Agencies reflect on crime counts

If you ask Vancouver police Chief James McElvain why crime occurs, the overarching reason is clear: It’s human nature. You should be able to leave your wallet on a sidewalk and have nobody touch it, but that just isn’t going to happen.

“The more we’re around people the more opportunities there are for crime to occur,” McElvain said. “As long as you have laws, people are going to break them.”

Crime rates are one way to measure reported criminal activity in a given area. The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs recently released its annual report, analyzing certain crime rates in 2014. Violent crimes and property crimes make up the majority of their calculations.

The crime rate, reported as crimes per 1,000 residents, tells a slightly different story for each jurisdiction in the county.

Over the last year, the agency has been looking more at the where and when of crime, and at who commits it. The analysis gives them ideas of how police might disrupt criminal behaviors. Internal conversations about crime trends — what appears to be occurring and what they plan to do about it — are happening more often; they used to be once a month and now are every other week.

“While we’re a nice-size agency, it doesn’t mean we’re well-resourced,”said McElvain, who described much of the agency’s work as reactive.

When the department tries to be more proactive, resources get spread thin. Its priority is responding to calls for police service. The constant puzzle is figuring out the most efficient and effective way to use available resources.

Though it’s not perfect, the police department has a good relationship with the community, McElvain said. Eliminating crime is a pipe dream; what police want to help do is move crime as close as possible to its natural low, he said.

Unincorporated county

Though the Clark County Sheriff’s Office is one of the larger sheriff’s offices in Washington, the crime rate in the county is lower than the state’s average of 53.7 per 1,000 residents. The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, which is a similar size to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, had a higher crime rate, for a variety of reasons.

The number of crimes in Clark County decreased 2.9 percent from 2013 to 2014 (the per-resident rate fell 4 percent), but it’s difficult to say what led to the decline and whether it’s significant.

Meanwhile, the county had a clear uptick in financially motivated crimes, such as tax fraud and scams, in 2014, Sgt. Alex Schoening said. Such scams include people claiming to be law enforcement officers, demanding money for an arrest warrant.

“We don’t work that way,” Schoening said.

Police won’t ask somebody for money if they have an arrest warrant. If they’re trying to arrest someone, they go to their home — they don’t call them.

As the outreach sergeant, Schoening builds relationships with people to ensure there’s an open dialogue between residents and police, particularly for ethnic minorities and immigrants.

People may come from countries where police are seen as intrinsically corrupt, and bring those assumptions to Clark County, Schoening said.

“That’s not what American policing is about,” he said. “What we want to do is break down those barriers.”

One deputy, for instance, is from Russia and speaks on Russian radio about public safety, answering questions that people might otherwise be too shy to ask. Some people can be hesitant about reaching out to police or calling 911.

During briefings, officers will talk about any issues or crime upticks that they’ve noticed; the city is small enough that they don’t need statistical analysis to keep track of trends, Boyles said.

Battle Ground

Battle Ground’s crime rate has the unusual designation of being unchanged; it stayed right at 38.9 crimes per 1,000 residents. There were more reported crimes in 2014 but also more people, according to population estimates, that made the rate level out.

“Our citizens are not afraid to call and report crimes or suspicious activity to the police while at the same time using social media to keep neighbors informed through an informal neighborhood watch,” said police Chief Bob Richardson in an email.

Richardson’s biggest concern is property crimes, as Washington has the highest reported property crime rate in the nation. Quality of life issues are also a top priority.

“I receive a lot of complaints regarding traffic safety issues, such as speeding vehicles, distracted drivers and persons driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” Richardson said.

Officers do a lot of traffic enforcement, he said, which is evident in the increased number of intoxicated driving arrests. That number went from 72 in 2013 to 90 in 2014.

Drug violations also went up, which Richardson attributes to detectives’ being more aggressive about targeting drug dealers, especially those marketing to children.

While the agency won’t add more officers in 2015 or 2016, it is looking at software that will help analyze crime patterns and officer workloads. It’s also considering security cameras in some parks.

Mitchell said that with a busier call load, the agency has become more reactive to crimes and emergencies in Washougal. He looks to use other resources, such as crime mapping, to help the agency keep the community safe.

In November, the majority of voters in Washougal rejected a levy that would have added a police officer and paid for other public safety enhancements. The city has 19 officers, including Mitchell, and one officer graduating from the police academy this week.

Ridgefield

Ridgefield is the fastest-growing city in Washington, but it’s still very much a small city. Based on the crimes tracked by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, crime has remained relatively flat in Ridgefield.

Even with all the newcomers, police Chief Carrie Greene said she’s noticed that residents tend to talk with each other.