The Port Townsend Police Department has released its 2023 crime report, displaying a decrease in calls for service with a slight increase in total criminal cases for the year.

Reviewing crime from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, the report showed comparative crime data for robbery, arson, vandalism, and other crimes while also including statistics for traffic stops, new hires for 2022, and operational goals for 2023.

“Overall, as we look at the numbers and what we’re doing, I see a lot of positivity going into 2023,” Police Chief Thomas Olson said in an interview with The Leader.

“When you look at our crime numbers, it’s fairly positive,” he said. “Our serious crimes are down considerably.”

Olson presented the crime report to the Port Townsend City Council Monday evening.

STRAIGHT TO THE STATS

The police department saw an
8.5 percent decrease in calls for service from 2021, with a total of 7,236 calls in 2022. The total cases for last year increased by 8 percent, jumping from 465 to 502.

“We dropped under 20 calls per day in 2022,” Olson said. “One of the reasons I felt that is, is because we have improved staffing and we’re able to fully go out and be proactive. And being present in areas where we know crimes are occurring.”

While 2022 saw an increase in crime overall, major crimes decreased by approximately 18 percent.

Officially titled “Part 1” crimes by the FBI, major crimes include violent offenses like kidnapping, robbery, sex offenses, and arson.

While the majority of major crimes in Port Townsend decreased or increased by an insignificant amount, assaults rose by
47.6 percent from 63 in 2021 to 93 in 2022. Protection order violations increased by 155 percent, going from nine in 2021 to 23 in 2022.

While some crimes saw drastic increases or decreases, the police chief reminded city councilmembers Monday that low numbers and population size can skew the stats at times.

“A lot of our data is so small that it’s really hard to take a percentage of change and make it make sense,” Olson said in the city meeting. “Like robberies, we’re down 50 percent. Which sounds great, but it’s really only from two to one.”

Washington state has seen an increase in motor vehicle thefts in 2022, according to the Washington State Patrol, and Port Townsend has seen a minor increase in vehicle thefts, as well.

“Motor vehicle theft across the state or in our Puget Sound area has had a drastic rise, and looking at Port Townsend, we’ve had two more car thefts [than last year],” Olson said. “That’s pretty minimal, and 15 [motor vehicle thefts] for the entire city.”

It was a 15.4 percent increase, albeit rising from only 13 motor vehicle thefts in 2021 to 15 in 2022.

“One of the things to do is continue to educate the community on securing their property. Many of those crimes are crimes of opportunity with people checking doorknobs and car doors,” the police chief said.

To view the full data of the Port Townsend Police Department’s annual crime report, go to tinyurl.com/PoliceReport2022.

NEW YEAR, NEW GOALS

Looking to decrease crime during 2023, the police department is aiming to complete or improve on a handful of goals for the year.

Those include developing a strategic plan; increasing proactive contacts by 10 percent; improving community engagement; expanding training opportunities; and filling non-patrol positions like Navigators, a detective, and a school resource officer.

The police department’s biggest goal for this year is the development of its strategic plan, which will increase proactive policing in the community, Olson said.

“Proactive policing basically means being in places where crime would normally occur, and being there before crimes occur in efforts to reduce crime,” he added.

The department aims to increase its proactive contacts by 10 percent, according to the crime report.

Part of the proactive policing push also includes conducting more traffic stops.

“Traffic stops are relatively low for the area for the year. We only had 165 traffic stops for the entire year,” Olson said. “If we stop more cars, there’s probably going to be more tickets.”

Downtown drivers beware, because one intersection set to receive extra patrols and enforcement is the flashing red light at the Washington and Taylor streets intersection.

“A lot of cars don’t stop and a lot of those people are not from the area … we find a lot of tourists just don’t see it,” Olson said of the signal.

Another big goal for the police department is community engagement.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve talked about the importance of community policing and engaging with the community as we do our work,” he said.

Part of the strategy of increasing engagement will involve establishing a police bike team, which Olson is familiar with from his prior time as deputy chief of police with the University of Washington Police Department.

“Coming from the metropolitan area, the University of Washington, Seattle had a very large bike team and a bike team on campus,” he said. “It gives officers the opportunity to get out and engage, to get out of their cars, rather than just seeing us drive by.”

The police department will utilize the services of The Broken Spoke, a downtown bicycle shop, to purchase and maintain the police bikes.

“More importantly, we want to use them downtown and be able to respond in those areas and engage with the biking community,” Olson said. “It’s a really positive way to promote the community policing philosophy … and continuing to improve community engagement, the bike team is a big part of that.”

The new bicycle team will also be used for better supervision and active patrols on the multiple bike trails around Port Townsend.

MORE POLICE HIRES

While the local police force hired six new officers in 2022, the department is still hoping to hire a detective, Navigator, and deputy police chief this year.

“We’re hoping to fill some non-patrol positions again and get our detective back in place,” Olson said.

The Navigator position is intended to aid officers in assisting people in crisis.

“They work directly with officers going out on calls for potential people in crisis, assisting us with deescalation, and connecting them to resources,” he said.