It’s All About Collaboration

Abstract

In Chief Robert's message, he highlights the progress being made in addressing crime trends and offenders by bringing together regional partners. OPD works with other City departments to tackle safety issues together in a similar way. A few times a month, we host a Fusion meeting, focused on crime trends and safety topics. Our partners in Parks and Code Enforcement attend regularly to discuss locations causing concern. These relationships allow all of us to respond quickly to each other's needs. For example, earlier this Fall, Parks staff noticed the bathroom at Bigelow Park was being used for drug consumption. They brought the problem to our attention. We responded by informing all officers and requesting daily patrols. Less than a week later, a Parks staff person called in a suspicious person in the bathroom. The officers, knowing about the ongoing issue, responded promptly, contacted the subject and made an arrest for possession of drugs. In addition to these special cases, area officers and the Volunteers in Police Services patrol parks as part of their daily duties. Code Enforcement has been an invaluable partner for us in trying to bring resolution to neighborhood concerns. Their contacts with financial institutions and ability to issue warnings about violations has really helped us make progress on problem houses that have become a nexus for criminal activity. In several cases, they've even been able to condemn houses which brings an immediate conclusion to the problem. They've also been essential in our ability to address illegal camps on public and private property. Their work researching property owners and helping us issue warnings and provide resource options to occupants has been extremely valuable. These opportunities for collaboration have shown time and time again that we are much more successful and efficient in solving problems when we bring in other partners, whether they are other agencies in the region or other departments in the City. Hello everyone! I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about the value of working together to solve complex problems. This last year, the Olympia Police Department brought law enforcement leaders from across Thurston County together to talk about crime problems. As law enforcement leaders, we saw many of our own resources working on property related crimes like theft, burglary, car thefts and car break-ins. It was clear that many jurisdictions were faced with the same challenges and often the same offenders. Coming …