Tacoma, Washington, was one of many cities nationwide forced to defund the police movement.
This defunding resulted in the police force being 55 officers short. While that may not sound like a lot to some, these officers make a huge difference. Crime levels are dropping now because they took one proactive step in the right direction.
The city is seeing a drop in homicides and violent crime thanks to adding more officers to the police force. Fox News reports, "Data from the Tacoma City Manager's office posted earlier this month shows that homicides dropped 35% in 2023, compared to last year. In addition to violent crime being down 19.5%, burglaries are down 52.7%, and property crimes are down 27.2%."
The department went from being 55 people short down to 31. Again, this number seems small, but it's made a huge difference. Victoria Woodards, Tacoma Mayor, said the extra roughly 20 people make a huge difference. She told Fox News that she still doesn't like the current homicide numbers, but the number drop is encouraging. Woodards emphasized that having officers out on patrols can help deter crime before it happens.
While the main difference involves the additional officers, Woodards points out that the city uses data-driven tactics to help cut crime in high-crime areas. There is also an emphasis on working with the community and encouraging people to report crimes. Assertive and robust communication is helping the police force.
However, the work still needs to be done. The community still sees high crime compared to how it used to be, and the police force needs to be more staffed. Right now, they are offering incentives to help get positions filled.
The encouraging numbers have helped motivate the city, the mayor, and the force to keep doing what works to reduce the high crime levels.
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