Federal Way sees 11% drop in overall crime as drug arrests surge by more than 402%
by Lynnanne Nguyen
Sun, December 8th 2024 at 11:12 AM
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FEDERAL WAY, WA — As the year comes to a close, the city of Federal Way is reporting that its overall crime rates are dropping.
Federal Way police say overall crime rates in the city have actually gone down 11% compared to this time last year, but one category saw a dramatic increase. The city reported a more than 402% increase in drug arrests.
City officials said that’s a good sign as officers enforce new drug possession laws.
The city’s mayor credits new drug possession laws that recently went into effect which made the crime a gross misdemeanor allowing officers to make those arrests.
“When we allowed street-level narcotic activity to occur without any restrictions, it was really not good for anybody,” Mayor Jim Ferrell said. “We don’t want to arrest people and put them in jail for having an addiction issue indefinitely, or for long periods of time. What we want to do is get them out of the cycle of addiction and really stop that behavior.”
Mayor Ferrell said that change in behavior starts with getting people into treatment via the justice system.
“At district and municipal courts, gross misdemeanors are really treatment courts, and that’s where we want to get to the arrest as a first step in getting people back to a productive life,” Ferrell said.
Ferrell also credits recent state law changes loosening requirements on initiating police pursuits as the city sees crime rates dropping in murders, robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts.
Under state law, officers are now able to chase suspects if they have a reasonable suspicion they’ve broken the law.
According to preliminary data released by the city this week, murders are down 50% from last year around this time, while motor vehicle thefts are down 52%. The city also saw significant drops in the number of robberies and burglaries.
“I think that the word had gotten out with the criminal element that it was a free crime zone, and it was absolutely just unacceptable, and so thank God the legislature changed it and now we’re getting back to some sort of normalcy,” Ferrell said.
Federal Way police expect that by the end of this year, once all the crime data is collected, the city’s overall crime rate will have dropped between 10-12%.