Call it the December (Lack of) Crime Report

Porch Pirate nabbed and not a single stolen car reported in Lake Stevens... elsewhere Sheriff Adam Fortney emphasizes internal affairs and badge cam investments in his latest address

As almost all of Seattle south of Montlake continues to resemble a fentanyl zombie apocalypse (been to Pacific Place recently?) and as the West Coast’s former leading cities battle plummeting commercial values and occupancy rates (San Francisco, Portland) and crisis levels in crime, fentanyl addiction and homelessness (San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles)…

…2022 continued to be another extremely safe year to live in Lake Stevens, despite the fact that the blossoming lakeside community continues to grow at a pace unmatched by any small or midsize city in the state.

With over 42,000 residents now living within City borders and over 100,000 residents within a 3 mile concentric circle…

(centered on Lundeen Park), local, civic and law enforcement leaders continue to maintain one of the safest environments in the West.

And so we’ve got some more good news to from the boys in blue, coming on the heels of the recent arrest of the so-called Porch Pirate…

December Crime Report Courtesy of LSPD.

December Stat Period Closes Without a Single Reported Car Theft

LSPD posted a December crime report reflective of the general calm in the 425. Crime was down in every major category including a marked improvement in the ongoing battle against car theft.

In fact, merging both the Sheriff’s numbers and LSPD numbers covering greater Lake Stevens still doesn’t yield a single stolen car…this down from double digit monthly figures as recently as the Fall when it wasn’t unusual for several cars to disappear from Frontier Village lots in a single day. The Lake Stevens Police Department annual report for 2022 — which closes the book on the yearly crime stats — should be out soon.

Snohomish County Sheriff Fortney Launches Direct-to-Camera Briefings

Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney kicked off his new direct-to-camera informal report series this week, updating Snohomish County residents on a series of bullet points, including several accountability items.

You gotta give it to this guy, he’s a great communicator and sports enough likability that even the most violent drug and weapon rings can’t help but display Fortney campaign signs (check out the photo gallery on this story to catch the reference).

Fortney: All public-facing SCSO LEOs will wear badge cams by the end of February.

After a two year process, badge cams arrived last month and were quickly put into use by the Violent Offenders Task Force and the Motor Unit as other departments await training. Fortney hailed the adoption of the badge cams as a win for citizens and LEOs in kind.

Additionally, Fortney announced that he a 300% staffing increase in the Office of Professional Accountability — SCSO’s version of internal affairs, which had been operating with just one FTE for sometime. Fortney is adding two sergeants and a lieutenant to OPA staffing.

Finally, Fortney celebrated the fact that SCSO had successfully hired an “all-time record” 69 new departmental employees in 2022.

Further, Fortney stated that he sees signs that the industry-wide trend of high attrition among the ranks may be reversing.

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See Also: https://www.thejournal425.com/p/lspd-porch-bandit-caught-stolen-packages/comments