeguard our community,” Assistant Chief Ed Wade said Friday.
When violent crime peaked during the summer, Interim Chief Mike Ake formed the Felony Assault Squad to focus on aggravated assaults and drive-by shootings. The team is comprised of five detectives and one sergeant from the Criminal Investigation Division.
Since they started work June 7, the squad has been assigned more than 120 cases and made 15 arrests. It also has issued 12 bulletins to local law enforcement on known offenders to keep an eye out for.
Tacoma police also are focusing on “hot spot” areas in the city where crime frequently occurs. Police identified three areas of concern using a density map showing where violent crime occurs the most, such as the downtown corridor. Other areas were the 96th and Steele streets south corridor and the area west of Interstate 5 approximately between South Warner and South Oakes streets.
When officers are not busy with routine calls, they will be asked to patrol crime-ridden neighborhoods. The department will hold special emphasis missions several times a week, with four officers or detectives being sent to areas with the most reported crime.
Most violent crimes are committed between 8 p.m. and midnight on Saturday and Sunday, according to city data.
“The missions are designed to provide a high profile police safety presence in the area to deter violence,” police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said.
Although the special emphasis missions will likely be paid with overtime due to a staffing shortage, the Police Department said it could not immediately provide an estimate for how much that will cost in the coming months.
Partnerships also play a role in the Police Department’s strategy to reduce violent crime. Grassroots organization Safe Streets has worked with Tacoma police since 1989. Its program, Youth Leading Change, helps students in middle school and high school build social and emotional skills to aid their development as a young person and keep them out of trouble.
“Promoting those skills and promoting just the ability of our young people to be more emotionally aware and able to talk about things, it reduces the likelihood that they engage in violent or risky behaviors,” program manager Rey Ward said.
The department is also coordinating with the city’s Human Resources Department to make inroads with hiring and recruiting more officers, particularly persons of color.
“We can’t just talk about having the capacity and capability to address violent crime, you gotta have the resources, the people, to do it,” Ake told the City Council when he presented his safety plan at a Sept. 28 study session. “People, the officers, are our department’s greatest resource, there’s no doubt about that.”
He hopes to create an officer incentive program to lure new and lateral officers to Tacoma. No details were immediately available about what could be offered to potential applicants.
Although the department will continue to recruit all types of officers, it said it plans to focus its efforts on women of color.
“Our focus on recruiting, targeted towards women, and especially women of color, is in alignment with our equality framework for our workforce to reflect the community it serves,” Haddow said. “We know we are underrepresented in this category when compared with the demographics of Tacoma.”
Police officials are working with Human Resources to speed up the hiring process, which can take up to six months. Ake is hoping to drop that to four months to get new officers on the street more quickly.
Number of patrol officers down
A staffing shortage has prompted police officials to disband or reduce some special teams to boost patrol numbers, which are lower than previous years.
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.
Although there are 364 commissioned police personnel in the budget, only 326 positions are filled and more people continue to leave the department.
So far this year, 21 sworn police have retired and another 11 have left for other reasons, according to Police Department data.
Council members Robert Thoms, Lillian Hunter and Conor McCarthy in August sent a letter to Mayor Victoria Woodards and City Manager Elizabeth Pauli expressing concern that the city wasn’t doing enough to keep residents safe and pushing for increased police patrols.
The City Council has said it supports Ake’s plan to tamp down violent crime and is considering increasing the Police Department’s budget.
“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of Manuel Ellis, this has been an unprecedented era in defining policing and public safety,” the Council said Wednesday in a joint statement.
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 Tacoma officers have been charged in his death.
The Council said it knows some in the city support increasing the size of the police force, while others fear law enforcement, and they believe Ake’s plan balances the needs of both.
This story was originally published October 27, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
