PORT ANGELES — Most serious crimes dropped between 2022 and 2023, although juvenile arrests increased within the city of Port Angeles.
Deputy Chief Jason Viada presented the Port Angeles Police Department’s year-end summary Wednesday at the Noon Rotary Club meeting at the Wildcat Cafe.
The following crimes all saw drops: homicide, forcible and non-forcible sex offenses, robbery, simple assault, kidnapping, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, extortion/blackmail, fraud, embezzlement, stolen property, destruction/vandalism, prostitution, pornography/obscene material, violation of court orders and animal cruelty.
However, aggravated assault, intimidation, arson, counterfeiting/forgery and drugs/narcotic offenses all saw increases.
Viada said one of the large problems the police department worked on last year was drugs.
“Fetanayl is something that is causing a problem for our whole society,” he said.
Viada highlighted the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET), a multi-agency task force which includes one team member from the Port Angeles Police Department.
Last year, OPNET arrested 21 individuals for felony drug crimes.
Viada said 100 percent of the cases that OPNET sent to the prosecuting attorney’s office were charged and resulted in some sort of guilty plea or verdict.
In 2023, the police department handled about 1,500 more calls than it did in 2022, a total of 23,711 calls.
About 97 percent of incoming 911 calls were answered within 10 seconds or less, Viada said.
There were 55 instances of use of force in 2023, down from the 71 instances in 2022.
Over the last three years, the police department has seen a jump in juvenile arrests, Viada said.
They went from 35 juvenile arrests in 2021 to 99 juvenile arrests in 2023.
“I know as a society we’d really like that number to be going the other direction, but whatever we’re doing, that number is going in the wrong direction,” he said.
He said in the last few years, there’s also been many laws passed with the goal of decreasing juvenile arrests and interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline.
“I’m not alleging a causal relationship,” Viada said about the laws that have been passed, “but the correlation is there.”
“I think we’re going to go back to the drawing board on some of those laws,” he said.
In 2023, the police department arrested 653 people.
During those arrests, they activated a stun gun eight times.
“I think that reflects who we are as a department, and how we operate,” Viada said.
He also highlighted examples of cases the police department deals with. One was what Viada calleds the “rock head case.”
In that case, a woman flagged down an officer on patrol. She had blood running down her face and explained she was attacked by a man who had struck her repeatedly in the head, but had fought him off. The police department identified and apprehended the attacker.
Viada also highlighted the Dream Playground arson case.
“This is a case that I think made the whole community cry,” Viada said.
He praised the detectives for being able to build a solid case and resulted in charging the teen boy with arson.
In 2023, the police department funded a downtown resource officer, who mainly participates in foot patrol and uses proactive policing methods.
Viada said this is a “very old-fashioned method of policing,” but he was glad they implemented it.
“We have people who really want to make a positive difference in this community,” Viada said. “They’re willing to work for it.”
Viada encourages people who want to read the full report to visit the police department’s annual report page on the city of Port Angeles’ website and click “Most Recent Annual Report.”
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
