Dialing 911 in Pierce County? Callers might be directed to report some crimes online
Pierce County residents dialing 911 to report nonviolent property crimes might soon be directed to an online form rather than a Sheriff’s Department deputy. Deputies say the change will help manage the number of calls for service and decrease response times.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department announced Monday it was working with its dispatch service provider, South Sound 911, to direct some 911 callers reporting crimes such as vehicle prowls, theft, vandalism and lost property to an online reporting system. Non-emergency callers would also be directed to report online. The change took effect last week.
Department spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss said when deputies show up in-person to take a report on a property crime with no information from the caller on who might have broken into their car or shattered their window, it can take the deputy away from following up on other investigations.
“The goal is to free up deputies so they can do more to try to help prevent crime and focus on conducting follow-ups and arresting people that we’ve been looking for,” Moss said. “Because if we spend too much time only responding to report calls, we don’t have time to go apprehend people.”
The Sheriff’s Department responds to hundreds of 911 calls each day for for incidents ranging from nonviolent property crimes to more urgent and violent situations, such as robbery and assault. On Monday, deputies received 601 calls for service.
Through the online reporting system, the person reporting the crime still would receive an official police report that could be used for insurance purposes, according to the announcement. Deputies said the system would also allow them to respond more quickly to in-progress and violent crimes.
According to data shared by the Sheriff’s Department, response times have increased for all four of its top priority calls in the first five months of 2022. Response time is the amount of time it takes between when a deputy is dispatched to respond to an incident and when that deputy arrives.
Though not a perfect comparison, the average response time for priority one calls in 2022 increased by 1.03 minutes over median response times in 2021; priority two calls increased by 4.29 minutes; priority three calls increased by 5.83 minutes; and priority four calls increased by 9.95 minutes.
Priority one calls are typically incidents such as shootings or aggravated assaults, Moss said. He said priority two calls are often domestic-violence incidents or situations such as a 911 hangup or in-progress burglary. Priority three can be vehicle collisions, a welfare check or a call for a suspicious person or vehicle among other reports. Priority four calls are reports such as traffic complaints, vandalism, abandoned vehicles or animal control calls. The designations continue through priority nine, but the first four are the most common.
Moss said low staffing in the Sheriff’s Department has affected those response times this year, with 50 vacancies as of May 9. In the last month, the department had six deputies file paperwork to leave. The Sheriff’s Department is budgeted for 434 law enforcement officers in Pierce County’s 2022-2023 budget.
“People might think they’re getting less service from the Department,” Moss said. “It’s actually just reorganizing and prioritizing what little resources we have to make the best out of the resources available to us.
In May, the County Council passed budget amendments to allocate $4 million in federal aid to the Sheriff’s Department, including $10,000 retention bonuses for each deputy alongside recruitment incentives and salary increases.
Moss compared the change to Tacoma Police Department’s model for reporting some crimes online. He said people would be encouraged to report crimes online when it isn’t a violent incident and there’s no information on a suspect.
Some crimes can’t be reported online. According to the announcement, those include violent crimes, domestic violence including related property crimes, stolen vehicles, lost or stolen license plates, lost or stolen guns and fraud reports with suspect information.
This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
