SNOHOMISH — Crime is being kept at bay, the Police Department is adding new tools to use and Snohomish will greet a new police chief in coming months.
The department will be introducing a four-wheel UTV to reach tough places, and now can use two small flying drones to help look for suspects inside buildings and vehicles. A drone could lower the risk of an officer being ambushed, and speed up searches for lost people, too.
Officers patrolling by bicycle is coming back, and they’ll be sporting electric bikes. Deputy Chris Marino helped restart this program.
Police Chief Rob Palmer, who is a Sheriff’s Office captain, will be retiring at the end of June after a bit shy of 35 years in law enforcement.
Recently, Palmer was excited to share how feedback surveys are giving the department formal data on the public’s top safety concerns and satisfaction. It queries people after police respond to a call; they sent 3,351 surveys and got 672 responses back.
Of the 672 responses asking what three things police could help most with, respondents checkmarked residential burglary and home theft as their top concern, followed by public homelessness. Traffic issues, thefts from vehicles and drug abuse followed close behind. Preventing vehicle thefts came sixth.
Leaders in the volunteer Public Safety Commission praised the Police Department’s survey data, for this group, too, is looking to hear from the public on safety concerns.
In 2020, there were 20 residential burglaries in city limits, 34 vehicle thefts and 146 thefts of all types.
Vehicle prowls declined from 75 incidents in 2021 to 51 last year. Snohomish Police stepped up its night shift patrols.
There were five robberies, the same as 2021.
Assaults are trending downward, and on the roads, car collisions are down.
On drug abuse, changes in state law called the Blake decision restrained officers from arresting people with drugs. Instead, they are to give a referral on their first two encounters before making an arrest on the third encounter. In Snohomish, there were 17 such referrals, and ultimately three arrests.
The department has 19 officers. Its only current vacancy is the specialty Community Outreach Officer.
