PORT ANGELES — It was a supremely ironic moment.
As Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher and Deputy Chief Brian Smith told a luncheon audience that most of the property crime — and the vast majority of violent crime — that occurs between strangers in Port Angeles is extremely low, about two miles away a man was robbing the Sterling Savings Bank with a gun.
The two chiefs learned of the bank robbery at the end of their presentation and left immediately to take the reins of a hunt for the robber.
He wasn’t found.
In their remarks, Gallagher and Smith told Monday’s luncheon meeting of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce that the Police Department is making the most of its limited resources.
Taxpayers spend about $4.5 million per year to fund the operations side of the police department, Gallagher said.
Operations is uniformed patrol officers, detectives and evidence and records functions. Wages and benefits account for most of that figure.
The other major department cost is public safety dispatch center, or PENCOM, which is Clallam County’s main police and fire dispatch center.
The city pays about $250,000 per year for the dispatch center.
“I think what we need to ask, and what I want you to ask, is ‘Are you getting a good deal?'” Gallagher told the audience.
He said a good way to gauge a department is its per capita cost.
It costs a Port Angeles resident $237 a year to keep cops on the street. The department also makes a contribution to the Humane Society.
The Port Angeles figure compares favorably with Olympia’s annual per capita cost, at $263, and Seattle’s $300, Lynnwood’s $306, Auburn’s $312 and Renton’s $326.
“By any standard across the United States, that’s a good deal,” Gallagher said.
“We’re doing just fine in that regard.”
If you take out the Humane Society, the per capita cost for city cops is $223.
“I think in terms of efficiency, we’re doing OK,” said Gallagher, a 25-year veteran of the force.
Cut costs
In 2007, the Port Angeles Police Department began to find ways to cut costs. It slashed more than $100,000 in overtime costs, reassigned a sergeant instead of replacing a retiring records supervisor, conducted on-duty training and refurbished police cars rather than buying new ones.
The department’s 31 officers share 16 feet of office space and need their cars to do their jobs, Gallagher said.
“What I want you to understand is you have a good police department, you have a remarkably safe community,” Gallagher said.
“We are not flush, by any means. I’m not here to tell you that we have everything we need. We don’t have enough officers, but we have what we need to keep this community safe, because we have very good people, and I think we operate efficiently. I think that given what we can afford, we’re doing pretty well.”
Smith, a 28-year law enforcement veteran who was hired in Port Angeles last year, gave an overview of the local crime picture.
Overall crime was up in 2008 “just a little bit,” Smith said, but violent crime was down 11 percent.
Property crime was up 5 percent, and vehicle theft was down 46 percent, Smith said.
Total arrests were up 25 percent last year and 40 percent in 2009, Smith said. “That has a solid impact on crime,” Smith said.
The Port Angeles Police Department is somewhat unique, Smith said, because it works closely with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Sequim police, Olympic National Park law enforcement, tribal police and the U.S. Border Patrol.
“We’re talking and working together every day,” Smith said.
“Nobody on this Peninsula can succeed in law enforcement without working closely and building a partnership with everybody.”
Smith discussed realities and perceptions about the department.
The perception that there are lots of cops on the street isn’t really true, he said. Four cops were working in Port Angeles during the luncheon.
“From the perception side, I think we look and act and are expected, in some ways, like we’re a big city police department,” Smith said.
“Well, we’re really not. We’re a small-town police department.”
In response to a question, Gallagher said organized crime is not headquartered on the Peninsula.
