Last Friday, I had the opportunity to speak at a special session of the Bellevue City Council Meeting regarding the budget. This special session was intended to allow for input from citizens regarding the 2022/2023 Budget, as well as allowing for an explanation by City Representatives regarding the increases in their budgets. As the majority of the increased spending was due to major increases in expenditures to public safety (i.e. Fire and Police), I was excited to be given the opportunity to explain BPD growth at that time, and wanted to further my reach of that message by sharing many of those components here – as the police department made up the majority of the public safety increase.
As I have written before, upon arrival as the Bellevue Police Chief in September of 2020, I was asked to evaluate the condition of the Department, and complete a Needs Assessment. BPD had experienced a unique time in its history and had lost 17 sworn personnel in the one year prior to my arrival. Although BPD had been allocated 100 police officers for nearly a decade (and up to 105 officers over 15 years ago when the population of Bellevue was under 50,000), the Department had never achieved those numbers. In fact, the five-year average of sworn personnel at BPD from 2016 – 2020 was only 85. Bellevue has grown substantially over the last few years, and the number of officers had remained relatively unchanged.
Some would say that if you have operated for five years with 85 officers, then you don’t need more than that. Looking at similar-sized departments around the U.S. (per the FBI), the national average for the number of officers in a department is 2.4/1000 population. If Bellevue held to that standard, we would be at 156 officers. Regionally, the average of sworn officers for similarly populated cities is 1.9/1000 population. That would equate to 124 officers for Bellevue. Instead of utilizing these numbers as a guide, we were asked by administration to utilize a Needs Assessment to determine the proper amount of growth. This would include the use of crime statistics, crime trends, calls for service, and response times as the best indicators regarding the correct police staffing levels for our citizens.
Looking at all of these indicators through our assessment, it was apparent that we were not able to do all of the necessary functions at our staffing levels at that time. In fact, there were several troubling trends that emerged – including increased crime trends from 2016 – 2020. During that time period, crime had increased in the city in nearly every category – including a 30% increase in crime from 2019 – 2020 (including marked increase in felony assaults, felony sexual assaults, robberies, and burglaries). Much of this was likely due to a marked decrease in proactive patrol during that same five-year period (dropping by 33%), due to staffing shortages.
It was determined that BPD needed 111 officers to curb the ever-increasing crime rates. However, at the time we made this determination we had fallen to 82 officers. Just going from 82 to the already allowable 100 officers would be a dramatic increase in spending (nearly 20%), which occurred in the 2020/2021 Budget year. We knew the increase to 111 was badly needed but would take time. For this reason, we determined we would make the growth occur over two years – increasing to 105 during the 2021/2022 Budget, and to 111 in the 2022/2023 Budget – which would help in spreading the financial impact to the city over time.
We are now on the cusp of the 2022/2023 Budget, and we have achieved the goal of 111 officers. The increase you see in our City Budget reflects that growth. Having said that, I am happy to report that our increased staffing levels have made a dramatic impact on crime in our city. We have not only stopped the increase in crime but reversed the trend. In a recent article posted here (May), I explained the decrease in crime in Bellevue over the last year, as I stated there was a “2.3% decrease in overall crime, (as compared to 2020) and were even more encouraged by significant decreases in violent crime including burglary and robbery – falling by a combined 25%.” Further, I stated, “Another significant area of improvement highlighted in the crime statistics included a decrease in shoplifting reports – falling by 29%. Auto thefts were also down by 9% during the same time period.”
We are encouraged by the reverse in the crime trend and we are confident the additional efforts being implemented will continue to push crime down in our city – making Bellevue an even safer place to live, work, and play. This is thanks to work of great officers and employees at BPD, the full support of City Administrator Ristow and Mayor Hike, and nearly unanimous support by the City Council – especially as it relates to the vote to support the 2022/2023 Budget (shy one vote at the meeting).
As a resident of Olde Town Bellevue, I am proud to say that BPD is making such a positive impact. I am a proud member of the community, and proud to serve as your Police Chief.
