The City of Tumwater performed a community survey in 2022 that provided baseline date about the level of satisfaction with the police services currently offered. To date, the public has been largely happy with the policing services it receives. The PMP aims to keep community satisfaction with the police department high as we move into the future.

**Please review the results of our focus groups here.**

TPD believes strongly in service to our community. As we design our Police Strategic Growth Plan, knowing what public safety looks like to the residents, workers, and business owners within our city is essential. To gather this information, we will be holding focus groups in October. Focus groups involve about 12-15 people discussing their ideas about public safety. These focus groups will be facilitated by our Management Analyst, Dr. Oliver Bowers, who is an experienced researcher and has used focus groups in his academic studies.

Focus groups are a systematic way to gather information from participants.  Unlike a public meeting where anyone can participate, in focus groups, the participants are chosen based on specific criteria. In our case, we want our focus groups to represent all segments of the Tumwater community we serve. To achieve this, we are asking those who would like to participate to complete a brief application. When the application period closes, a team will use the information collected to build the focus groups to have as much diversity as possible.

We will respond to all applicants about whether they have been chosen to sit on one of four focus groups. Each group will meet once, for about an hour and a half. The groups will be scheduled for different times and days, so that people aren’t excluded because of their availability. Once the focus groups are chosen, more information about how the focus groups will be conducted will be sent to the groups and also posted here.

With our data, we have developed a service plan that articulates both how we will meet the community’s needs and the resources we will need to do it. We believe our plan is forward-thinking, and takes into account anticipated “knowns”, such as growth, while remaining flexible so that we may adjust to the unforeseen.

The Police Strategic Growth Plan and its appendices can be viewed by clicking the images below:

An accessible, text-based outline of this data is also available for download.

The plan will be implemented incrementally as staffing and resources become available. By taking an incremental approach, we can minimize the risk of over-stretching the department and failing to deliver the expected service to our community.

With feedback from the public, TPD will continuously update the plan to meet the needs of the community.