PORT ANGELES – It’s been 4 weeks since Gov. Inslee announced his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” proclamation and later extended it until May 4.
Businesses and schools are closed and their buildings are empty and often left unguarded. Parents are home with their children 24/7, in many cases with less money coming in and more stress as a result.
We thought we’d check in with local law enforcement to see what effects, if any, these and other factors might be having on crime and other calls since the shut-down.
After hearing back from the Sequim and Port Angeles Police Departments and the Sheriff’s Office, we came up with a mixed bag. Some of their answers might surprise you.
Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith, calling in to the Todd Ortloff Show on Tuesday, confirmed one stat that many might have predicted. There appears to be a lot more day drinking going on.
“Yes. Specific to daytime DUI’s, we’ve seen an increase, for sure. It might even be double, March and April of ’19 and then March and April of ’20. Assaults are going to be about the same. Domestic violence a little bit higher. Burglary a little bit lower. The fact is that, you know, all things being equal, at least some of these numbers, we might have thought they might have gone down a little bit. But actual calls for service into the Dispatch Center are down. The numbers of calls in there are down. But the activity at the other end is the same or a little bit higher.”
Deputy Chief Jason Viada says, anecdotally, officers appear to be responding to a lot of calls that you might expect to get from people under added stress, what he called “crisis calls”.
In Sequim, Police Chief Shari Crain reported via email that they’ve had a slight uptick in burglaries at vacant buildings or unguarded properties, but not at homes or occupied residences. She also reports a small increase in “domestic situations”.
As for the County at large, statistics sent to us by Undersheriff Ron Cameron show thefts and vandalism down by two-thirds or more. We’re happy to report that suicide attempts are down from this time last year as well, and no one has followed through.
Sheriff Bill Benedict says, in general, his numbers are similar to those reported by Chief Smith and are also reflected statewide.
“We do see a slight spike in domestic violence and the DUIs. So I would agree with that, and I can tell you that there’s been some statewide compilation of that same data, and it’s pretty much holding statewide that there’s a slight increase in domestic violence and DUIs with a decrease in residential burglaries.”