Property crime and prevention briefing by Olympia Police

The Olympia Police Department (OPD) briefed the Olympia Community Livability & Public Safety Committee about property crime data and statistics during its October 26 regular meeting.

“We're going to talk a little bit about property crimes here in the city of Olympia tonight. There are a couple [of] ways that we do this,” Police Lieutenant Ryan Hirotaka explained.

“The main way we do this is through what's called Records Management System. It collects calls. It could be a collision, it could be a burglary or something like that,” furthered Hirotaka.

Hirotaka led the briefing about the property crimes present in the city and introduced the system used by the police department in recording the crimes.

It was also mentioned that the incident report officers get a case number or write a ticket, which is entered into the reference management system.

“These are the top six [property crimes]– vehicle prowl (stealing from a vehicle), vandalism, theft, auto theft, theft of motor vehicle parts, and commercial burglary,” reported Hirotaka.

Hirotaka also mentioned two types of theft not classified within the categories mentioned earlier. The seventh most widespread crime was shoplifting (defined as theft from a store or mall), followed by residential burglary.

OPD also presented the actions they took to prevent more crimes from happening:

• Organized Retail Crime Association meetings
• Dispensary Robbery prevention training
• Property Crime prevention training
• Officers attending community meetings to address property crime
• Social Media education campaign
• Free Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) surveys.