Sunday, October 4, 2026
The Olympia Police Department (OPD) gave the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee a report on crime trends, reporting on incident data and the role of new technology in supporting investigations.
At a committee meeting on Thursday, Sept. 24, interim OPD Chief Shelby Parker and Lieutenant Paul Frailey shared updated crime statistics for the first half of 2025, noting patterns in property and violent crimes. The data provides a benchmark for tracking changes from the previous year.
The department’s mid-year report showed improvements across multiple crime categories.
“Most crime categories are either lower or steady compared to last year,” Parker reported.
Projected annual reductions:
One area of concern remains sexual assaults, with 24 reported cases in the first six months, compared with 36 cases in the entire previous year.
According to Parker, the cases encompass a range of serious incidents, including sex crimes against children, acquaintance rapes and sexual assaults involving known offenders.
To help deal with the issue, the OPD introduced the “Seek Then Speak” reporting portal, a web-based platform designed to support survivors and lower barriers to reporting.
The portal enables survivors to access confidential information about support services, complete a self-guided interview, download a personalized report, and, optionally, forward information to law enforcement.
If the survivor chooses to forward a report to OPD, the department would review it and open an official investigation.
“We recognize sexual assault is significantly underreported,” Parker said. “We are working closely with community stakeholders to improve support for survivors and lower barriers to reporting.”
The system includes privacy protections, allowing survivors to share as much or as little information as they are comfortable revealing.
Tresspass remains a community challenge driven by limited resources, such as crisis beds, substance use treatment facilities and supportive housing.
Parker noted while property crime rates are currently low, the department anticipates a potential increase in end-of-year totals, as crime typically rises during summer months.
She added that property crime has decreased because of several factors, including the incarceration of previous offenders, strengthened legislative accountability, deployment of Flock Safety cameras, and the creation of a joint investigative team with the Olympia and Lacey police departments.
The Special Investigations Response Team, launched in July, has dismantled multiple sophisticated property crime rings. Currently, the team is leading the largest property crime and fraud investigation to date, involving dozens of victims, arrests and thousands of dollars in recovered property.
The OPD is facing staffing challenges. The department is operating with 14 officer vacancies, leaving 23 deployable officers against a need for 32 for patrol coverage.
Parker said 10 officers are currently in training or awaiting academy placement, while nine are on various forms of leave. To meet demand, specialty units, such as traffic and walking patrol, have been temporarily reassigned to general patrol.
“As of this update, walking patrol officers have been removed from their regular positions, though two walking crew members remain downtown,” Parker said.
With mandatory overtime proving unsustainable, the department has shifted to voluntary overtime and maintained a patrol car dedicated specifically to downtown responses.
To address this challenge, the department has introduced two innovative recruitment strategies: a $25,000 lateral hiring incentive for certified officers and a $5,000 recruitment bonus for staff who successfully bring in new officers.
The Flock Safety camera program, implemented in July 2024, has proven to be a game-changer for local law enforcement.
Since going live, the cameras have assisted in 29 stolen vehicle recoveries, and aided in multiple burglary and theft investigations.
Parker noted the largest category of Flock-assisted arrests so far has been assaults and domestic violence cases, with 39 arrests directly linked to camera alerts.
Parker also shared other cases, which are detailed as follows:
Olympia City Councilman and committee member Clark Gilman raised questions about data privacy, acknowledging the department’s efforts to strengthen contract safeguards. Parker emphasized the cameras do not capture personal identifiable information and are strictly used for vehicle identification.
Key camera features are as follows:
The city’s two-year Flock Safety camera program was funded by a Washington State Department of Commerce grant. The total contact, just under $100,000, runs through July 2026.
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WhamboMPS
The "Crime Snapshot" for rapes in Olympia is 24. So, let's look closer at that number:
* Studies show that only 37% of rapes are reported.
* Historically 91% of rapes are against women.
* Nationally, 54% "of sexual violence victims are ages 18-34."
* The Census Bureau counts 5,987 women aged 20-34 in Olympia. There are another 1,423 aged 15-19 so the total number of women in Olympia aged 18-34 is approximately 6,400.
Mathematically that means approximately 64 young adult women in the fine capital city of Olympia will get raped this year. The those of you who are wonky like me the formula is { [ ( 24 *2 ) / 37% ] * 91% * 54% } / ~6,400 = ~1%.
This is appalling. Virtually all acts of sexual violence are done by men - and numbers like this make me ashamed to be one. We cannot accept this as the norm. We must teach our men to be better human beings.
Friday, September 26, 2025 Report this
TheVirtualOne
Hahaha! I love your approach to analyzing this. Cheers to you. I totally agree with you that seeing these kinds of violence against women has to stop. It must be taken seriously by teaching and raising children to respect women.
Saturday, September 27, 2025 Report this
ClownPenis88
The only real crime is the Thurston county Superior court not enforcing any rcw laws, when crimes have been committed. That’s the trend and that’s the real issue with the justice system.
Saturday, September 27, 2025 Report this
WhamboMPS
With all due respect to @ClownPenis88, what you describe may be something we as a society need to address. But to write "the real issue is..." something other than the violence that a man has committed against a woman misses the whole point. Yes, we need to punish the perpetrator. And yes, how our courts handle the punishment may be an issue. But the CRIME is that the **** is occurring at all. When you focus on the punishment you take the focus off of the offender. Instead, focus on building a society where we teach our men to know that the behavior is abhorrent. If we can change the behavior, then the courts become less of an issue: you don't have to hold someone accountable for something they do not do.
Sunday, September 28, 2025 Report this
ClownPenis88
Are they commissioners also counting the violations or RCW laws broken in the Thurston County courts, some violations and laws broken they seem to CHOOSE not to enforce.
Monday, September 29, 2025 Report this