Messages from the Chief

Welcome to the Tumwater Police Department (TPD) webpages. I am Jon Weiks, Chief of Police. I will be posting information on this page every week that will give you insight about how TPD works with the community, who our members are and what they do, and current public safety issues. Please check back often to see the latest post.

November 1, 2024: IACP

Last week, Cmdr. Mason, Lt. Quiles, and Dr. Bowers attended the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in Boston.  

As I mentioned back in May, Dr. Bowers was selected to present at the prestigious conference, with Cmdr. Mason and Lt Quiles relating their experiences to Dr. Bowers’ presentation about using research methods to enhance policing.  The session was well attended and very well received.  Smaller agencies, who make up 90% of law enforcement agencies nationwide, learned about the advantages of partnerships with researchers and, pragmatically, how to find researchers to partner with.  Several agencies have already reached out to TPD for more information about our experiences.

Our members also had the opportunity to attend a variety of classes and presentations themselves, returning to TPD with new ideas for enhancing our service to the community and our organization.  Cmdr. Mason was intrigued by the various ways agencies around the world are using Artificial Intelligence (AI).  From faster more accurate report writing, to rapid analysis of information from a vast array of sources, AI is presenting law enforcement with new and exciting ways to do our work.  At the same time, it is also bringing risks to public safety by providing criminals with new tools.  Keeping our eyes on both the positive and the potential negative aspects of AI will be key for law enforcement as AI becomes a greater part of our lives.

Increasing his knowledge base about member wellness was a highlight for Lt. Quiles.   One session he attended focused on the wellness challenges for administrative staff.  Law enforcement has been aware that administrative staff can experience vicarious trauma through their work with records of critical events and interactions with those involved.  It is now being discovered that the proliferation of in-car and body cameras is causing additional stress.  Administrative staff are responsible for viewing video for public release or for use in the criminal justice system.  They are spending considerable time viewing and reviewing potentially disturbing video.  This is significantly increasing their levels of stress.  Lt. Quiles came away with both a better understanding of the problem and best-practices for keeping our members healthy. 

Dr. Bowers learned about new software that can help us communicate better with our community.  He was especially interested in a system that can push out information to the community when a pursuit is in progress.  The software uses GPS to pin-point where our vehicles are driving in a pursuit.  AI then calculates likely routes that the pursuit will take.  That information is then passed on to popular web applications, such as Google maps, Waze, and others to alert drivers about where a police pursuit may be heading, allowing drivers to avoid the emergency vehicles.

These are just a few of the many topics that our members learned about during the conference.  They brought back a wealth of ideas and are contacting agencies who have implemented them to see how they may benefit Tumwater.  They also had a chance to see state-of-the-art equipment for safety and crime detection.  Most importantly, they were able to trade insights and experiences with law enforcement from around the world about how to advance the field moving into the future.