{"id":32735,"date":"2022-06-13T11:56:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T11:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=32735"},"modified":"2022-06-13T11:56:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T11:56:13","slug":"fearing-crime-surge-snohomish-county-police-focus-on-patrol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/13\/fearing-crime-surge-snohomish-county-police-focus-on-patrol\/","title":{"rendered":"Fearing crime surge, Snohomish County police focus on patrol"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MARYSVILLE \u2014 Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney is disbanding three special policing units, including one responsible for homeless outreach, to bolster understaffed patrols amid warnings by local leaders of an impending public safety <\/a>crisis<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The specialty teams, including the sheriff\u2019s K-9 unit and another that pairs deputies with social workers, will be dissolved \u201cfor the foreseeable future,\u201d freeing 11 deputies to take regular patrol positions, Fortney announced via Facebook<\/a> this week.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cStaffing shortages, combined with criminals seemingly becoming more emboldened and more violent, has created a safety issue for our deputies,\u201d he wrote in the Facebook post, adding that several deputies were recently assaulted on the job while waiting for more back-up units to arrive.<\/p>\n

The move comes just days after The Daily Herald published commentar<\/a>y, signed by local mayors, warning of \u201ca tide of rising crime in our cities.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The sheriff and other local law enforcement leaders are painting an increasingly dire picture of the future of public safety in Snohomish County, pointing to vacant positions, rising crime and dwindling interest in law enforcement professions amid landmark legislative reform and anti-police sentiment.<\/p>\n

While some statistics cited by local police suggest upticks in certain types of crime in Snohomish County, uniform crime data collected by the county\u2019s enforcement agencies in 2021 has yet to be made public. Prior to the pandemic, Snohomish County\u2019s crime rates had generally been on the decline since at least 2016, according to a February 2022 analysis<\/a> of data reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation by local law enforcement.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Analysts contacted by The Daily Herald said it\u2019s too soon to draw reliable conclusions about trends in crime, both locally and statewide \u2014 especially given that the pandemic, along with a sweeping suite of legislative reforms passed last year, has likely clouded the picture.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always some year-to-year variability in the crime rates, and in the ups and downs across and within jurisdictions,\u201d said Martina Morris, a retired University of Washington statistics and sociology professor who published the February analysis and has supported police reforms. \u201cIt\u2019s important not to cherry pick the numbers, and instead to make an honest effort to\u00a0distinguish a real signal from the noise.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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