EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a two-part series.
PORT ANGELES — Low staffing and increased workload have had an impact on property crimes investigation, Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher said.
“We have placed a workload on these officers that is more than they can handle,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher’s department is down by four officers now. The department has 28 officers on duty out of the 32 positions approved by the Port Angeles City Council, he said.
Of those, two — the chief and deputy chief — are in administration. Four are detectives, who focus on crimes against people, and one is a school resource officer.
The 21 patrol officers are responsible for investigating any crimes for which they take reports, and most patrol officers have 10 or 15 property crimes to work at any one time, Gallagher said.
“So property crimes don’t get anywhere near the attention they once did,” he said.
Gallagher’s comments were in response to questions raised by business owners after five people cornered a suspected burglar and called police to arrest him.
A posse took action Superbowl Sunday after a burglar stole an estimated $3,800 worth of goods from Spotlight Tanning & Apparel at 715 E. First St., earlier that morning.
Spotlight store owner Mandy Gallacci posted a surveillance video of the burglar on her Facebook page and received a tip that a man thought to be him was in a Lauridsen Boulevard apartment.
Gallacci, her son and three others contacted the man and called police who arrested him at South C and West Madrona streets after he fled out the back window of the apartment.
The man — Sean V. Della, 26 — was initially charged with second-degree possession of stolen property.
Charged in three burglaries
Last week, he also was charged with the second-degree burglary of three Port Angeles businesses.
They are Spotlight, burglarized Feb. 1; Athlete’s Choice sporting goods, 215 W. First St., burglarized Dec. 9 of at least $7,000 in clothing; and Sabai Thai restaurant, 903 W. Eighth St., burglarized Jan. 31 of at least nine bottles of wine worth a total of $497.
Della, who remained in the Clallam County jail Sunday on $20,500 bail, faces arraignment Friday on the additional charges, which include theft charges as well.
He also faces a March 16 trial on the second-degree possession of stolen property charge and a March 23 trial on charges filed in November after an attempted break-in at White Cup Espresso in Sequim.
At a Feb. 2 hearing for Della, Gallacci and others criticized what they said was a lack of police response to burglaries.
“If I could find Della in a matter of a few hours, they could have as well,” Gallacci said, adding “I don’t want to bash the cops . . . They were awesome with me.”
Police came within hours of catching the Spotlight burglar in the act.
They staked out the shop in the early morning hours of Super Bowl Sunday, based on a cellphone video Gallacci had taken of a man she said was Della looking in her shop Jan. 28.
The officers left at about 3:30 a.m., near the end of their shift, to attend to other duties, such as completing police reports.
The shop was burglarized about 90 minutes later.
At the time, Della had two outstanding warrants for his arrest for possession of stolen property and burglary.
“We were going to interdict him at some point because we had the warrants,” said Brian Smith, deputy police chief.
“The fact that we were this close is pretty remarkable.”
Police staffing
Gallagher expects his department to be fully staffed soon.
The vacancies are in three areas that will be resolved.
■ Two newly hired officers will graduate from the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission Basic Academy in Burien and be ready for duty July 11 and Aug. 28.
■ Sgt. Jesse Winfield is on extended medical leave and is expected to eventually return.
■ A position vacated by Officer John Nutter, who resigned in mid-December, will remain open until the City Council sets priorities for the 2016 budget later this year.
At the same time, other officers have had duties changed or had more added, Gallagher said.
■ Officer Barbara McFall is filling in on patrol rather than performing her regular administrative duties.
■ Downtown Resource Officer Dallas Maynard has been reassigned to general patrol duty.
■ An animal control officer position was eliminated and a parking enforcement position was reduced to less than half-time several years ago, pushing those duties on officers who didn’t have them before.
■ A detective position has been vacant for a year. If it were filled, it would be by an officer now working elsewhere, Gallagher said.
The minimum staffing requirement is three patrol officers on duty in the 10.7-square-mile area of Port Angeles at any one time, Gallagher said.
Burglary reports
Reports of burglaries in Port Angeles have actually declined in recent years.
There were 204 reported burglaries in 2013 compared to 186 in 2014. Eleven burglaries were reported in January 2014 compared to 10 in January 2015.
“The fact that they have declined is a good thing,” Gallagher said.
“But the number of people we have at the police department to address the work load is still inadequate,” he added.
Gallagher cited a 2013 crime report by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs as saying that Port Angeles had 115.5 crimes per 1,000 people.
Aberdeen had a nearly identical crime rate at 115.6 per 1,000, he said.
“If we hired at the same rate per thousand as Aberdeen, we would have 41 officers,” he said.
Smith estimated that it takes about 100 hours to investigate a burglary.
“We are very challenged right now in terms of being able to cover our shifts and perform our functions,” Smith said.
Thirty-eight officers, or two officers per 1,000 residents, would be ideal, Gallagher said.
But adding, say, five more officers — each costing $75,000 for salary and benefits a year — would cost an additional $375,000 annually, he said.
“I don’t think the city has the resources to invest that kind of money in public safety today,” he said.
Mayor, city manager
Mayor Dan Di Guilio said it was unfortunate that residents felt they had to chase a suspected burglar and put themselves in possible danger.
But the city lacks the revenue to add more officers, he said.
City Manager Dan McKeen, Gallagher’s supervisor, said that almost all city departments have listed staffing based on workload as their worst problem.
The city also has a budget shortfall, with a significant decrease in utility tax receipts after Nippon Paper Industries USA shut down one of its paper machines.
The council is expected to complete priority-setting mid-year, McKeen added, and ill consider “placing our limited resources where they are needed the most.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor Leah Leach contributed to this story.
