Tacoma police team takes aim at surge in drive-by shootings

Drive-by shootings in Tacoma nearly doubled last year.

Police don’t know what prompted the uptick, but they decided to take action by forming a specialized team devoted solely to capturing known violent criminals. The Violence Reduction Team went to work in December.

Since then, they’ve arrested 32 people and recovered 19 guns. Pierce County prosecutors have filed 97 criminal charges stemming from their cases.

“We formed the plan to protect the community from gun violence,” said Assistant Police Chief Shawn Gustason, who oversees the team.

In 2014, there were 66 drive-by shootings in the city. Last year there were 114, an increase of 72 percent.

Most of the time, the shootings resulted only in damage to houses and parked cars. Sometimes bullets hit their marks, injuring 17 and killing at least one person. The shootings nearly always spark fear in the neighborhoods where they happen.

Violent crime overall is up slightly in the city over the last two years, most notably in simple and aggravated assaults. Other crimes such as homicide, kidnappings and sex offenses have stayed steady or even dropped a smidge, according to city statistics.

Police officials believe the Violence Reduction Team is working but it’s hard for them to compare numbers on drive-by shootings before and after the team’s creation.

When they started looking at the increase in drive-by shootings last year, the department realized its officers filed reports for the crime under different codes.

Sometimes they were logged as drive-by shootings but they were also reported as assaults and various gun charges.

That changed in December when the team was formed. Drive-by shootings are now all supposed to be entered into the department’s database under the same code so they’re easier to track.

  

MORE COVERAGE ACROSS SHIFTS

This isn’t the first specialized team focused on arresting violent criminals.

A gang team has long been at work. The addition of the Violence Reduction Team means that there’s a team targeting violent crimes on duty each day of the week.

“The continuity across shifts is a huge benefit,” said Lt. Chris Travis, who leads the new team. “We’re exchanging information on a daily basis and the teams are working together and leveraging resources. What we found with the collaboration is they’re becoming even more successful.”

In the first month the team was deployed, it arrested 21 people, including a homicide suspect, recovered 11 guns and assisted with two arrests in child rape cases.

Police Chief Don Ramsdell called the initial effort “very productive” in a memo to the City Council.

The team pulled people from Special Investigations, Criminal Investigations and patrol, as well as a community policing detective.

Team members compile ever-changing lists of most-wanted offenders and try to track them down. They respond to drive-by shootings and provide thorough investigations that weren’t possible from patrol officers juggling multiple calls. They serve warrants, re-canvass neighborhoods, interview witnesses and search for suspects.

Travis said it allows for more focused searches for violent offenders.

Normally, if a particular suspect is wanted, a bulletin would be distributed among patrol officers to keep an eye out for the suspect or look for him between calls. Now the team is available to work full-time on finding a particular suspect.

Officers aren’t sure what’s driving the increase in drive-by shootings, but don’t think it’s directly related to a spike in gang violence.

Of the 66 drive-by shootings in 2014, only three were listed as being gang-related. Ten of the 114 drive-by shootings last year were gang-related.

Although law enforcement officials said many drive-by shootings are sparked by gang rivalries, few are referenced in police reports as such. To qualify as a gang member, the person must associate with gang members, have gang tattoos and have committed a crime for the gang.

DRIVE-BYS POSE CHALLENGES

Police said drive-by shootings are among the most difficult crimes to solve.

“A citizen hears shots and a car speeding away and there’s shell casings in the street,” Travis said. “Those are hard cases to solve.”

Only 17 percent of drive-by shootings last year ended with an arrest. In 2014, arrests were made in 14 percent of the cases.

Prosecutors said uncooperative witnesses pose another challenge.

Investigations of drive-by shootings result in several types of charges. From Jan. 1, 2014, to Jan. 31, 2015, prosecutors charged 24 people with drive-by shootings in Tacoma.

In two of those cases, the victims were ex-girlfriends who later recanted their statements.

One claimed she was drinking and couldn’t remember the incident. The other said she never saw a gun, even though court records contend her ex forcibly took their child from her arms and shot at her current boyfriend and four children before driving off.

One case was dismissed when prosecutors couldn’t prove the defendant was the shooter and that it wasn’t self-defense.

Some of those charged have a criminal history in Pierce County.

The News Tribune made several attempts to talk with the head of the gang unit, deputy prosecutor Greg Greer. Those calls were returned instead by Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist.

“It is smart policing and smart prosecution to focus resources on those who are committing the most crimes,” Lindquist said. “We want to hold those offenders fully accountable, charge every applicable crime and get maximum sentences.”

Drive-by shootings are a felony. First-time offenders face as little as 15 to 20 months in prison. The maximum sentence is 10 years.

COST IS AN ISSUE

The team was intended to be temporary but Tacoma police are hoping to find funds to keep it. The initial plan was to reassess its success at the end of February and decide whether to keep going.

Police officials now have given the Violence Reduction Team the green light through at least April.

“Seeing the success and the value it’s giving the department, it makes sense to continue it for now,” Gustason said. “It’s definitely my desire for it to be a full-time team.”

The problem is the cost. The department has already spent $23,686 on overtime and backfilling patrol shifts since December. Officials don’t how much it would cost long-term.

Police officials said they’ll continue to assess funding options within the department’s budget.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Tacoma police team takes aim at surge in drive-by shootings."