Safety, security and the sheriff’s office contract with La Conner

How safe is living in La Conner? What calls are Skagit County Sheriff Office staff responding to over the course of a year? How often? What type of crimes, personal or property? How serious are the incidents? What is the final assessment versus the initial call for help? And, what is the response time?

Town Administrator Scott Thomas requested selected annual crime categories statistics from the sheriff’s office for most frequent in-town crime calls responded to by deputies. He provided a 2018-2019 crime statistics summary in a memo to council before their budget hearing on law enforcement Sept. 28.

La Conner detachment Sgt. Jeff Willard gave the Weekly News statistics of these categories for 2020 and 2021 through Aug. 21 and met last week to discuss residents’ personal safety and security. See the table accompanying this article.

How safe is La Conner?

The sheriff’s office provided data for 11 types of crime requested, six personal and five property. Personal crimes are assault, domestic violence assault, robbery, rape, removal and sexual offense. Property crimes are: burglary, malicious mischief, theft, trespass and vehicle theft.

The single greatest response on this list is for calls of domestic violence assault, 25% of all calls over the past four years. The fifth highest call is for removal of persons acting up in a bar, store, or anywhere else, at 9%. Domestic violence needs to be stopped and unruly people need to be removed. These more personal, versus community, calls are over one-third of all responses in La Conner.

There have been 13 assaults since 2018, about four per year.

There was one robbery in the last four years.

Safety and security are two different things, Sgt. Willard pointed out. People ask if they, and their family, are safe; their personal safety is their concern. La Conner’s neighborhoods are safe, he said. Residents worry about their safety when people are seen stumbling out of bars or the public restrooms or people are found sleeping in Pioneer Park. Speeding vehicles is a separate safety concern, he noted.

Property crimes

Deputies have been called 194 times for the five property crimes, a little over once a week and about 4.5 times monthly. These are 89% of all calls when domestic violence and removal categories are stripped from the list.

Willard’s analysis: “We do not have a safety issue in our neighborhoods. We have a neighborhood security issue.” Worry about lawn mowers left out being stolen, doors left open being entered, and unlocked cars being prowled is a quality of life issue that affect every person in every neighborhood, he said.

Calls and crime categories

Residents’ calls to 911 are listed as reported. After deputies get details and evaluate and assess the incident, they may be recategorized. Willard gave the example of a burglary being reported, which means a residence is broken into, but the assessment is a neighbor took mail from a mailbox. That gets re-classified as theft, but the initial crime category stays. Theft ranges from candy bars at Pioneer Market to not paying for a beer at the Tavern to smashing the Town’s parking lot coin box. An analysis of thefts is needed to determine the percentage done at businesses.

Response time

Willard understands the perspective that deputies are “never here and the feeling of their not being close by if someone calls 911.” The sheriff’s office goal is to always have a deputy be within 10 minutes of La Conner. Since July GPS has been used to log data and track response time.

Willard is proud of staff’s performance. August data shows 432 hours in the “10 minute zone” and 54 hours in La Conner. The contract with La Conner specifies 320 hours monthly, or “a minimum of 80 hours per week, within an area that will allow a response time of 10 minutes from the time dispatched which is identified as follows: … 1) West of the Skagit River. 2) North of Conway / Fir Island. 3) South of Josh Wilson Road/ Bayview. 4) East of Anacortes/ Dewey Beach area.”

He asked, rhetorically, “Once we have met the 80 hours what is our responsibility?” His answer: “Our goal, is no matter how many hours we have done to always be within 10 minutes of the community. We have the resources (to do that).” The department has a good relationship with the Swinomish police, he said, and they are willing to help out.

Willard pointed out that the contract does not specify “even an hour a day” in La Conner.

In closing, he said, “We value the contract, we value the relationship, we want to continue. It is our city. It is very important to us.”