Thanks partly to passage of Initiative 594 last November, the Cheney Police Department has another function to keep track of with its Monthly Accountability Report, known as “the MAR.”
I-594 expanded background checks for firearms sales and transfers to all such transactions, with a few exceptions. Recent court cases and new laws surrounding reissuing firearms to individuals involved in domestic violence — the Sheena Henderson Act — require police departments to do more tracking of firearms.
Cheney Police have responded with a new category on the MAR, “firearms related,” a tracking function falling to department communications staff. The new laws require not only background checks, but searches of databases to determine if an individual has been committed, voluntarily or involuntarily, for a mental health issue and whether or not they’ve been diagnosed with alcohol or controlled substance addictions.
“Those are things under 594 that would prohibit you from getting a firearm back.” Cheney Police Cmdr. Rick Campbell said.
So far in the first three months of 2015 the department has made 68 such checks. With no previous data to compare it to, Campbell said it’s hard to determine the impact of such checks on the department’s workload.
According to the March MAR, crime reports are about where they were at this time last year, with 131 reportable incidents tallied in the first three months of 2015 compared to 134 in 2014. Most categories are at or below last year’s levels.
One exception is thefts, which are up about 17 percent (53 total) over last year’s numbers, 22 in February being the high point. Most of these are items taken from unlocked vehicles, or items left in plain sight in locked vehicles where the perpetrator entered by smashing a window.
Drug offenses reports are up 100 percent, with 10 reported through March as compared to none last year. Eight arrests took place last month, and Campbell said a number of these are juveniles arrested for possession of marijuana.
Showing significant decline so far are assaults, down almost 23 percent, and domestic violence, down almost 21 percent. While a positive sign, Campbell said the numbers are too low right now to see any potential trends.
Calls for service are running just over 6.4 percent ahead of last year, 7,843 to 7,338. Cheney receives the majority of those calls, 60 percent, with the balance being calls for service at Eastern Washington University.
Cheney investigators are carrying an average of 27 active cases per month, but have been getting better at clearing this load. In January the clearance rate — cases closed — was 16.20 percent, but that has risen to 25.86 percent.
Finally, while the overall department budget of $2,694,200 is running right where it should be one quarter of the way through the year, overtime is again running high. Through March, the department has spent 86 percent, $22,347.37, of the $26,000 allocated for general fund overtime, money used to cover extra shifts by officers filling in for other officers out due to illness, vacation or other issues.
A new contract between the city and the Police Guild signed in late December calls for a minimum of two officers on duty per shift, the exception being July – August, and three officers on duty Thursday, Friday and Saturday from September – June. The city had hoped to alleviate some of the overtime payments by using an exemption in the Fair Trade Standards Act allowing the city to track overtime over a 28-day period instead of the previous seven day timeframe, and allows for maintaining two officers on duty at all times, excluding administrative personnel, detectives and the school resource officer.
The contract also included a six-month trial period for the new plan, after which the city can evaluate its effectiveness.
Campbell said the department spent around $72,000 in 2014 to cover officer overtime under a contract that required one officer to be on duty per shift. With two officers now required, that could double.
“I anticipate we’re going to be in that $140,000 range for overtime,” Campbell said.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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