Tacoma sees a 30% drop in homicides as it hires more officers despite state funding
The city of Tacoma sees a staggering 30% drop in homicides as it hires more cops by re-funding the police force after cutting its budget by nearly $30 million in 2020
- Citywide crime rates have recorded declines in just about every type of crime, a new report shows
- Murders are down 30 percent while assaults are down 17 percent after the city expanded police numbers
The city of Tacoma, Washington, has recorded a staggering drop in homicides since hiring more police officers after cutting its budget by nearly $30 million in 2020.
Data released earlier this week from the Tacoma City Manager’s office shows that the city’s homicide rate and overall crime are down sharply compared to last year.
Citywide figures for all crime from January to May 14 in 2022 showed that 13,737 crimes were committed.
Over the same period this year, the figure is now down to 10,444 – with declines recorded in almost every type of crime.
The city’s homicide rate fell from 20 in the first five months of last year to 14, a 30 percent drop.
Pictured: Mayor Victoria Woodards who said the decrease in crime was due to an increase in the number of officers
That’s what Mayor Victoria Woodards said Fox news according to her, this was partly due to an increase in the number of police officers in the city.
Since last May, the Tacoma Police Department has gone from 55 police officers under ideal staffing to 31.
Mayor Woodards continued, “If you go from 55 to 31, that’s 20 more people in the department, so that definitely makes a difference. You can’t deny that.’
Attacks in the city also fell 17 percent during that period, from 1,694 incidents to 1,400.
Sex crimes have also dropped dramatically, from 127 in the first five months of last year to 92 so far in 2023.
Similarly, kidnappings/kidnappings are down 17.6 percent, as is the number of thefts from 4,464 cases last year to 2,955 so far this year – a 33.8 percent drop.
However, earlier this week, Tacoma Police Union President Henry Betts told Fox News“What we’re doing is comparing this year’s crime to record-breaking crime last year.
‘Crime is still very high, we have 10 percent less police. We didn’t really add police. We’ve been fired, we’re still understaffed.’
After slashing the police budget by nearly $30 million in 2020, the city announced last year that they would add an additional $5.6 million in response to rising crime rates.
After George Floyd’s death in 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement called for police to be fired in the United States.
Last year, Washington Democrat Representative Kim Schrier came under fire after taking nearly $40,000 from groups in support of efforts to defund the police.
In 2020, the Tacoma City Council passed resolution 40622 to transform the city of Tacoma into an anti-racist organization, which included the police force.
Protesters clash with police near the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct in June 2020
People carry signs during a ‘Defund the Police’ march from King County Youth Jail to City Hall in Seattle, Washington on August 5, 2020
After George Floyd’s death in 2020, there was widespread rioting across the country to relieve police pressure
The same year, the council also faced a budget shortfall of $40 million in its general funds and an attempted dissolution amid protests.
Woodards said in 2020 that she “didn’t know how” to get through the crisis without cutting police spending.
Last year, retired police chiefs warned that the Defund the Police campaign was responsible for rising crime.
The move, which sparked violent clashes with officers last year, created dangerous “ripple effects” across the industry, the former top officers said.
It has led to a dramatic rise in waiting times for victims of vicious crimes and caused morale to plummet to its lowest level in decades, they added.