Former Pierce County sheriff blames ‘boundary-bending’ lawmakers for Lakewood crime spike
(The Center Square) – Former and current Pierce County law enforcement officials joined Lakewood, Washington, residents to discuss the local crime spike that has many concerned.
The City of Lakewood has seen crime rise since the end of last year. According to the city’s records, total crime cases went from 1,464 in the second quarter of 2021 to 2,049 cases in the final quarter. The first of quarter of 2022 saw 1,799 total crime cases.
Property crime made a significant jump from 1,131 cases in 2021’s third quarter to 1,582 in the fourth. The number of property crime cases dropped slightly down to 1,426 in this year’s first quarter.
Independent Journalist Brandi Kruse hosted a Lakewood town hall meetin Tuesday to discuss the crime spike and its effects on residents. Kruse opened up the discussion with the panel by saying public safety is the singular issue Washingtonians should focus on because “nothing else matters if you are dead.”
Paul Pastor, a former Pierce County sheriff, attributes the increase in crime to laws that are “bending boundaries.”
“We have some fans of boundary-bending who don’t always recognize the consequences,” Pastor said at the meeting.
Pastor says changes that were made in the past few years by state legislators have bent those boundaries.
A number of Washington state, county and city officials have spoke out against House Bill 1054, which limits police to engaging in a pursuit only if there is “probable cause” to arrest a person in the vehicle for committing a specific violent crime or sex offense such as murder, kidnapping, drive-by shooting and rape.
In Lakewood, the number of reported eluded pursuits went from one case in July, 2021 to 44 in January, 2022.
Former Pierce County detective Lloyd Bird said that the last two legislative sessions have put a “stranglehold on law enforcement officers.” He mentioned the police pursuit law specifically and suggested changing it and similar laws to boost law enforcement morale and decrease the crime rate.
Lakewood and other Pierce County cities are seeing an increase in crime overall. Juli Garcia, the executive director at Violent Crime Victim Services, told attendees at the town hall that her office has been chaotic with a flood of violent crime victims seeking services.
“People are calling and they are desperate for help,” Garcia said, while mentioning that the number of support groups the Violent Crime Victim Services provides tripled.
“We’re scrambling to get help for people [and] we’re splitting services to accommodate everybody,” Garcia said.
Washington state legislators are set to discuss potential changes to the pursuit law and other policing reforms during the next legislative session.
