Autumn is well and truly here and with it comes Halloween. Halloween comes with lots of excitement and activity. Here are some tips for keeping the holiday safe and fun.

Safe walking while trick-or-treating

• Encourage trick-or-treaters to only cross at street corners. In all the excitement, they may dash across the street, putting themselves in harm’s way.
• Stick to lighted streets, if possible. Lighted streets are safer for pedestrians and also make it easier to see who else is out and about in the neighborhood.
• Stay on sidewalks and trails, when they are available. They provide some protection from vehicles and naturally keep groups from spreading out into traffic lanes.

Safe costumes

• Choose face paint or make-up over masks. Masks can be difficult to see out of making it more difficult to see vehicles and obstacles.
• Add reflective materials to costumes. You can make the whole costume out of reflective materials or decorate costumes with reflective tape. Don’t forget to add it to the trick-or-treat bag, too!
• Use glow sticks in costume designs. Glow sticks are available as bracelets and necklaces, in addition to the traditional stick. They make the trick-or-treater much more visible.
• Stick with regular, walkable shoes. Tripping and falling takes some of the fun out of trick-or-treating.

Safe pumpkins

• Adults should do the carving. Let small children draw the face they want and a grown up can carve it.
• Consider safer alternatives to regular candles for lighting pumpkins. Battery-operated electric candles, glow sticks, or flashlights are all great options.
• Arrange your pumpkins out of the way of foot traffic. Keeping them on to the edges of porches and walkways will keep trick-or-treaters from stumbling over them.

Halloween parties for adults

• Don’t drink or use drugs and drive. Always, always have a designated driver, schedule an Uber, or call a taxi.
• Keep an eye on your beverage. This is a good tip whenever you are in a crowd.  Don’t take the chance that someone can drop something in your drink.
• Think carefully about any tricks. Practical jokes can sometimes end badly. If you are planning a trick for the evening, make sure it’s both safe and fun.

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Earlier this month, I posted that October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. An important tool for helping those experiencing domestic violence feel safe are protection orders. While many people are aware of protection orders, they are more complex than most people realize. Today I will explain some basic facts about protection orders and how police are involved in the process.

What is a protection order? It is an order issued by a court that protects someone by requiring another person to do, or not do, specific things.  They are also called restraining orders and no-contact orders. Washington has fourteen different types of protection orders. Some of the orders are issued as part of a civil case, such as a divorce, and others are issued because of a criminal case, such as a domestic violence assault. Each type of order has different rules about what the judge must consider and what conditions can be ordered. Typical conditions the court may order include: not contacting the protected person; staying away from the protected person and their home and workplace; giving the protected person temporary custody of children in common; and restricting the restrained person from having guns or other weapons.

Protection orders are issued after someone petitions the court, showing that the other party may cause harm if their behavior is not restricted. Civil protection orders are usually filed by the protected person. Criminal protection orders are associated with a criminal case and the Prosecutor files for an order to protect the victim. In civil cases, a judge may issue a temporary, emergency order without hearing from both of the parties involved. These usually expire after two weeks unless a full hearing can be held with both parties present.

A protection order remains in place until it reaches its expiration date or until the court takes an action to dismiss it. The protected person cannot simply decide that they do not want the order in place anymore. The protected person also cannot give the restrained person permission to violate the order. For example, a protection order may restrict the restrained person from contacting the protected person. Even if the protected person tells the restrained person that contact is ok, the restrained person is still violating the order by contacting the protected person. Many orders also restrict other people from contacting the protected person on behalf of the restrained person. If this happens, it is also a violation of the order. 

TPD has three primary roles with regard to protection orders. Most importantly, TPD takes the violation of protection orders very seriously and enforces the conditions set by the court. TPD also ensures that protection orders are added to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database as soon as possible so the information is available to law enforcement throughout the United States. Additionally, TPD may serve protection orders when directed by the court, so the restrained person is aware of both the order and its conditions. 

If you or someone you know might benefit from a protection order, you can contact either the Thurston County Superior Court or the Thurston County District Court for information about how to file a petition. In some cases, the courts may have someone who can help you complete the forms or may be able to direct you to a community resource for assistance.

This week Commander Jay Mason stepped in for me as I was unavailable and attended the graduation ceremony of Officer Jeffrey Phillips at the Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA).  Detective Lieutenant Jennifer Kolb also attended to congratulate Jeff on his graduation.  

Please meet our newest BLEA graduate:

Jeff is a Washington State native who grew up in Gig Harbor.  Jeff graduated from Peninsula High School, where he was outgoing and popular with his peers.  After high school, Jeff worked in retail for a few years, and then joined the Thurston County Sheriff's Department as a Corrections Deputy in 2017.  Jeff graduated from the Washington State Corrections Officers Academy in 2017. The Corrections Academy is similar to the BLEA in form, but focuses on the specific skills needed in the field of corrections.  While working for Thurston County, Jeff was assigned to the Classification Division.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Division was responsible for creating, implementing, and enforcing the new rules and regulations that were adopted.  His success as a Corrections Deputy led to his promotion to Corrections Sergeant in 2023.  In 2024, Jeff followed his dream to become a police officer and was hired by TPD.   Jeff brings non-stop energy and positivity to the TPD team.

Jeff lives in Thurston County.  On his off time, he enjoys spending time with friends and gaming.  He is diligent about working out and goes to the gym daily.  Jeff has two weeks of post-Academy training at the Department and then starts his Field Training with Officer Pete Navarro.

Congratulations, Jeff!

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Have you started seeing purple ribbons and wondered why? October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I hope you will join TPD in supporting domestic violence survivors and working to promote an end to this crime.

On Tuesday, October 1, 2024 the White House issued a proclamation on National Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month that sums up the importance of this event. It read in part,

"Domestic violence affects millions of Americans across our Nation with devastating consequences for survivors, families, and entire communities.  Everyone deserves to live free from the fear of violence, especially in their own home.  During National Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, we recommit to extending support and resources to all survivors, continuing to hold perpetrators accountable, and ensuring that our society is truly safe for everyone."

As any police department can attest to, domestic violence crimes make up a substantial portion of the calls we respond to. Our officers see first-hand the impact of domestic violence on the individual survivors who can experience physical violence, psychological trauma, financial stress, and isolation.  However, domestic violence also affects the entire community where the impacts are felt in families, workplaces, and schools.

Our role as police is to help protect survivors and to help hold perpetrators accountable in the criminal justice system. We arrest those who commit domestic violence and those who violate protection orders that are put in place to increase the safety of survivors. We also provide survivors with resources and give them information about how to be safe. Most importantly, we believe that domestic violence is a serious and legitimate problem and we listen when survivors tell us about their experiences.

The criminal justice system is the primary tool that police have for addressing domestic violence. The community has a wealth of other opportunities to help stop it.  A good first step is increasing education about domestic violence: what it is, who is impacted, and what resources are available to help survivors.  Supporting local support systems, such as safe shelters and counseling opportunities, can also have a big impact on helping survivors and their families heal. Finally, engaging with others in the community to express support for survivors and intolerance for domestic violence is essential for reducing its prevalence.

I encourage you to learn more about domestic violence and how you can help so we can make the Tumwater community “truly safe for everyone.”

In Washington, voters may make and remake laws through initiatives and referenda, a privilege that is usually reserved for elected legislators. You may have seen people gathering signatures for initiative and referenda as you go about your daily activities. Each year, we receive questions about signature gatherers and the methods they use when asking for signatures. I hope today’s message helps to shed light on the topic.

An initiative or referendum is essentially a law or a change to a law written by members of the public. The public votes on the measure, and it either passes into law or fails. Before a measure can be put on the ballot, the petitioners must show that a substantial number of voters are in favor of it by gathering signatures of supporters that are then filed with the Washington State Secretary of State.

Washington State law outlines the rules for initiatives and referenda including how many signatures must be gathered to put something on the ballot. For a statewide ballot, the number of signatures required is based on the number of people who voted in the last election of the State governor. Each signature must be verified as belonging to a qualified voter and some signatures are disqualified. For this reason, signature gatherers usually try to get 15-20% more signatures than the required number.

Signature gathering is considered protected speech under both the Washington State and United States Constitutions. As with other protected speech, it can be done in public places. One important question that the Washington courts have had to weigh in on is what constitutes a “public place”? Some locations are obviously public, such as a public plaza. Others, such as a shopping center, are less clearly “public”. While privately owned, they also invite the public onto their property in a broad invitation and they are places where the public gathers.  There are four relevant Washington Supreme Court decisions that have addressed this issue. Generally, the courts determined that a private property is similar to a public one if it permits or welcomes non-commercial, community or political activities on the property. Property owners may be able to limit some of the activity, such as where they congregate so that the signature gatherers are not interfering with business or other activities allowed on the property. The courts have clearly ruled that signatures gatherers cannot operate inside of a business.

As a community member, you have specific rights regarding signature gathering. Firstly, signature gatherers cannot block your way if you are trying to walk past them or impede your ability to enter or leave an establishment. Also, if you are considering whether to sign a petition, the signature gatherers must provide the entire petition language for you to read, if you choose. Further, if you are an opponent of the initiative or referendum, you also have free-speech rights and may express your opinion. You may not, however, interfere with the petition process. 

One of TPD’s most important roles in the community is to protect the civil rights of all community members, which includes our business owners. Political views often become a source of conflict between individuals, including whether a specific initiative or referendum should be enacted. I hope the information above gives insight into the various civil rights involved with signature gathering for these political actions and that you will join TPD in ensuring those rights are respected.

For more information about initiatives and referenda in the State of Washington, please visit the State of Washington Secretary of State’s website.

In the City of Tumwater, the Code Enforcement program is part of the police department. Unlike police officers, who enforce criminal laws, Code Enforcement officers enforce civil laws, specifically the Tumwater Municipal Code (TMC). Most of these laws have to do with nuisances, such as a property with a lot of garbage, or building and land use codes. We frequently get calls involving code enforcement and today I want to share some of the questions we are asked.

Street Parking 
We receive a lot of calls about where people may park their vehicles. A call we often receive is a complaint that someone is parking in front of someone’s home. Generally, vehicles may park in any legal parking area on city streets.  Property owners do not have exclusive rights to the parking near their property.

Junk Vehicles on Private Property
We also receive calls from private property owners asking us to tow vehicles that don’t belong to them, yet have been abandoned on their property. We do not have the authority to do this. We can only tow vehicles if they are on public property (such as the street) and are illegally parked, or vehicles involved in crimes. To help property owners, we can complete a “junk vehicle” form for them. With this form, property owners are able to have vehicles towed off their property even though they don’t own them.

Chickens and Roosters
We are asked a lot of questions about owning chickens within the city.  According to TMC 6.08.010, chickens may be kept in Tumwater. The number that can live on a property is based on the size of the property. However, the TMC only allows for female chickens, or hens. Male chickens, or roosters, are not allowed. They are prohibited in all parts of the city, regardless of the lot size. Geese, peacocks, and other loud fowl are also prohibited. Another fact about chicken-keeping is that the chickens must remain on the property.

Homeowners’ Association (HOA) Covenants
There are a lot of properties in Tumwater that are covered by HOA covenants.  These are rules set by the HOA and property owners within the HOA are contractually obligated to follow them. Covenants are strictly between the HOA and the properties within it. Law enforcement and Code Enforcement officers have no legal authority to enforce covenants.

For example, an HOA may have rules governing street parking if their streets are privately owned and those rules would be enforced by the HOA.

Signs
TMC 18.44 governs the city rules about signs. TMC 18.44 gives a detailed description of which signs can be used, where they may be placed, and which signs are prohibited. In Tumwater, temporary signs cannot be placed in city rights of way, regardless of what the sign is stating or advertising. For example, political signs and signs advertising products or events are not allowed in the city rights of way, such as medians and roadsides. Feather flags are prohibited altogether. Sign rules vary substantially from city to city, and so it is important to check TMC 18.44 if you are planning on placing a sign somewhere in Tumwater to ensure it meets our rules.

I hope today’s post explains some of the questions we frequently receive.  One last note about code enforcement: the code enforcement cases that are reported to us often have a back-story. The reason a person’s yard is overgrown is because they have been ill and unable to care for their property; or, someone is waiting for their next paycheck to fix the inoperable vehicle parked in the neighborhood. I encourage you to talk with neighbors who appear to have code violations. Working with your neighbors usually helps resolve these issues quickly and builds the relationships that create strong neighborhoods. This dovetails with the overall goal for the code enforcement program: helping to maintain vibrant, resilient neighborhoods.

Many people are familiar with the basic work done by police officers, but less is known about the equally important work done behind the scenes by administrative staff. One of those workloads is responding to requests for police records from the public. It is an important and complex body of work to which we devote a significant amount of resources and expertise in service to our community.

The Washington State Public Records Act (PRA) governs how state and local government records are accessed by the public. The PRA became law in 1972 through a voter-approved initiative with the goal of increasing government transparency. The PRA is one of the most comprehensive public disclosure laws in the country. Very few records are not available to the public.  Additionally, the definition of a “record” is broadly defined. A record may be a written document, like a police report, or it may be a video, such as a dash-cam video, and it can also be an audio recording, a text, a voicemail, or a post-it note.  Individuals, businesses, lawyers, insurance companies and others may all access our records – requestors do not have to be associated with a case, in most situations, and can remain anonymous when they make the request. Requestors also do not have to tell us why they want the records. TPD receives about 3,000 requests each year. Some of the requests are for one document, such as a collision report, and some are for large numbers of records. So far in 2024, our largest request was for 495 separate records, including police reports, photographs, witness statements, and videos and we spent 200 hours fulfilling it.

We receive most of our requests through our on-line Records Center. When we receive a request, we must respond to the requestor within five days. We either must produce the records or give the requestor a reasonable estimate of when the records will be available. While the PRA is very broad, there are some records, or parts of records, that are exempt from disclosure. For example, records that involve juvenile suspects or victims must have the juveniles’ personal identifying information (name, birthdate, address, etc.) redacted. The requestor still gets the records, but any information that could identify the juveniles is blacked out. We must redact any photos or videos that show the juveniles’ faces, in addition to the personal identifying information that may be found in a written report. Our records staff even have video editing software just for redacting videos. There are over 100 exemptions that may pertain to our records, so our staff have on-going training to keep them up to date on the laws governing public records. If any records are redacted or withheld entirely, we must explain to the requestor which law requires us to withhold the information and why that law applies to the records that were requested.

As you can imagine, the workload of fulfilling public records requests is very large. But, the bigger challenge to TPD is the level of risk associated with releasing records. The PRA, and the case law that surrounds it, is very complex and the monetary penalties can be vast when a record is not produced when it should be. In fact, lawsuits involving the PRA are so risky that the insurance organization that covers most of the cities in Washington will not provide coverage for PRA lawsuits. At TPD, in addition to our staff receiving frequent training, we also work closely with our City Attorney’s office to reduce the chance that we may misapply the laws surrounding public records.

The PRA is an important law for creating transparency about how we deliver our services. At TPD, we believe we are simply the custodian of your records and we do our best to provide them as expeditiously as possible. If you have any questions about requesting records, please contact us at 360-754-4200.  Our administrative staff are experts in the field and will be happy to talk with you.

Each year, we have the privilege of conducting the TPD Citizens Academy for our community. Normally, the Academy is a five-week course, taught two nights per week, that covers all aspects of how the police department operates. This year, we are excited to offer a new option: The Tumwater Police Department Citizen’s Academy “Lite”, a one-day, fast-paced learning event. It’s scheduled for October 12, from 9am to 3pm, so save the date!

I’ll start the day with a quick introduction of the department, our people, and our policing philosophy. Then, the day gets interactive. You will have the choice of attending three different sessions. You can learn all about life as a Patrol officer, what they do and how they do it. Or, maybe you would rather walk through a major case with our Detectives and get the inside scoop about the complexities of investigations. If you are interested in volunteering with TPD, we have a session for that, too (and other civilian programs)! The Chief and Commander will also be on-site so you can have “Coffee with Command” and talk with the two of us. The three sessions are offered again in the following hour so that you can attend more than one.

After the morning sessions, we are offering lunch before launching into our busy afternoon. After lunch, there will be live demonstrations with our K9 team, Officer Chase Grimmett and K9 Thor, as well as demos with our Patrol officers about the techniques and tactics they use in the field. We will have our vehicles set up for you to tour, with officers available to show you how everything works. School Resource Officers (SROs), SWAT operators, and other specialty positions will also be on hand to explain their programs and answer your questions. Finally, we will send you home with a Citizen’s Academy t-shirt as a “thank you” for attending.

In the last several weeks, I have had the honor of presenting our two newest graduates, Officer Nathan “Nate” Snyder and Officer Cory Jones, with their badges and swearing them in as officers. Nate started his Field Training last week and you will see him out and about in the community with his Field Training Officers (FTOs). Cory will be in post-Academy training at TPD for a couple weeks, and then will start his Field Training.

Please meet our newest officers:

Officer Nate Snyder
Nate is originally from Gresham, Oregon. After service in the Army, which included a deployment to Iraq, Nate became a youth pastor in Lacey and served in that capacity for four years. In 2017, Nate became a Thurston County Corrections Deputy and held that position until applying to be an officer with TPD. Nate graduated from the Washington State Corrections Officers Academy in 2017. The Corrections Academy is similar to the BLEA in form, but focuses on the specific skills needed in the field of corrections. While working for Thurston County, Nate performed a wide variety of jobs within Corrections, including supervision of high-risk individuals, court facilitation, and inmate transports. Nate’s job as a Corrections Deputy gave him considerable experience with the criminal justice system, allowing him to hit the ground running when he became a police officer. Outside of work, Nate enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, spending time outdoors and watching movies. Nate is now in Field Training with FTO Jim Moran. Nate started by shadowing Officer Moran, learning the practical aspects of the job such as how to handle calls for service, emergencies, and managing the paperwork of policing. This week he transitioned from “observing” to “doing” the work. 

Officer Cory Jones
Cory was born in Ohio, but moved to Washington as a child and grew up in the Tacoma area. Following graduation from Spanaway High School, he joined the Marine Corps and served for four years. After leaving the Marines, Cory started his criminal justice career at the Department of Corrections working as a corrections officer, then worked in Snohomish County Corrections, before joining the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office as a Corrections Deputy in 2012.  Like Nate, Cory has also completed the Washington State Corrections Officer Academy. Cory’s Corrections career has included working as a booking deputy, a court deputy, and as a Field Training Officer for new corrections deputies.  When he is not working, Cory enjoys spending time with his two daughters. He also is committed to physical fitness and helping others achieve their fitness goals. Cory is also artistic in nature and loves to write poetry.

Following up on another recent BLEA graduate….In March, I introduced you to BLEA graduate, Tony Dominguez. At the time, Tony had recently graduated from the Academy and was starting his Field Training. I am happy to announce that Tony recently completed his Field Training and is now working independently. Tony’s FTOs and supervisors were impressed with his work ethic and his ability to quickly put what he learned to use in the field. We look forward to seeing what Tony brings to this community.

Congratulations to Nate, Cory, and Tony!

Every day, our administrative staff help people who come to the station, phone us, or email us. I asked them to tell me the most frequently asked questions, and the answers, so that I can share them with you. Here are the top FAQs we receive:

Q: How do I report a problem that’s not an emergency?

A: You can call our dispatch center, TCOMM, 24/7 on the non-emergency line at 360-704-2740.

 

Q: Can I talk to an officer if I come to the station?

A: Yes and No. The station is open to the public from 8am to 5pm.  However, we don’t always have officers in the station. They spend most of their time in the field, patrolling the city. If you would like to speak with an officer, the easiest way is to call the non-emergency dispatch line: 360-704-2740. You can request that an officer meet you at the station or, if it’s more convenient, to simply call you.

Also keep in mind that our administrative staff are answer experts. They are available at the station and by telephone during business hours. Unless you need to report a crime or follow up on an existing case, the administrative staff will probably be able to help you, whether you call or come to the station.

 

Q: How do I get a protection order?

A: Protection orders are issued by the courts.  You can visit either Thurston County Superior Court or Thurston County District Court for protection order applications and information.  You can also find information online:

Thurston County Superior Court: Protection Orders

Thurston County District Court: Protection Orders

 

Q: Will Tumwater officers serve my protection order?

A: If a court grants a protection order or a hearing for a protection order without both parties present, the absent party must be served with the order and other paperwork. TPD will serve orders that the courts direct us to serve. The courts, both Thurston County Superior Court and District Court, will send us the paperwork we need to serve an order. It is not necessary to bring a copy of the paperwork to the station yourself.

We generally do not serve orders that the court has not instructed us to serve. There are other options for service: The Thurston County Sheriff's Office has a division that serves orders; professional process servers can serve an order; and, in most cases, someone over the age of 18 who is not the person who filed for the order can serve the paperwork.

 

 Q: A Tumwater officer called and told me I would be arrested for an outstanding warrant if I don’t pay a fine immediately. What do I do?

 A: THIS IS A SCAM! No officer will ever collect money for an outstanding warrant. Warrants are issued by the courts. If you are concerned you may have an outstanding warrant, please contact either the Thurston County Superior or District Court. If there is a warrant, they will explain how to remedy the situation. It is ALWAYS A SCAM if someone says they are an officer and threatens to put you in jail if you don’t give them money.  Unfortunately, Tumwater community members have been stung by this scam.

 To contact the courts:

                Thurston County Superior Court: 360-786-5560

                Thurston County District Court: 360-786-5450

 

Q: Someone I know was arrested. Can you tell me whether the person is being held and where?

A: People taken into custody by the Tumwater Police are held in either the Nisqually Tribal Corrections Center or the Thurston County Accountability and Restitution Center (ARC). Both facilities have online rosters of those housed in their facilities:

                Nisqually Tribal Corrections Center: Corrections Roster

                Thurston County ARC: ARC Roster           

Since 2020, with police reform, TPD makes an average of about 500 arrests per year. We are frequently asked what happens after an arrest is made. This week, we will dive into what it actually means to be arrested and how someone moves through the criminal justice system after being arrested.

An arrest occurs when someone with legal authority (in the case of TPD, a commissioned officer) places a person in legal custody in response to a charge that the person committed a crime. An officer must have probable cause that a crime has been committed in order to arrest someone. Probable cause is a legal standard and the information needed to show probable cause will differ from situation to situation. Police can also make arrests by citation. Rather than the individual going to jail, they are released and given a date when they must appear in court. 

An individual who is arrested and taken into custody will be taken to one of two facilities – the Thurston County Accountability and Restitution Center (ARC) or the Nisqually Tribal Corrections Center (Nisqually). If the person is accused of committing a felony, he or she will be held at the ARC. Someone accused of a misdemeanor crime will be held at Nisqually. Most of the crimes that occur in Tumwater are misdemeanors and so most people who are arrested will be held at Nisqually.

After an arrest, the focus of the criminal justice system switches from the police to the prosecutor. The police and prosecutors have independent roles in the criminal justice system. While police make arrests, it is the prosecuting attorneys who actually file the charges with the court. Prosecutors, by law, have the sole discretion to decide who will be charged with a crime. Prosecutors are responsible for presenting a case in court to show evidence that a crime occurred and that the person before the court committed the crime.

By law, a person who is arrested and held in custody must have a court appearance within 48 hours of the arrest. (Both ARC and Nisqually use video technology so that the person in custody can remain at the jail while appearing before the court.) This initial court appearance is to ensure that probable cause existed for the arrest. The prosecutor will explain the charges being filed. A defense attorney will represent the person accused of a crime. At the hearing, the judge will determine whether the facts presented are enough to establish probable cause. If probable cause is not shown, the case ends and the person will be released. If probable cause is established, the judge will determine whether the person should be released without paying bail (“released on their own recognizance”), whether bail will be required, or whether the person will continue to be held in custody. Very few people remain in custody pending further court proceedings. Being in custody is a significant infringement on a person’s liberty and, at this point in the criminal justice process, whether a person committed a crime has yet to be proved. Usually, if a person is released from custody, the judge will impose release conditions, such as the person can have no contact with the victim in the case or cannot consume alcohol. If these conditions are not followed, the person can be taken back into custody.

After the filing of charges by the prosecutor and the initial court hearing, there may be multiple court appearances to determine things such as whether specific evidence can be introduced at the criminal trial. Usually, the two attorneys are also negotiating outside of court to reach agreement on issues impacting the case and conditions of a potential “plea deal”. If the negotiations are successful, the prosecutor may dismiss the charges if it looks unlikely that a judge or jury will find the defendant guilty. Or, the accused may enter into a plea deal where he or she admits to a crime in exchange for a favorable outcome, such as a shorter jail sentence. If the two sides cannot come to an agreement, the case proceeds to a criminal trial. In most cases, the defendant can choose to have a trial with only the judge determining the conclusion or a jury trial. Following a trial, a person is free from custody if found not guilty. If found guilty, the judge, or in some cases the jury, will determine whether the person will be held in custody or face some other sentence.

As you can see by this brief overview, the criminal justice system is complex and police are only one part of it. Once an officer has made an arrest, all decisions about the crime and the accused will be made by the prosecutor and the judge, each of whom has their own role in the system and authority over different aspects of a criminal case.

August 6, 2024 is National Night Out! National Night Out (NNO) is an event we look forward to every year. We hope to see you at one of the many NNO parties throughout the city.

National Night Out began in 1984 as an annual community-building event to bring together neighborhoods and law enforcement to promote safer, more caring communities. NNO is a prime example of our favorite policing principle outlined by Sir Robert Peel in 1829,

"To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence."

Community safety is enhanced not only by neighborhoods engaging with law enforcement, but also by neighbors knowing their neighbors. National Night Out is an opportunity to build those relationships while having fun and eating great food.

In Tumwater, this year we have ten neighborhoods that are participating in NNO. Each neighborhood celebrates in its own way, from block parties to barbecues and even a water fight between neighborhood kids and TPD. TPD officers, detectives, and command staff will be out and about visiting the neighborhood events. TFD, our partners in public safety, have joined us for the last several years and will be participating as well. We look forward to meeting neighbors and having fun with our community. See you there!

This week, we received an email that made me extremely proud of the work our officers are doing. I am sharing it with you so that you can see how our officers embrace our values while interacting with all members of our community. Here’s the message we received:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this email because I think the police officers in the city of Tumwater deserve a great deal of praise and recognition. I can’t give you the name of any particular officer, but the past several months I have had several interactions with many of them and, without exception, I have been impressed by not only their level of professionalism, but by their ability to recognize the difference between someone in need of help and someone who is in need of corrective action.

To get the obvious question out of the way, my multiple interactions with the officers in this city are not because I’m a criminal who can’t stay out trouble, but because last year the symptoms of my PTSD (stemming from a bad thing that happened in Iraq) caused my marriage to fall apart at a rapid rate. Because of this, and because I have been cut off from the income my wife and I had through our business, I have been forced to go through treatment while not really having an exact place to call home. I don’t sleep enough because the nightmares are difficult, and my car constantly runs out of gas because the gas gauge is faulty, so I imagine most of your officers have stopped to inspect my car stuck on the side of the road or approached me sitting in my car at some random hour, and in many of those situations I have been unpleasant, rude, sarcastic, and sometimes disrespectful. There are reasons for that, and they all are a direct result of the things I listed above.

Yet, without exception, every officer has asked me with an actual tone of sincerity if everything was okay and if there was anything they could do to help. I try my best to not complain, but I apparently am not exactly the best at hiding the fact that I am going through a tough time. The times I have expressed that I am struggling with something, your officers have talked to me, given advice, offered to help, expressed either sympathy or empathy, and without exception have left me feeling more hopeful than when the interaction began. This probably isn’t news to you, but most police departments are not known for possessing these characteristics.

I do want to add one last thing, and that is this is in no way an attempt to garner sympathy. I have a deep appreciation for the police and I understand that, almost without exception, every interaction your officers have throughout their shift involves at least one party who is not happy to see them. I also understand that they have to deal with the stress that comes from knowing an innocuous traffic stop can result in a life-threatening situation, and compared to that, my life is a walk in the park. 

Please, if this means anything coming from me, your officers are very much appreciated. I will get out of this rut because I refuse to stay in it, but saving money and dealing with treatment is not a linear thing. It will be a few more months, but no matter where I go, I will always have a great deal of respect and appreciation for these officers in Tumwater. Whether it’s by a particular focus of your department or whether you just happened to hire great officers, I don’t know, but please keep up the great work.

This week, I would like to introduce our two Chaplains, Rob Warner and Rob Bradley. Rob Warner is a pastor at a Tumwater church. Rob Bradley is a retired local Assistant Fire Chief who is an active member of his church in Olympia.  Both Robs volunteer their time and expertise to support TPD. They are an important part of how we care for our members and the community.

The role of police chaplains is to provide emotional and spiritual support to the department they serve. In order to be effective, they must be integrated into the department so they can build relationships with the officers and staff. Rob and Rob have both spent countless hours doing ride-alongs with officers, attending training days and events, and interacting with TPD staff. By doing so, they have gained the trust of our members. That trust pays dividends when a TPD member reaches out and asks for help. Like everyone else, law enforcement professionals experience stress in their lives. On the job, they can experience significant stress, trauma, and vicarious trauma throughout their careers. It is only in recent years that the profession has recognized the toll these stressors take on our employees. Having someone to talk to who is familiar with the stresses they face is integral to helping our members stay healthy. 

Chaplains also assist officers in the field by providing support to community members following an event such as a crime or a death. Chaplains have the training and skills to help people in times of stress and grief. They can assist victims and families, allowing officers time to devote to investigation. Chaplains often draw on their spiritual beliefs as a foundation for the services they provide. However, they do not advocate for religion in any way. They also serve everyone, regardless of the religious beliefs of those being served. 

Police chaplaincy programs vary from department to department.  At TPD, our chaplains are volunteers, but receive training, uniforms, and gear so that they can do their jobs effectively. Rob and Rob have both attended the Police Chaplain Academy at the state-wide Criminal Justice Training Academy. When acting as chaplains, they wear uniforms that identify them as chaplains. They also receive safety gear and radios so they can respond safely to crime scenes.  Rob and Rob respond to calls and events during the night, on weekends, and on holidays. They also participate in our peer support program, assisting TPD members as they learn counseling techniques. We are fortunate to have them as part of the TPD family and appreciate all they do for us and the Tumwater community.

If you traveled down Littlerock Road this week, you may have seen a lot of activity at Tumwater Middle School, as well as signs noting that training was underway. This week, TPD and Tumwater Fire Department (TFD) staff had scenario-based training for an active threat event.

An “active threat” occurs when someone or some people are trying to create mass casualties. These are commonly known as “active shooter” events.  However, other weapons have been used to create mass casualties, so “active threat” is the more generic term. Despite seeing active threat events in the headlines, they actually occur very rarely. However, we train so that we are prepared to respond should one occur in Tumwater. As you can imagine, an active threat scene is chaotic. There is often little information about where the offenders are or what they are doing. The location and condition of victims may be unknown. People at the scene are likely to be panicked and trying to leave the scene, while family and friends of victims may be flooding to the scene to find their loved ones. In order to be prepared for such a scene, it is important that our training mimics a real active threat scene to the best of our ability. Officers and leaders need to practice their skills in a scenario that is as close as possible to a real-life situation.

We use a school for active threat training for a couple of reasons. First, we unfortunately are aware that schools are frequently the scenes of an active threat. They are also buildings with multiple rooms, entrances, and exits which are all complications when responding to an active threat. Volunteer actors join the scenarios to increase the reality of the training. They play every role except that of the first responders. The actors are briefed about the goals of the training so that their performances can elicit the reactions from the officers that they are likely to have in an actual active threat event.

 

A critical component to an emergency response is a single point of command who is directing the response. This person is known as the Incident Commander (the IC). The IC is the first officer on the scene, regardless of rank.  The IC is fluid, depending on the circumstances of the event. Sometimes, the original IC will remain IC throughout the incident. Other times, the IC role may be handed off to another person because different skills, abilities, or resources are needed. Regardless of who is holding the position, the IC has the authority to tell people what to do and where to go. Information will flow to the IC to ensure that the IC has the best information possible for decision making. By having a central command, there is less opportunity for multiple people to be giving conflicting instructions or for a void in leadership to occur.

During the training, the scenario unfolds as realistically as possible. The officers wear their safety equipment, even in the heat, because they will be wearing it if they are responding to a real threat. They use “simunitions”, which are similar to paint-balls, so they can practice with their weapons. The scenario will have unexpected situations and actors will act unpredictably. The IC adjusts the response as the scenario changes. The officers learn to pivot, adjusting their response to the conditions. After a training scenario is complete, everyone will gather for a debrief. Officers will review their performance, discussing what they thought they did well and what could be improved; trainers will critique the overall response and provide additional training to improve specific skills; trainers and command staff will determine whether there are better ways of responding to an active threat. Additionally, the volunteers provide valuable feedback based on their perceptions. The review component of the training is as important as the training itself to ensure that our personnel grow their expertise and use the best tactics possible.

TPD trains for active threats throughout the year, focusing on different skills during in-service training and we hold this type of larger scale scenario-based training once a year. TFD often joins us for the annual scenario-based training.  Together, we practice how to get TFD safely to the victims. TFD also has the chance to practice their plans for treatment and evacuation of victims. This year, the training scenarios expanded to include players outside of TPD and TFD. For example, you may have seen emergency helicopters landing near the school. Using helicopters to evacuate the most seriously injured to trauma care centers is a strong possibility in active threat situations, so practicing where to land them, how to triage who will be transported, and how to get the injured safely to the helicopter are all important training objectives.

Training is essential for maintaining strong skills, especially for events that happen rarely. Our annual scenario-based training for an active threat is complex, both in terms of organizing the scenes and performing the exercises.  However, the reality-based experience helps us to be as prepared as possible should an active threat arise.

Tumwater has a long tradition of Independence Day festivities for the whole community. The Tumwater Parks and Recreation team do an amazing job of creating fun throughout the day. We enjoy partnering with Parks and Recreation to help make sure the many activities are safe and entertaining for all who are joining in.

Planning for the Tumwater Independence Day Parade, Family Festival at the golf course, and the Nisqually Red Wind Casino fireworks show, begins almost as soon as the fireworks from the previous year fade in the dark. Each year, TPD’s involvement starts in the Spring. TPD works with the Parks and Recreation team, the Tumwater Fire Department, and the City’s transportation division to map out road closures, traffic flow, access to emergency services, and security. Despite having made these plans for decades, each year the planning team looks at the events with fresh eyes to make sure the plans address any changes to the events or the venues, to scale the plans for larger or smaller crowds, and to incorporate lessons learned from past years.  Weather is also a big factor. A hot day can mean both a greater need for emergency services as well as keeping staff in the field well-hydrated and healthy.  From a police perspective, the planning includes considering conditions that may increase frustration in a crowd, which may lead to unwelcome behavior. For example, if entrance to an event is not well-managed, squeezing a lot of waiting people into a small place for a long period of time could cause tempers to flare and lead to confrontations. Avoiding these types of situations before they occur proactively increases public safety.

Nearly all the TPD officers are on duty on the 4th of July. You will see them at the parade, down at the Family Festival, and at the fireworks show. Of course, we also have officers on regular patrol taking care of the city. It can be an exhausting day for officers, but it is still something they look forward to each year. The officers get to mingle and chat with the community they serve, while helping to ensure everyone has fun and stays safe. A few tips to help ensure the day is enjoyable for all:

• Make sure to drink enough water throughout the day, especially if it’s warm. Heat exhaustion is a common occurrence at outdoor events.
• Pay attention to temporary road signs and follow those directing traffic.  Traffic patterns are adjusted during big events and you may need to alter your usual route.
• Remember: Fireworks are prohibited in Tumwater, except for professional displays and novelty fireworks. Please do not bring fireworks to City events.
 We look forward to seeing you on the 4th of July!

In August last year, my message introduced our project to create a 5-year strategic growth plan. The purpose of the plan is to provide us with strategic and operational guidance that meets the needs of the community as it grows. The Police Strategic Growth Plan (PSGP) has been in development since 2021 and has involved many members of the community, the City government, and TPD staff. I am happy to announce that the Police Strategic Growth Plan is now complete and available to the community!

We had two goals in writing the PSGP:

• Involve the community whom we serve.

• Use a process that is inclusive, comprehensive, and defensible.

The first goal was essential to creating a plan that meets a TPD essential value, Sir Robert Peel’s Principles of Policing #7:  “…the police are the public and the public are the police,…” We believe that true public safety is only achieved through a partnership between the community and TPD. To be good partners, we need to understand the goals and needs of the community. So, we set about to do just that. Our first step was to describe the work we were doing for our community through the “Tumwater Police: A Report to the Community” in 2021. Next, we analyzed data from a City Council-commissioned survey that was done in 2022. In the survey, the public was asked specific questions about their views of TPD and its services. Overall, the survey showed that Tumwater likes how TPD performs its duties. We then wanted to better understand “why” the public gave us high marks and which services should be maintained, increased, or added to our service model as the community continues to grow.  We held focus groups in October 2023. A wide range of people who reside or work within Tumwater volunteered to participate. We learned a lot! With that information, we then designed our Plan to meet our community’s expectations. Once we had a draft plan, we provided it to our focus group participants for their comments, to ensure we were hitting the mark. Again, we received valuable feedback that was incorporated into the final product.

The second goal was also very important to us. We want our community to have confidence that the decisions we make about how we police are based on sound data-driven processes. This leads to increased community trust. We gain this trust through our actions, whether we are responding to calls or developing our plan for growth. To that end, our Management Analyst, Dr. Oliver Bowers, designed a process that is based on social science research and policing best practices, so that our community can be assured that the PSGP has a solid foundation.

The result of four years of work is the Police Strategic Growth Plan. The PSGP is broken down year-by-year and describes the services we will provide, along with the resources that will be needed to provide those services: staffing, technology, and facilities. Each year, the PSGP describes new activities that will be added during the year and which services we are continuing to provide. As you will see, the PSGP is front-loaded. The first two years hold the bulk of new services, while the following three years are more focused on enhancing our programs as the City adds population and businesses. For those of you who enjoy the details, we have also included multiple appendices with the data and information we used in formulating the PSGP.

I hope you will read the Police Strategic Growth Plan and see our plans for the next five years. We are excited to have presented this to our City Council and are looking forward to implementing the vision of our community. We will be revisiting the PSGP each year and soliciting feedback from the community to ensure we are meeting community expectations as we move forward. I want to thank everyone who engaged with us during this process. Your assistance, insight, and willingness to partner with TPD was invaluable. Last, but certainly not least, thank you to our community for all your support!

Happy Friday! Today I asked our administrative staff to pick a topic as the subject of my message. (Our administrative staff are the members who answer your questions if you come to the station or call TPD on the phone.) They asked me to address the difference between civil legal matters and criminal ones because a lot of the questions they get asked hinge on this difference.

In general, laws are divided into those behaviors that constitute a crime (criminal matters) and those that are disputes between people or organizations (civil matters). Police, of course, enforce criminal laws in order to maintain public safety and order. When civil disputes occur, however, the police generally have no authority to remedy the situation. Instead, someone involved in the dispute must file a lawsuit and the relevant court will resolve the legal issues in question. This all seems pretty straightforward, but it gets tricky when something happens that could potentially fall into either category. Here are a few examples:

• A couple of roommates decide they are no longer going to live together. One of the roommates packs up his things and includes the Xbox that used to be hooked up in the living room. Both he and his roommate played it frequently. Roommate #2 grabs the Xbox and says it’s hers. Roommate #1 maintains it’s his. Pretty soon, dispatch gets a call that an Xbox is being stolen.
  
  Criminal or civil? While the parties involved believe the other person is “stealing” the Xbox, this is actually a civil matter. Property disputes, where both parties claim to have ownership and could legitimately be the proper owners, are a dispute between two people. The police cannot resolve this issue for the roommates. They will either need to resolve it themselves or engage in a lawsuit to determine ownership.
• A homeowner allows a friend who is in financial difficulty to stay with him. After six months, the friend has worn out her welcome and the homeowner wants her to leave. She doesn’t pay rent, she has no lease, and she’s difficult to live with, never picking up after herself and eating all the food in the refrigerator. The friend refuses to leave, saying this is now her home. Dispatch receives a call from the homeowner asking the police to come remove someone who is trespassing.
  
  Criminal or civil? In this case, the civil laws regarding tenancy come into play. While the homeowner owns the home, the friend lived there for a considerable amount of time and considered it as her primary residence. Even though there is no lease or rent being paid, the homeowner must still follow certain eviction procedures outlined in State law to remove the friend from the home. This is another situation where police officers cannot take action because it is a civil dispute.
• A couple share a child, but do not live together. The couple has a parenting plan in place that was issued by the Family Court. It outlines when the child is cared for by each parent. It directs the parents to exchange the child every Tuesday at 6pm. At 7pm, on a Tuesday, dispatch gets a call that the child has been kidnapped. After asking some questions, it turns out that the parent with the child did not appear at 6pm for the child exchange. The two parents have spoken, and the parent with the child says she is still with him, but he plans to keep her until the end of the weekend.
  
  These calls are often understandably very emotional. Because the child is not with whom she is supposed to be, many parents believe the crime of kidnapping has occurred. In fact, this is a civil issue. In this case, the couple has a court-issued order that recognizes both parties as parents and directs their parenting schedule. Because both parents have parental rights with regard to their child, they are both allowed to have custody. The issue is whether the parent who is not following the parenting plan is defying the court order outlining the when and where of the custody. This is a matter for the court to determine if the parent is in contempt of court and, if so, to decide the consequences.
  
  Outside of mitigating circumstances, police officers cannot remove the child from one parent and give her to the other. Nor has a crime been committed that would lead to an arrest.

TPD routinely receives calls such as these. These types of issues can be confusing for community members and so our staff will do their best to explain when a matter is civil rather than criminal. However, TPD officers and staff are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice. It would be unethical to do so. We will try to help the parties resolve the matter by referring them back to their attorneys, to the court, or to community resources that can possibly help them with their dispute.

Yesterday, TPD celebrated the retirement of Officer Russ Mize and his K9 partner James.  Russ has served the community for 23 years, while James has been on duty for 8 years. 

Russ began his career with TPD in July 2001. He quickly grew his policing skills and in 2004 he was named Officer of the Year, an honor selected by his peers. In 2006, Russ started TPD’s inaugural K9 program, partnering with a German Shepherd named Otis, and developing it into a first-rate program. Because of the initiative and hard work Russ demonstrated in developing the K9 program, Russ was named Officer of the Year again in 2007 and was awarded a Certificate of Meritorious Service Award in 2008. Russ continued to develop his and Otis’ skills, becoming a K9 instructor, a mentor to other handlers, and working with other K9 teams within Thurston County. Russ received a Chief’s Award in 2014 in recognition of his continued dedication to the K9 program. Otis retired in 2016 and Russ began working with K9 James, a Dutch Shepherd. Russ and James have also been a great team and Russ was again voted Officer of the Year in 2021. In 2023, Russ began the transition of handing off the TPD K9 program to a new team, providing Officer Chase Grimmett and K9 Thor with an excellent foundation as they begin their K9 career together.

One of the most important values that Russ built into the TPD K9 program is that both the K9 officer and the dog itself are community oriented. As I mentioned in a previous Chief’s Message, when police K9s are on duty, they are focused on their tasks. But, when not being called upon to use their specific skills, they need to be approachable. Our first K9 Otis and our second K9 James have loved to meet the community whether at schools, in parks as they exercised, or just out and about town with Russ. In 2012, Russ was the Grand Marshall of Tumwater’s 4^th of July parade and Otis was at his side. Our new team is following in their footsteps, largely due to the principles upon which Russ built the TPD K9 program.

Russ is recognized locally, regionally and statewide for his skills and abilities as a K9 handler and instructor. Russ has invested 19 years of dedicated service to ensure the TPD K9 Program has always been a program the members of this community are proud of. The partnership with the community Russ has cultivated during his tenure is second to none. 

Russ plans to continue to support police K9 programs in Thurston County in his retirement. James is looking forward to spending more time playing and less time working.

Last week, my message covered police driving. Following in that theme, this week I’ll fill you in about our vehicles: why we choose the vehicles we drive, how they are different than regular vehicles, and what we carry in them. 

At TPD, the majority of our patrol officers drive Ford Police Interceptors. They are based on the Ford Explorer and are SUVs. One question we are frequently asked is, “Why drive SUVs?  Why not drive smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles?”  First of all, we are in the process of transitioning our fleet to hybrids. This has been slowed by availability and reliability issues. As you can imagine, one of our major costs each year is fuel since our officers spend a lot of their shifts driving. Hybrids allow us to both lower our greenhouse gas emissions as well as our fuel costs. Another reason for SUVs is that automobile manufacturers currently offer very few police-rated sedans. In fact, most car manufacturers do not build police-rated vehicles at all. In the last 20 years, the selection of potential patrol vehicles has dropped dramatically. Practically, SUVs make the most sense because of all the ways we use our vehicles. The extra height of an SUV allows the officer to see over other cars and obstacles as they are patrolling in the community. The height and the additional interior space make it easier to place people in the back seat (and get them back out again), especially when they are in handcuffs or otherwise restrained. Our police officers regularly transport people of all sizes, some of whom cannot fit in regular sedans. Also, our officers are all different sizes and the extra interior space is important in terms of their ability to get in and out of the vehicle quickly, as well as their overall comfort. This area also has to have room for a computer, a printer, a radio, and other necessary tools. Officers also carry an astonishing amount of gear in their cargo space, which I’ll go into below.

While our vehicles are based on the Ford Explorer, they differ significantly from the Explorer you can buy from the local Ford dealership. Modern police vehicles are more rugged than their civilian counterparts. They are built for constant driving. They have push bars on the front of the vehicle so that they can assist motorists by pushing vehicles and potentially other things off roadways and out of the way. Under the hood, our vehicles have modified high performance engines that allow for quick acceleration so that officers can pursue a suspect vehicle or get to emergencies quickly. Our vehicles also have to have heavy-duty wiring to handle the technology officers use in the field, as well as the emergency lights and siren.

The cargo area of an officer’s vehicle is nearly completely full. Inside, you will find a variety of first aid equipment, from a basic first aid kit (that includes Naloxone), to a blood-borne pathogens kit, and supplies needed in case of mass casualties. The vehicle also contains accident response equipment including traffic cones, flares, a safety vest, and a fire extinguisher. The vehicles are equipped with crime scene supplies such as barrier tape, evidence bags, a fingerprint kit, and blood draw vials. Finally, officers have equipment for disabling fleeing vehicles. All of that adds up to a lot of gear that requires a lot of space. Sergeants, who are our supervisors, carry even more in their vehicles which is one of the prime reasons they drive Chevrolet Tahoes, which are larger than the Interceptor SUV. Sergeants carry a variety of specialized equipment that officers may only need in specific circumstances. Rather than outfit every vehicle with this type of gear, the Sergeant on-duty will respond to the scene with the necessary equipment.

Our detectives and Command staff drive unmarked vehicles. The vehicles vary depending on what their jobs require. While they look like common vehicles, they are still equipped with emergency lights that are installed inside the vehicle, sirens, radios, and, in some cases, computers. They, too, carry some basic equipment so that they can provide aid and secure a scene, if needed.  You must yield to an unmarked vehicle that is running its emergency lights and siren just as you yield to a marked police vehicle.

I hope this and last week’s message help you understand more about TPD police vehicles and how we use them. They are a critical tool that allow us to perform our duties safely, effectively, and efficiently.

Have you ever wondered about how police drive? Why do they use their lights and sirens sometimes, but not others? How do they decide which route to take to a scene or which lane to use to get through traffic? We frequently get questions about our driving, so today I’d like to give you some insight about this important part of our job.

Tumwater is a city that is patrolled in vehicles. Our city is not dense enough to have our officers walk their “beat” like officers in a big city do. Instead, they spend most of their shift in their vehicles, driving throughout the city when they are not responding to a call. Driving allows them to cover a large area efficiently. While they drive, they constantly check for anything that could be impacting public safety – is a door open at a business at 2:00am? They will get out and check to see if someone has entered the building uninvited. Is someone sitting on the sidewalk with no coat or shoes in the middle of winter?  An officer will stop to check the person’s welfare. They may stop to help a stranded motorist or park at a playground and meet the kids who are playing and their families. Their vehicles allow them to cover the city throughout their shift.

Of course, they also use their vehicles when someone calls for help. How they drive to a call is determined by our policy which outlines driving parameters based on the type of call. Officer respond “Code-3” whenever there exists a serious danger to human life. When an officer responds Code-3, they continuously use their lights and sound the siren as reasonably necessary.  They will also use lights and sirens if they are in pursuit of someone who they know or suspect has committed a crime. During a Code-3 response, the officers are allowed to exceed the speed limit, proceed past a red-light or stop sign, and drive in a restricted lane of traffic, such as left turn lane, but can only be done with due care and caution. A “Code-2” response occurs when we need to get to a potential crime in progress, but we do not want to disclose our presence. For example, when we are responding to a silent bank robbery alarm. When responding Code-2, we will use our lights, and will only use our sirens as necessary to alert the public. Otherwise, officers are allowed to drive similarly to a Code-3. During any emergency response, however, the officer must drive in a manner that does not jeopardize the safety of the public. In all other circumstances, officers observe all traffic laws and drive without the use of emergency lights and sirens.

Our officers have considerable training in driving in emergency situations. They are required to demonstrate their skills every two years at an Emergency Vehicle Operator Course (EVOC). TPD has three certified EVOC instructors.  EVOC training includes a driving skills course, where they learn the techniques such as how to safely drive at high speed and how to brake while maintaining control. More importantly, though, officers develop their decision-making about the risks and benefits of the driving choices they will make while in the field.

You can help us maintain safety in emergency situations by pulling over when you see or hear lights and sirens. If you can’t get all the way to the shoulder, pull as far right as possible, clear of any intersection and stop. It really does help us get to where we are going more safely.

In early April, I wrote about scams, particularly those related to your taxes. In the last several weeks, we have been receiving calls about a different type of scam that deals with arrest warrants. This week, I want to explain all about arrest warrants so that should a scammer call you, you have the information you need to recognize the scam.

Arrest warrants are issued by a judge. Sometimes, an arrest warrant is issued by a judge at the request of an officer. When a case is particularly complex, an officer may ask the judge to review the available evidence and determine whether the evidence is sufficient for an arrest. If the judge agrees, a warrant will be issued. This is an unusual occurrence in Thurston County. The vast majority of arrest warrants are issued because someone who was supposed to appear in court does not show up. This is called "Failure to Appear". The judge issues a warrant which instructs law enforcement to take the individual into custody if he or she is found. The warrant and instructions for how to remedy the warrant, are sent to the individual involved via mail. If officers locate the subject of the warrant, they will positively confirm his or her identity using identification, like a driver’s license, photos available in a police file, or even fingerprinting, which TPD can do in the field. When the officers are confident the person is the subject of the warrant, they will confirm the warrant is still valid and then arrest the individual. Once the warrant is served on the individual, the court determines whether the person will be held in custody until the next court date is set or whether they will be allowed to leave custody and appear at court on a scheduled date. At no time will the person be asked to make a payment to resolve the warrant. Police officers have no authority to cancel a warrant for any reason. Only a judge can issue and recall warrants.

Lately, community members have received telephone calls from someone who alleges he is a police officer with TPD, often using the name of an actual TPD officer. He threatens that the person he called will be taken to jail for a warrant unless a substantial payment is made to the “officer”. The scammers have even set up their phones to show “Tumwater Police” on caller I.D., leading the person who answers to believe that it is a legitimate phone call. The caller will sound very official, often using “legal” terms, and push the person to make a payment quickly. These are called pressure tactics and are used to confuse the victim and increase anxiety. The threats about going to jail usually escalate if the victim hesitates or asks questions.  Sometimes, the victim is told that the police are on their way to the victim’s location and will be there within minutes to arrest the victim if a payment isn’t made immediately. None of this is true. An officer will not call you about a warrant. Practically, why would we call you if we want to arrest you? You would have advance notice and could just leave. An officer will never ask you for a payment of any kind. Officers do not collect payments for the court or accept payments for bail, which is the jail’s responsibility. In fact, officers do not collect money (cash, gift cards, checks) for any purpose.

If you receive a “warrant scam” call (or any other type of scam), the best option is to simply hang up. If the caller calls back, don’t answer. If you are concerned that an officer may be trying to get hold of you, please call our office from 8:00am – 5:00pm at 360-754-4200. Dial directly! As we noted above, the scammers are faking our caller identification, so do not dial any number they give you. We will check to see if there is a legitimate reason an officer may be calling. If the call occurs outside of business hours, you can call the non-emergency dispatch number at 360-704-2740. Dispatch will check with the officers on duty to determine if an officer needs to speak to you. We, and our dispatchers, are happy to provide assistance, so please do not hesitate to call.  Lastly, do not pay the caller. If you are worried that someone may come to your house or otherwise threatens you for not paying, call 9-1-1. Rest assured that a real TPD officer will help you.

Last Friday, we received exciting news: our Management Analyst, Dr. Oliver Bowers, was selected to present a workshop at the International Association of the Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in October. IACP is the professional organization for Chiefs of Police worldwide. It has a total membership of over 33,000 and 173 countries are represented. Needless to say, receiving an invitation to speak at their annual conference, which draws more than 15,000 attendees each year, is an impressive achievement.

Dr. Bowers is passionate about promoting partnerships between social scientists and police agencies. As we have already seen at TPD, having an academic on staff has helped us better understand how we can serve our community, providing a solid research-based foundation to our decision-making. Dr. Bowers has titled his presentation, “Thinking Big in Smaller Departments – bringing academic research into policing.” Smaller departments, those with 50 or fewer officers, make up about 90% of the law enforcement agencies in the United States. Yet, few have used a research-based approach to management. The primary reason for this is a lack of resources. Most smaller departments are not familiar enough with the benefits of a research approach to advocate for a position such as Dr. Bowers’ with TPD. Many are under the impression that only large departments, such as the New York Police Department, can use – or afford – this type of expertise. Even those smaller agencies that are keen to introduce a research component to their management do not know how to find academics who can help them. In his presentation, Dr. Bowers will focus first on why a research approach matters to smaller departments just as much as it does to large ones. He will also offer practical advice about how to find academic resources for partnership.

Dr. Bowers will be sharing the stage with Commander Jay Mason and Lieutenant Carlos Quiles. The most important aspect of the presentation is helping the audience visualize the research approach in practice. Cmdr. Mason and Lt. Quiles will talk about their experience once Dr. Bowers joined TPD. Like many people who will be in the audience, neither Cmdr. Mason nor Lt. Quiles had a firm vision of exactly how Dr. Bowers’ work would help TPD. They now see how using research and research methods strengthens the decision-making process and increases the credibility of the decisions being made. Plus, working with an academic, Cmdr. Mason, Lt. Quiles, and TPD as a whole are learning all sorts of things we hadn’t been exposed to before. Conversely, Dr. Bowers is learning a lot about policing that he didn’t learn in his academic career.

By sharing their experiences, Dr. Bowers, Cmdr. Mason, and Lt. Quiles can help other smaller departments understand the value of using analysis and data to increase their effectiveness in serving their communities.

While TPD serves the City of Tumwater, we are well aware that criminal justice issues often expand beyond geographical borders. When Tumwater encounters a rash of crimes, the rest of Thurston County is also likely to share the experience. We coordinate with the other law enforcement agencies within Thurston County to increase the effectiveness of our efforts. Here are some of the ways we take a regional approach to law enforcement.

Each month, detectives throughout the county meet to discuss the crime trends occurring within the county. The analysts from Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and Thurston County present data and information about the types of crimes occurring, where they are occurring, and who may be involved. The group reviews any evidence or materials they have and put together the puzzle pieces to better understand who may be responsible for the crime trend. From there, the detectives address possible solutions for stopping the crime. During the monthly meetings, detectives also share intelligence about where suspects may be found and who may be actively engaged in criminal behavior. Outside of the monthly meetings, detectives routinely share information which helps them identify and locate wanted individuals, find vehicles involved in crimes, and make links between criminal activity within the different jurisdictions.

Crime analysis is another area where TPD works closely with its regional partners. The analysts in the local agencies regularly work together to build a comprehensive picture of crime in the county. Each analyst brings a different perspective and set of skills to the table. Together, they make a formidable analytical team. The analysts also have significant connections outside of Thurston County and receive information daily from a variety of sources. They provide a clearing house for information such as Be On the Look Out (BOLO) notices and national security intelligence. This ensures that data relevant to the work of the local agencies gets timely attention.

Our School Resource Officers (SROs) partner regionally, as well. The SROs connect monthly to discuss issues at their schools. A trend at one school is likely to be occurring, or will occur, in another local school district. Together, the SROs can problem-solve to have a greater impact in the schools they serve.  Students’ friends and families may be spread across multiple schools within the county and the SROs gain a wider perspective by sharing information about the connections between schools. While SRO programs vary by jurisdiction in how they are implemented, the fundamental goals of serving students and their families are better served by regional collaboration.

TPD recognizes the benefits of working in tandem with our neighboring law enforcement departments. We are fortunate that the other local jurisdictions also value a regional approach. We consistently look for opportunities to expand our regional connections because it improves our ability to keep our city, and the wider community, safe.

Last week, we looked at how evidence is gathered and maintained at TPD. This week we will take the next step in evidence processing by discussing forensic investigation. A forensic investigation involves scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime. The results of forensic testing can help investigators determine how a crime was committed and who may have been involved.

Many people are familiar with forensics through popular television shows such as CSI and NCIS. In these fictional shows, the lab technicians can almost instantaneously match fingerprints or DNA to a credible suspect, determine the precise location where a victim picked up the soil on the soles of her shoes, and find the one factory where a stray fiber found on the victim’s clothing was manufactured. With these clues, the detectives find the culprit and prepare an iron-clad prosecution. In reality, forensic analysis is much more complicated and much less likely to be the primary key to solving a crime.

Fingerprints are an excellent example of the complex nature of forensic analysis. Fingerprints are one of the oldest techniques of forensic investigation. The first criminal investigation to use fingerprints to identify a suspect was a case from Argentina in 1894. United States law enforcement began using fingerprints as a forensic technique in 1904. Fingerprints are left by the ridges in a person’s finger pads that deposit residue on the surface of an object.  They can be lifted from a surface using powder and tape or can be photographed where they lay. They are almost unique to an individual. On television, fingerprints are commonly left at crime scenes, easily found by officers, and quickly matched in a database by forensic scientists. In fact, useable fingerprints are only occasionally found at crime scenes. Many surfaces do not hold fingerprints well or suspects may cover their hands before touching anything. If a fingerprint is sent to the lab for comparison, it is matched to a database that only contains a fraction of the population’s fingerprints.  Fingerprints are entered into a national fingerprint database for various reasons, with the majority of fingerprinting occurring upon incarceration. Further, even if the computer matches the fingerprints to a set in the database, the match must be verified by an expert. Fingerprint analysis is a complex science of matching multiple criteria between a suspect print and a database print. Finally, even if we discover who left the fingerprints, detectives still need to build a case that shows the person’s presence was connected to a crime that occurred. In most cases, forensics are a piece of an overall investigative puzzle.

 In Washington, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) Crime Laboratory Division performs forensic analysis for all 260 law enforcement agencies in the state.  They have five full-service labs and several additional specialty labs. They perform a wide range of forensic analyses including fingerprint analysis, DNA analysis, ballistic testing (testing whether a bullet came from a specific firearm), and much more. Needless to say, analyzing evidence from so many sources is a lot of work. As such, we must be judicious about which pieces of evidence we send for analysis, sending those that are most likely to provide useful results.  Unlike fictional investigations, not every potential clue can be sent to the lab.  When the experts finish their testing, the results are sent to the law enforcement agency to determine how it fits with the rest of the case.

Sometimes, it’s just the information needed to solve the case. Other times, the results may move the investigation in another direction or may not provide any useable information.

Forensic science plays a valuable role in modern law enforcement. Advances in areas such as DNA analysis have significantly improved our ability to both identify and to exonerate potential offenders. TPD officers understand the importance of forensic analysis and are conscientious in collecting and preparing evidence for testing. This helps us to be confident we are recommending criminal charges against the correct person.

This week, our detectives served search warrants for several vehicles that we believe were involved in an assault that included kidnapping and burglary. The vehicles, which were stolen, were full of potential evidence and were processed with the assistance of the Washington State Patrol Crime Scene Response Team. After seeing the detectives spend hours carefully packaging the various articles from the vehicles, it occurred to me that evidence would be a good topic for this week’s Chief’s message.

Television shows and detective novels do a good job of showing why evidence is so important to a criminal legal case. Evidence can help us determine many things about a crime:  where it occurred; who was involved; motive; opportunity. All of these are key factors in determining who may have committed a crime and are critical to proving a case in court. Because evidence is so important, it is handled with exacting procedures to ensure our members can attest to how the evidence was collected and that it was not tampered with after collection. Officers collect evidence at the crime scene and from other places that the investigation shows may have relevant items. At a crime scene, officers are usually free to collect items in plain sight that may be related to the case. For items at other locations or that are not readily viewed at the scene, officers must obtain a search warrant from a judge. A judge will only grant a search warrant if the officer explains in detail what crime has been committed and why they believe evidence is likely to exist where they are asking to search.  Once evidence is gathered, officers carefully package it and write their names across the sealing tape. Should anyone break the tape to open the package, it will be obvious the evidence has been accessed. The evidence is then put in temporary lockers until the Evidence Custodian logs and stores it in the Evidence Room. The Evidence Room is where real life differs from fiction.  Access to the Evidence Room is strictly limited. Officers cannot simply walk into the Evidence Room and pick up a box of evidence related to one of their cases.  Only two TPD members can access the secured area. No one can enter the Evidence Room without being escorted by the Evidence Custodian. Anyone entering the Evidence Room must sign in when they arrive and out when they leave. The logs are archived so that they can be reviewed if a question ever arises about who may have been in the Evidence Room on a specific date or time. Of course, we also have security alarms and security cameras that record the room at all times.

We confirm that evidence is properly maintained through audits. The Evidence Room is randomly audited every quarter by Commander Mason. Once a year, a full audit is performed. During the full audit, we match the records of what was logged into the Evidence Room with the actual object. Each item is verified to be present and secure. Evidence management can be tedious, but it is an area that we take very seriously at TPD. Preserving evidence is essential to justice and it is one of the most important aspects of professional policing.

Next week, we will take a look at forensics and how we work with the Washington State Patrol crime lab to process forensic evidence. Spoiler alert:  it’s not quite like the television show “CSI.”

Next week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week to honor and thank the dispatch personnel who play a vital role in public safety.  Today I want to share with you some of the many ways that dispatchers work with our officers and serve the community.

Thurston County has a regional emergency communications agency called TCOMM 911, or TCOMM for short. TCOMM provides communications for law enforcement, fire response, and medical aid for all the jurisdictions in Thurston County. It’s a big job! In addition to directing emergency communications 24/7, TCOMM maintains the public safety radio infrastructure throughout the county. They also support the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system that allows first responders to receive information via laptops in the field, as well as the information they get via their radios.

Dispatchers are critical to successful emergency response. They quickly gather and relay a large amount of information to first responders so that they can prepare for their response. When people call TCOMM, they may be in the middle of a crisis, or they may not know what kind of information emergency personnel need in order to help them. Dispatchers are experts at calming callers and managing the conversation to get the key information first responders need. Dispatchers also provide essential information to the callers, such as what to do to keep themselves safe, or to assist others, until help arrives.

Behind the scenes, dispatchers help in many other ways that are not as well known. For example, when officers are responding to a call and need information about a person, vehicle, or place, they ask TCOMM. TCOMM dispatchers have multiple databases at their fingertips. They can rapidly help the officer determine that someone is wanted for an arrest warrant, a vehicle is stolen, or police have responded to the address multiple times in the last few weeks. They may also help responders with contacting family members, property owners, or others who may be important to the call. They connect Thurston County first responders to emergency personnel in other jurisdictions so that the agencies can communicate while they are working together, as well.
TCOMM staff also manage non-emergency calls for public safety agencies. If you need law enforcement, fire, or medical assistance, but it’s not an emergency, you can call the non-emergency dispatch line at 360-704-2740. This is a great tool for reducing the volume of calls on the emergency lines, while still connecting the community to the resources they need. Abandoned vehicles, found property, and welfare checks are all situations when the non-emergency phone number can be used instead of 911.

At TPD, we are grateful for all that TCOMM and its members do on a daily basis to help us do our jobs. I hope that you will join us in recognizing the indispensable and demanding work performed by public safety telecommunicators everywhere.

A few weeks ago, I introduced you to our newest Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) graduate, Tony Dominguez. Tony has been back at TPD continuing his law enforcement education before he starts his Field Training out on the road. Today, I would like to tell you about some of the things a new officer experiences during the post-BLEA training that a lot of people are unaware of and why it is important to an officer’s education.

Post-BLEA, new officers are taught by TPD trainers in the use of less-lethal defensive tools. Within this training is how to use a conductive energy device, commonly known as a Taser, and the use of pepper spray.  Before they are certified to carry these tools, they experience how it feels to be “tased” and to be on the receiving end of pepper spray. Tony was exposed to both of these tools last week and he will attest that while not pleasant experiences, they were invaluable for him to understand their effects. To understand the impact of a Taser, the new officer is “tased” by an experienced officer while standing on mats, with other officers standing nearby to provide support. Tony received one cycle, the amount our officers are trained to use, and was incapacitated for a short time. The pepper spray experience is more in-depth. The student officer is sprayed directly in the face with the pepper spray and then must perform a series of tasks: a mock fight that leads to handcuffing a “suspect” and then using the radio to talk with Dispatch, all while pepper spray provides an overwhelming sensation of burning in the eyes and nasal passages. After completing the tasks, the officer is immediately led to a bucket of cold water to cool the burning sensation and a hose to wash away the spray. Every person responds a little differently to this exposure and so continues to receive care as long as needed.  Tony did an impressive job accomplishing the assignment while his eyes streamed tears and breathing was difficult.

These experiences, while uncomfortable, are valuable to officers for a couple of reasons.  It enhances officer safety to be aware how someone may react to the use of these tools. The officer who has experienced a Taser or exposure to pepper spray has a much greater understanding of how these tools may incapacitate someone and so can make better decisions about whether to use a Taser or pepper spray in a critical incident. Should these types of tools be used against them, officers know how they will be impacted which will prepare them to react as best as they can. They also have an experienced-based appreciation of just how debilitating exposure to these devices can be. It underscores for them the reasons for our policies about when they should, and should not, be used in the field.

Tasers and pepper spray can keep an officer safe when faced with a violent encounter. They are much less likely to cause serious harm than a firearm or a physical fight. They also help us keep the community safe by providing officers with options for stopping violence with a lower risk to the community. TPD recognizes that they may still cause pain and injury. Our policies clearly define the limited circumstances when the use of these tools is appropriate. They also outline the care that must be provided to those who are “tased” or pepper sprayed to keep injuries at a minimum. TPD trains officers how to use these tools every year to ensure their skills are fresh and their knowledge of policy is solid. They only have to experience the taser and pepper spray during their initial training. Officers all agree that once is more than enough!

It’s that time of year again when we are all filing our federal tax returns and, unfortunately, it is also the time we start receiving calls about telephone scams involving people claiming to be the Internal Revenue Service (IRS.) This week, I want to give you some tips about how to protect yourself from these scams that can cost you money or may result in identity theft.

The IRS telephone scam works like this: someone calls you and introduces themselves as an IRS agent or a law enforcement officer. The caller threatens legal action or arrest for unpaid taxes. The caller directs you to “make a payment” in one of several ways: give them your credit card or banking information; mail them a cashier’s check, money order, or cash gift cards; or, they give you a website address and tell you to make an on-line payment. They receive the funds by giving you an address or web address for the IRS that is fake. Often, the address or web address will look legitimate because it includes “IRS” or “tax”. If you do not immediately comply, the caller increases the pressure by explaining that the consequences will increase dramatically if you do not make the payment immediately. In some cases, the caller will even get abusive. In the end, the scammer is trying to get cash or important financial and personal data that allows them to access bank accounts or to use your identity for other criminal purposes.

TPD is often asked, “Why do people fall for these scams?”. First off, scam victims are just that – victims of a crime. The criminals who engage in these scams have developed specific skills that prey on a person’s vulnerabilities. Most people are honest and expect that others are, as well. We also generally respect authority.  So, when someone in a supposed position of authority calls and says we failed to pay our taxes, two things happen: their position of authority gives them credibility and we, being honest, want to be sure we have fulfilled our obligation to pay our taxes. With that as a basis, the caller will usually use high-pressure tactics that rush a person to make a decision without being able to thoroughly think about it. They threaten (a lawsuit or going to jail), they will refuse to answer questions, and they will continue to speak rapidly. They may also have personal information, such as a birthdate or the name of a spouse, which is information we would expect the IRS to have, but not others. Scammers will usually make thousands of calls to different people and they refine their “sales pitch” as they go.

Here are several ways you can protect yourself from telephone scammers:

• The IRS will never call you to inquire about your tax payments without prior notice sent through the mail. Local law enforcement will never contact you about taxes in any way. We do not enforce tax laws.
• If you feel unsure about a call, you can ask for a name or extension, inform the caller that you will call them back shortly, and use the internet to search the phone number the scammer provided. Often times the internet search results will let you know that it is connected with a scam.
• Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. Be aware, however, that scammers can easily fake a phone number or caller id information so that it looks legitimate.
• Ask a lot of questions. Legitimate callers will not be upset if you seek more information before cooperating.
• Trust your instincts. If something seems suspicious, hang up and do not answer the phone if the caller calls back.

We are here to help. Please call us if you need help determining whether a telephone call asking for money is legitimate. We know the signs and symptoms of a scam and want to help you avoid becoming a scam victim.

A central question commonly raised about police use of force is why officers who witness an improper use of force do not intervene and stop the offending officer. In policing terms, this is called “the duty to intervene”. Research into the subject showed two primary reasons: 1) departments did not have policies requiring that officers intervene; and 2) officers did not know how to step in and intercede.

TPD implemented a duty to intervene policy more than a decade ago. TPD has a goal of continuous improvement, and as the duty to intervene became a topic of national interest, we wanted to be sure that that our officers have the tools they need to feel confident interceding with other officers. TPD researched training programs focused on intervention and found the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Project, or ABLE. ABLE is the result of research and field work by the Georgetown College of Innovative Policing Program. It prepares officers to successfully intervene to prevent harm and to create a law enforcement culture that supports peer intervention. ABLE has been adopted by over 130 law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. The benefits of the program include: reduced unnecessary harm to civilians and officers alike; improved police/community relations; improved officer health and wellness;  and improved citizen satisfaction with their law enforcement agency.

TPD implemented ABLE training in 2021. The training includes reality-based scenarios where our officers may or may not be faced with factors that could require intervention. We have found reality-based scenario training to be the most effective way for our officers to hone their skills. All of our officers have received the eight-hour training and now have annual refreshers. The Basic Law Enforcement Academy provides ABLE training, as well, so our newest officers go through the full course at the Academy and then receive annual refresher training at TPD. Our officers find the training valuable and feel that it has added necessary skills to their toolbox.

We invite you to learn more about the ABLE Project:  Georgetown Innovative Policing Program – ABLE

This week I was honored to attend the graduation ceremony of Officer Anthony “Tony” Dominguez at the Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA). Our Commander, Commander Jay Mason and our Detective Lieutenant, Lieutenant Jennifer Kolb, were also in attendance to congratulate Tony and his family.

Please meet our newest BLEA graduate:

Tony is a Thurston County local who comes from a law enforcement family. His grandfather, uncle, and several cousins are, or have been, police officers in the Los Angeles area. Growing up, Tony admired his relatives’ service to their communities, leading him to choose policing as a career. Tony graduated from Northwest Christian High School in Lacey and then continued his education at Grand Canyon University, in Phoenix, Arizona, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Government studies. During his school years, Tony held several leadership positions and was active in athletics, participating in cross-country, basketball, baseball, and powerlifting. Tony has experience working with youth and he is also bi-lingual in Spanish, both skills that will be valuable as a Tumwater police officer. When he is not learning to be a police officer, Tony enjoys sports of all kinds and spending time with his family. Tony will now start his Field Training, the final stage of his initial police training.  

In November, I introduced you to another BLEA graduate, Jack Battumur. At the time, Jack was just starting his Field Training. I am happy to announce that Jack just completed his Field Training and is now working independently. This is the culmination of more than a year of hard work learning about policing, TPD, and the Tumwater community. Jack’s training officers and supervisors have noted that Jack performed very well during Field Training. They are confident that he will excel in serving the community as a TPD officer.

Congratulations to both Tony and Jack!

In 2021, the State legislature passed a slate of police reform laws that impacted the methods we use when responding to crime and community caretaking needs. One of the laws that changed significantly was when, and how, law enforcement may pursue a fleeing suspect vehicle.  Last weekend, the legislature passed a new vehicle pursuit law based on Initiative 2113 filed by the people of the State of Washington. Let’s take a look at what changed and how Tumwater police will implement the change.

The vehicular pursuit law that was passed in 2021 significantly limited when law enforcement could pursue a vehicle.  In 2023, in response to concerns voiced by the public and law enforcement, law makers amended the law to slightly broaden the circumstances that would allow a pursuit. However, public concern continued and an initiative was sent to the legislature this year with language that further eases restrictions on pursuits. Essentially, there are two major changes. One establishes when a pursuit may be started.  The other centers around the risk assessment that must occur continuously throughout a pursuit:

Why can a pursuit be started?

Current law: An officer is allowed to pursue when there is reasonable suspicion of six specific crimes, most of which are violent crimes.

New law: An officer is allowed to pursue when there is reasonable suspicion that a person has violated the law.

Risk Assessment

Current law: The person poses a serious risk of harm to others and the safety risks of failing to apprehend or identify the person are considered to be greater than the safety risks of the pursuit…

New law: The person poses a threat to the safety of others and the safety risks of failing to apprehend or identify the person are considered to be greater than the safety risks of the pursuit…

These changes allow us to pursue under a much broader array of circumstances. At the same time, the new law preserves important aspects of the current law, including the requirements: for supervision throughout the pursuit; the ability for the pursuing officer to communicate with all others engaged in the pursuit and the supervisor; and, a plan for ending the pursuit. Also unchanged are the training requirements for officers to engage in pursuits and restrictions on firing a weapon at a moving vehicle. Retaining these requirements helps reduce the risk inherent in pursuits and ensures they are performed as safely as possible.

What does this mean for TPD and our community? First and foremost, we will not be engaging in haphazard pursuits. Even before the changes brought forth in the 2021 law, our pursuit policy has always required a careful weighing of the risks and benefits of a pursuit, supervisor oversight, and trained officers.  Our focus is on public safety and we recognize pursuits can endanger the community. However, the new law will allow us to use pursuits as a tool in more circumstances than we can today and to increase the feeling of safety in our community. We are hopeful that people committing crimes will no longer feel they can simply flee from law enforcement without consequences.

The new law goes into effect on June 6, 2024. We are currently updating our pursuit policy and the necessary training to prepare our staff for the new law.

When I started as a police officer 37 years ago, the information technology we used consisted of a radio.  That’s it.  The radio was used to communicate with the dispatch center and with other officers on duty.  All reports were hand-written and, if charges were considered, delivered in hard copy to the Prosecutor’s Office.  Photos were taken with a film camera and the photos had to be developed before being added to a paper case file.  Finding information from other jurisdictions involved picking up the phone and hopefully finding someone at another department to talk to you. Today, policing is brimming with technology that our staff use in almost every aspect of their jobs. 

Central to our operations is our Records Management System (RMS).  It is the hub for much of our work.  With the RMS, officers can use laptops in their cars to write reports, look up information, and access databases of criminal justice information.  Our RMS is also tied to the dispatch center through a program known as CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch).  While patrolling and responding to calls, the dispatchers both talk to the officers via radio and also send out information to them on their laptops.  CAD and RMS are connected to the State and Federal criminal information systems (WASIC and NCIC) which allows officers to find information about wanted individuals, arrest warrants, protection orders, and many other types of information from jurisdictions across the United States and around the world. 

The RMS holds all our reports, including incidents and arrests, collisions, and citations.  Any hard copy paperwork, such as hand-written witness statements, are scanned into the system so that the case file is complete within the RMS. The RMS is also what we use to gather a significant amount of data about the types of crimes our community is experiencing, where they occur, and who is involved, amongst many other data points.  This data is invaluable for understanding the public safety needs of the community and for formulating responses.

In Thurston County, the cities of Lacey, Olympia, Tenino, Tumwater, and Yelm have jointly maintained an RMS since 2002.  By doing so, we have been able to share information while also sharing the cost of an RMS, which is a considerable budget item for any police agency.  The five cities contracted to create the Thurston County Law Enforcement Management System (TCLERMS) consortium which governs how the system is used and maintained.  TCLERMS has had its current RMS for over 10 years.  By today’s standards, the technology is old and inefficient, leading TCLERMS to begin its search for a new system.  At the same time, TCLERMS added the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office to the consortium, an exciting addition that now means criminal justice information will be shared between all the local jurisdictions in Thurston County.   Public safety issues rarely occur solely within the boundaries of a single jurisdiction and sharing information allows our analysts to develop a regional overview of crime trends.

TCLERMS has been evaluating replacement systems with an eye to the future.  Our goal is to find a system that meets our needs today and that can adapt to the changing technology landscape in law enforcement moving forward.  The TCLERMS jurisdictions put a high priority on using data and information systems to increase our effectiveness.  The vendor we are assessing now is a dynamic, forward-looking company that has developed a powerful and nimble cloud-based solution.  The system will not only hold our information and data, but it also has built-in tools that will allow us to analyze our data more efficiently.  The system is fully portable and intuitive, built around “apps” that can be accessed from a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, or a phone.   Last week, over 50 law enforcement and corrections staff viewed the software in use.  One person summed up the positive reaction to the system, “This makes everyone’s job easier at every level and not at the expense of another.”

Modern policing requires excellent technology tools.  They are essential to our ability to do our jobs effectively, efficiently, and safely.  

Back in September, I introduced our Management Analyst, Dr. Oliver Bowers.  One of Dr. Bowers’ roles is to provide crime analysis for TPD.  Crime analysis is a valuable tool for both understanding the crime occurring in our City and for solving those crimes.  Let’s dive into what Dr. Bowers does when analyzing crime.

Many law enforcement departments have crime analysts (CAs), but there isn’t a common job description.  One CA may simply produce crime data, while others provide more in-depth analyses.  Dr. Bowers provides a full range of crime analysis for TPD:  He evaluates crime data to tell us what kinds of crime are occurring, also pinpointing where and when they occur.  This helps our Patrol supervisors determine how to best deploy our officers.  He also works with the other CAs in Thurston County (the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, the Lacey Police Department, and the Olympia Police Department each have a CA) to track crime trends and crime networks that may be operating within Thurston County.  The local CAs are also connected to other CAs within Washington, in neighboring states, and those who work for federal agencies.  This network expands local law enforcement’s ability to understand the “how” and the “who” behind specific crime trends.  Dr. Bowers also provides TPD with intelligence information, such as tracking down vehicle details and identifying gang symbols.  Here are some real-life examples of crime analysis at work.

Data Analysis
Lately, the area has been experiencing a rash of mailbox break-ins.  Our detectives asked Dr. Bowers for an analysis of the trend.  He found that there are three different types of break-ins occurring:  in some cases, a pry tool is being used; in other cases, it appears someone has a postal master key to open the boxes; still others are being randomly vandalized, using whatever tool is at hand (rocks, for example) to break in.  This indicates that we may be dealing with three different people or groups stealing mail.   Mapping the data suggests that two of the suspects may be operating in other cities. As a result, detectives and analysts in multiple departments are pooling information to try to determine who may be involved.  Because a master key may be involved with some of the thefts, detectives are also tracking down how someone may have gained possession of a key.  Good analysis has led to targeted investigations.

Connections
When someone vandalized a power station in Tumwater, Dr. Bowers sent information about our case to his crime analysis network.  Within a few hours, we learned that these types of crimes are occurring both on the West Coast as well as around the nation.  We quickly connected with several other police departments, federal agencies and private utilities who have been tracking crimes against power stations.  Together, we are discovering who may be responsible for some of these crimes and are also sharing information about how to reduce the chance that a power station could be taken off-line due to damage.

Intelligence  
In 2023, two people tried to steal an ATM from a local credit union.  The credit union had security video and with it we were able to identify one of the suspects.  The second suspect was difficult to recognize.  He was, however, wearing a very distinctive sweatshirt.  Dr. Bowers was able to track that sweatshirt through various databases and eventually discovered that the suspect had been contacted by the Lacey Police Department on an unrelated case.  Lacey Police had been able to put a name to the individual and also had a photo showing him in the exact same sweatshirt.  The information allowed us to confirm that the individual was the second suspect in our ATM theft attempt leading to his arrest.

As you can see, crime analysis is a great tool for helping law enforcement to be more effective in protecting the public and solving crimes.  We are fortunate to have Dr. Bowers who brings a variety of talents for the position.

This week I want to share with you PD’s favorite event of the year, Shop with a Cop. Each year, TPD gets to take children on an exciting shopping trip to buy presents for their families for the holiday season. Everyone involved has a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, and leaves the evening happy and exhausted.

Shop with a Cop 2023 got underway at 4:30pm on Wednesday, December 13. Officers had their vehicles decorated and ready to go, with all their lights running, when 12 children, aged 8 to 13, joined us at the Police Station. The officers were decorated, too, with creative holiday hats. Kids were paired with a police officer and a parade of police vehicles drove to Walmart to shop until they dropped while they enjoyed some hot chocolate. The officers helped their child find gifts for everyone on their lists. Following the shopping, the caravan made its way to Tumwater High School, where TPD administrative staff, TPD family members, and community volunteers joined the chaos and wrapped the gifts. With the business of the evening complete, it was time for pizza and games in the student commons. The Chief was in charge of group games, directing Red Light/Green Light and other recess favorites. Another section of the commons was set up with Carnival games for the children to play and win prizes, while kids also crowded around the crafting table to make ornaments. Completing the carnival atmosphere, we had a cotton candy stand where cotton candy was made on demand. Officers and their young guests also made use of the photo booth, with each child returning home with a photo to commemorate the event.

Shop with a Cop is sponsored by the Tumwater Police Guild. This year, Acting Sergeant Danielle Dawson and Officer Rachael Johnson volunteered to chair the event. Planning for the event starts in early summer, and Acting Sergeant Dawson and Officer Johnson have been working hard for months. They were assisted by other officers, TPD admin staff, and our TPD family members who made arrangements with the shopping venue, planned the food and activities, and scheduled the officers, family, and friends who all make it possible. The goal is always to make the evening memorable for the children involved and their families. For officers, it’s an event they look forward to every year. They are able to put their serious work aside for an evening and bring joy into some young lives. For the participants, they get to be the stars of the show for an evening and to help their families enjoy the season.

On behalf of the Tumwater Police Department - Happy Holidays!

In August, I posted about a major project we are working on, the Police Master Plan (the Plan). The Plan will be our guide for staffing, staff deployment, and determining the resources we need. With the guidance of our Management Analyst, Dr. Oliver Bowers, we are using a research-based method to ensure that the process is both valid and data-driven. One of the most important steps in developing the Plan was understanding what our community needs to feel safe and how they want their police department to provide public safety. To that end, in September, we solicited applications for focus groups. We completed three focus groups in late October and early November. This week, I want to tell you what we discovered and where we are headed next.

First off, I want to thank everyone who applied to be part of a focus group and those who gave us their time to participate. The information we gained is invaluable. Dr. Bowers facilitated each focus group, which included people from various different backgrounds and interests in Tumwater. Dr. Bowers developed the questions to draw out their thoughts and feelings about public safety. Two scribes took down all the points that were raised. All told, we collected 26 pages of notes! Dr. Bowers took the data and, using two research methods called network analysis and sentiment analysis, gathered the information into 3 major themes that describe what is most important to the community from a big picture point of view. From there, the data is broken down into smaller pieces that provide a more detailed understanding of each major theme. You can find all of the results from the focus groups on our Focus Group page.

So, how are we going to use this information? Our Command Staff started reviewing the focus group data this week. Our next step will be to take this information to develop our service plan. Note that we did not ask the focus groups to tell us how to deploy our resources or to determine the tactics we use.  We don’t expect our community members to be experts in policing. Instead, as policing professionals, we will develop plans to deliver our services so that they meet the expectations that our community provided for us. Once our service plan is in place, we will evaluate what resources we have and what we will need to accomplish it. We will spend the first quarter of 2024 designing the service plan, and then we will use the following two months to define our resource needs.

We will continue update the community on our Police Master Plan page.  We hope you follow our progress as we work toward our final plan.

This week, I’m going to continue with my introductions of the people of TPD. Detectives are part of our Investigations Division, along with our evidence technician, and are led by the Detective Lieutenant and assisted by a Detective Sergeant.

At TPD, detectives are responsible for complex investigations. While all officers are trained in basic investigations skills as part of their response to calls, a case that requires advanced investigation skills will be passed to the Investigations Division. Typically, these are cases that involve a serious crime, such as homicide, assault, or sexual assault. They may also be cases that require a substantial amount of time to obtain records and to build a case that can be prosecuted, such as fraud and organized retail theft.

To become a detective, an officer must have at least three years of experience and have shown an interest in the position. He or she must also have education, training, and demonstrated abilities in investigative techniques. An officer who wishes to fill an open detective position submits a letter of interest and other transfer request materials. The TPD leadership team reviews the transfer request packet and makes a recommendation to the Commander, who will then interview the candidate, along with the Detective Lieutenant. Following the interview, the Commander makes a recommendation to the Chief, who then decides whether to appoint the officer to the detective position.

Moving from Patrol Officer to Detective requires a substantial amount of training. A new detective will receive training in areas such as homicide and assault investigations, interview techniques, and specifically interviewing children. Detectives also become TPD’s experts in writing search warrants and processing crime scenes. (Like most departments outside of large cities, TPD doesn’t have a Crime Scene Investigations (CSI) unit.) Another skill they gain is proficiency with examining electronic devices, such as cell phones and computers. With these investigative skills, detectives are able to prepare strong cases that Prosecutors can charge, and if necessary, take to trial.

Detectives are also responsible for staffing the Capital Metro Independent Investigations Team (CMIIT). The CMIIT is composed of detectives from all the municipalities in Thurston County. The CMIIT investigates incidents when a local law enforcement agency has a use of deadly force, an in-custody death, or other serious event. Detectives, in particular the Detective Lieutenant, also conduct all of the background investigations for potential TPD staff to ensure we have only the highest quality employees. Last but not least, our School Resource Officers, whom I introduced in October, are detectives who specialize in investigating crimes against children.

Detectives routinely have multiple cases open at a time. They are called out to crime scenes at any time of day or night to either help patrol officers responding to an incident or to begin their own investigation. TPD detectives interact and partner regularly with detectives from other Thurston County agencies, as well as State and Federal law enforcement. Together, along with our Management Analyst, they evaluate crime trends and criminals. They then formulate a plan to address issues, which could include a multi-jurisdictional approach.

While our patrol officers are our first responders, detectives bat cleanup. Together, they work to impact victimization in our community.

This week I attended the graduation of two of our officers from the Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA). Presenting the officers with their certifications and celebrating with their families is an honor. I always enjoy being part of the event. Our two newest officers, Javkhlan “Jack” Battumur and Matthew Meshesha, spent nearly five months at the Academy in Burien learning the essentials of policing, including legal fundamentals, basic tactics, and the intricacies of interpersonal interactions. Please meet our two newest BLEA graduates:

Jack Battumur

Jack Battumur was born in Mongolia, and was raised in Denver, CO. Prior to joining the Tumwater Police Department, Jack served in the Army for eight years. He currently lives in Lacey, with his wife and one year old daughter.  When not at work, Jack enjoys spending time with his family and playing and coaching volleyball. Jack was a competitive volleyball player while in high school and in 2022, he served as the Black Hills High School JV volleyball coach.

Matthew  Meshesha

Matthew Meshesha was born in Ethiopia, and was raised in the Los Angeles, CA area. Matthew was also in the Army for eight years, prior to joining the Tumwater Police Department. Matthew lives in Olympia with his wife and young son and daughter. Away from work, Matthew likes to remain physically active, taking his kids to the park, and spending time with his family.

Both Jack and Matthew did a great job at the Academy, providing leadership and assistance to their classmates. Jack was a team leader and Matthew was class Vice-President.

Jack and Matthew now begin their Field Training. They will spend the next four to five months working with more experienced officers, putting to practical use the skills they learned in the Academy. In the first phase of Field Training, the student officer rides with a training officer and observes how the trainer responds to calls and interacts with the community. The student officer gradually begins to take on the primary officer role. In phase two, the training transitions from primarily mentoring to being a mix of mentoring and evaluating. In phase three, the trainer is mostly an observer and evaluator, correcting the student when needed, and explaining the finer points of policing.

TPD’s Field Training program includes frequent feedback, both verbal and written, so that the student is always aware of how they are progressing. If at any time the student needs additional help learning, instructors and other trainer officers will be added to the mix. Field Training progresses at the pace of the student officer. Some finish in sixteen or seventeen weeks, while others may take twenty or more. The end goal is a confident and competent officer ready to serve their community.

This week I’m going to focus on the topic of crime prevention, specifically focusing on safe shopping as we enter the holiday season. While this is a time of joy for many, we recognize and have experienced this is a time of increased desperation for others.      

This gets right to the core of our value of community partnership to reduce the fear of crime in our community. Each year, TPD increases our presence at our local retail stores, banks and in neighborhoods during the holiday season.  Here are some ways you can help discourage crime in our community:

• Always lock your vehicles.
• If you need to leave valuables in your vehicle, make sure they are out of sight.
• Try to avoid putting valuables in your vehicle where others can view what you are doing (i.e. in the parking lot of retail stores, shopping malls, sporting events, exercise facilities, etc.).
• Don’t leave your purse or wallet unattended in shopping carts, even for just a moment.
• Avoid having packages delivered when you are away. Have them delivered to a location where they can be secured (i.e. work, relative, neighbor).
• Be aware of your surroundings.
• MOST IMPORTANT….trust your instincts and report suspicious activity! Call our non-emergency dispatch number: 360-704-2740.

We would much rather be proactive in deterring crime, then seeing our community members fall victim to crime. 

For any crime in-progress….dial 911!

Police officers are called on to respond to some of the most difficult events and circumstances that occur in the community. They are responsible for protecting human life, deterring crime, and resolving conflicts. While they take on these challenges willingly, it is imperative that officers have the support they need to remain healthy in the face of the stress they encounter on a daily basis.

At TPD, Officer Wellness is an important part of our culture. We have implemented several programs that address both the physical and mental health of our officers. One such program is our Chaplain program. For more than a decade, members of the faith community have volunteered their time to get to know TPD members and their experiences, providing them with support and counseling. Our chaplains also help by responding to difficult events and providing officers and the public support (i.e. the death of loved ones). TPD also has a Peer Support team, made up of volunteers from among our staff, both commissioned and non-commissioned. They are trained to give emotional and tangible support to TPD members through times of personal and professional crisis. They further help the department during critical events and play an important role in the debriefing of those events. Because they are peers and understand the pressures of policing on a personal level, many officers feel more comfortable accepting help from them rather than turning to professionals or others with whom they are less familiar.

We recognize that a healthy body is an important part of well-being. In 2020, we were able to upgrade our small gym to give officers (and staff) an improved place to work out and it is frequently in use. Officers are also able to take 30 minutes during their shifts to exercise, rest, or engage in other wellness activities (if call volume allows). This program was piloted in 2021 and officers (and staff) uniformly found it helpful for maintaining both their physical health and reducing their stress levels.  Officers regularly share information about nutrition, conditioning, and emotional resiliency amongst themselves, as well.

Attending to officer wellness helps to improve officer morale, retention, and performance. As a profession, we historically have not focused on officer wellness and instead expected that officers were simply “strong enough” to weather their experiences. The result of that approach has been officers in crisis and an unconscionable rate of suicide amongst police officers. TPD is committed to changing this mind-set through openly acknowledging the health impacts of police work and providing officers with the resources to remain healthy.

Our Patrol team makes up the majority of our organization and they are the folks you are most likely to meet in the community. They are the officers who respond to your emergency calls and who proactively patrol your city. We have 14 Patrol Officer positions (one is currently unfilled) who work alongside the six Patrol sergeants I introduced a couple of weeks ago. The Division is overseen by the Patrol Lieutenant.

Our Patrol Officers work 11 hour days, with 4 days on shift and then 4 days off.  Most police shows you may see on television have three shifts a day: Day shift, Swing shift, and Night (or “Graveyard”) shift. The shift begins with everyone in a squad room getting a shift briefing from the sergeant. For a department our size, that type of schedule doesn’t work. Instead, at TPD, we have seven officer shifts a day that overlap. Our officers’ start times are staggered throughout the day. They start responding to calls as soon as they are on duty. The daily demands will dictate how and when sergeants conduct shift briefings.

As a Patrol Officer, no two days are alike and no two shifts are the same.  Someone working Patrol during the day may respond to thefts at businesses, traffic problems around schools, and trespassers. They may also continue to investigate incidents that require follow ups during regular business hours.  Officers working in the evening may be more likely to respond to domestic violence calls, rush hour traffic problems, and concerns about suspicious people or vehicles in neighborhoods. Our officers who work in the dark hours of early morning see DUIs, respond to security alarms, prowlers, and perform business checks to ensure closed businesses are secure. While TPD is staffed 24 hours a day, our officers and our sergeants are in the field during the majority of their shifts.

In addition to addressing crime, Patrol Officers also fulfill many community caretaking roles, such as welfare checks, child runaways, mental health crises, and helping to resolve civil disputes. Because officers are in the field, they are frequently the first to respond to some emergency medical calls, such as drug overdoses. As you can imagine, community caretaking calls often create significant distress for the people involved. Patrol Officers provide support and resources while also handling any legal issues they may be responsible for.

In law enforcement, documenting what we do is essential to the work an officer does. Officers write detailed case reports that are the official record of the event. In the case report, they must clearly and objectively present information about what happened, linking people, places, and things to any involved crimes. Prosecutors will use this information to determine whether to charge crimes and to support requests for bail from the court. Officers must carefully document any evidence that was collected, as well, in order for the evidence to be admissible in any future court proceedings. This is just a small example of how an officer’s report may be used. Many other state and federal agencies also need the information provided in a police report. While usually not an officer’s favorite part of the job, writing reports and completing forms is an essential part of their duties and one that consumes a considerable amount of time.

Next week, we will move from Patrol to our Investigations Division and the work our Detectives do.

On February 25, 2021, the State of Washington Supreme Court ruled in State v Blake that the state’s drug possession law was unconstitutional and therefore void. Prior to Blake, possessing even small amounts of drugs was a felony crime. Following Blake, Washington had no valid law regarding possession of illegal drugs until May 13, 2021. At that time, the Legislature passed a law focused on a therapeutic approach to illegal drug use rather than a criminal justice one. With this new law, drug possession was made a misdemeanor (punishable by less than 365 days in jail), however law enforcement was directed to refer those found in possession of drugs to recovery services, in lieu of arresting those possessing illegal drugs.

The Legislature passed the post-Blake law in the hopes that those with substance use disorder would engage in treatment and stop using drugs. However, communities found that there were not sufficient systems in place to facilitate referrals for treatment and very few treatment options were readily available. Additionally, there was no incentive for those suffering from addiction to participate in treatment. On top of this, fentanyl became a common, and very dangerous, drug on the street leading to a significant increase in overdoses and death.

This year, the Legislature again amended the law for simple drug possession, recognizing that a “carrot and stick” approach might be more successful in combating substance abuse. Under the new law, possession of illegal drugs is a gross misdemeanor, with the caveat that the first two offenses are punishable by 180 days in jail, and any subsequent offenses can result in a year in jail. This law returned to law enforcement a tool for addressing illegal drug use, while still encouraging a therapeutic approach in order to help drug users overcome substance use disorder.

In Tumwater, we believe that the fundamental duty of law enforcement is to preserve and protect life. Every day, our officers see the devastating effects of drug use in our community, with too many of our neighbors literally facing death on a regular basis due to drug use. We also recognize that those using drugs often resort to crime to support their habits, and as a result other members of the community become crime victims. Law enforcement needs to balance the needs of both groups to provide the most positive impact for the community as a whole.

TPD officers use considerable discretion when they encounter someone who is in possession of illegal drugs. First and foremost, if someone is in critical medical distress because of drug use, officers will actively support life-saving operations and will take no enforcement action.  We do not want someone to hesitate to ask for help because they are afraid of criminal charges. For those who are not in distress, but possess drugs, we will refer the case to the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office (TCPO) to consider charges and so the individual has the opportunity to access community-based resources through programs managed by TCPO. Finally, if someone is both in possession of illegal drugs and is committing another crime, we will arrest the individual with the goal being to interdict the criminal behaviors that are occurring. This also brings those individuals before the court to consider whether ordering treatment options is appropriate.

We feel this is the most compassionate and effective way to address illegal drug use in our community. It is our sincere hope that those with drug use problems recover, both to reduce the victimization of others and to improve their lives.

In the last few months, we have introduced you to our Command Staff, our Management Analyst, and our SROs. This week, I would like to tell you about our Sergeants:  Sgt. Chris Tressler, Sgt. Chuck Liska, Sgt. John Kenderesi, Sgt. Bryent Finch, Sgt. Tim Eikum, Sgt. Charles Lett, and Sgt. Randy Baughn.

At TPD, Sergeants are our first-line supervisors. Six of our sergeants work with Patrol units (Sgts. Tressler, Kenderesi, Finch, Eikum, Lett, and Baughn), and one works with both the Detective unit and our K9 officers (Sgt. Liska). Each sergeant supervises four to five officers. In Patrol, the Sergeants are responsible for oversight of our officers. They spend about 75% of their time in the field responding to calls with their team. While on scene, they provide assistance in providing the best possible outcome for all involved, while also ensuring that everyone remains safe.

The Detective Sergeant, Sgt. Liska, supervises the Detectives in the Department.  Detectives are responsible for investigating cases that are complex and time-consuming.  Sgt. Liska assists his team with complicated cases and shares information with the Patrol sergeants about crime trends that come to light during investigations. He is also the liaison with outside agencies, such as other local jurisdictions, Child Protective Services (CPS) and Adult Protective Services (APS) to coordinate investigations that may involve multiple organizations. Finally, Sgt. Liska oversees the TPD K9 program.

A primary responsibility for all sergeants is mentoring and training. TPD has many newer officers and the job of a police officer is very complex. Sergeants play a vital role in developing new officers so that they make good decisions for our community. While working alongside their teams, sergeants can teach in-the-moment to build the skills of all of our officers. Additionally, in the last several years, laws and policies about policing have been changing rapidly. Even experienced officers are learning how to do their jobs differently. In fact, in 2020, we added a sergeant position so that we could provide more direction to our officers in light of the new police reform laws. The sergeant positions are some of the most challenging in the Department. We are fortunate to have seven talented people in such an important leadership role.