Tumwater police chief: TPD receives less calls for service during pandemic year

COVID-19 lockdowns decreased calls for service from the Tumwater Police Department, Tumwater Police Chief Jon Weiks said during the city’s Public Health and Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday morning, April 12. 

Although the decrease in numbers is not significant, Weiks said the department received a total of 17,455 total calls in 2021, a large part of which were traffic-related problems, followed by area checks, business checks, suspicious vehicles and follow-ups.

This can be compared to the pre-pandemic year, 2019, during which the police department received 18,906 calls. They received 17,238 calls for service in 2020.

“One of the things we tried really hard in our communications to our community was making sure that they continue to call us in this time of COVID-19,” Weiks said.

In 2019, TPD recorded a total of 1,088 arrests. The number dropped in half for the last two years:500 arrests in 2021; 600 in 2020.

“That is directly proportional mostly to the courts being shut down and the effects on jails. Many arrests could have been made, but we didn’t have anywhere to take them,” Wieks explained.

Most arrests in 2020 and 2021 are mostly warrants, assault, violation of a protections order, theft and driving under the influence (DUI).

Weiks noted the TPD had logged 2,142 incidents in 2021 and 2,239 in 2020. They were mostly theft, vehicle prowl, assault and burglary.

The incidents in the last two years did not show a significant reduction in 2019, which had 2,751 reports.

Proactive policing

The drop in the incidents, Weiks said, was due to proactive policing by “engaging the community, which is our core value.”

He said the officers engage with the community through self-initiated activity.

Self-initiated activity, according to Weiks, include park and area checks, driving through neighborhoods, businesses checks, and conducting follow-ups on cases the officers are investigating.

The TPD staff conducted a total of 4,948 self-initiated activities last year.

Weiks said the TPD has encouraged the staff to engage with the community and business community.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, TPD reported conducting a total of 913 field interviews.

“We get out and just talk to people, whether it is a social contact or what we call Terry stop (terrorism) when investigating suspicious or criminal activity,” he added.

The pandemic has impeded this police activity, according to Weiks.

In 2019, they had 1,800 field interviews. “Many crimes are detected by our officers through their proactive activities,” he said.

Training programs

Weiks believed that training programs are the cornerstone of all successful police agencies.

“We invest heavily in training. It is made up of four core components – basic academy, field training, department (internal) training and external training,” the police chief said.

After officers come back from the Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA), Weiks said, the TPD puts them through a 14-week field training to transition them from what they learned in the classroom.

The internal training deals with day-to-day operations with TPD officers clocking in a total of 6,639 hours’ training.

Each officer spends 11 hours on firearms, 7.5 hours on defense tactics, one hour on emergency vehicle operations and 19.5 hours on patrol tactics.

There are about 16 hours of training for various topics on legislative updates, prosecutor domestic violence updates, less-lethal platforms, and first aid and CPR.

In 2021, TPD officers spent 3,463 hours of external training –encompassing 54 different courses.

“This is the career development of our officers. We really strived over the last 10 to 15 years to make sure we are investing in our people. So, when we are looking at promotions, our staff is already qualified for the position we are promoting them to,” Weiks said.