Police cars, fire trucks, flashing lights and sirens — no, this isn’t a scene of a major incident, but the Plateau’s annual National Night Out events.
Every year, the Enumclaw, Buckley and Bonney Lake communities get together in recognition of their first responder teams and to get to know them better on a face-to-face basis, minus the pressure of an medical emergency or being written up.
Bonney Lake Police Chief Dana Powers said not only do city residents benefit from meeting their first responder community, but the event also benefits first responders to get to know the people they’re protecting.
“The more we interact in a positive environment helps facilitate local cooperation with the citizens of Bonney Lake. We want to show them what services they receive here in the city from us,” she said. “Most of the time people interact with law enforcement it isn’t always in the best circumstances and this event shows us that we have such great support from this community.”
LARCENY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE
Every year, police departments on the Plateau collect data on National Incident-based Reporting System (NIBRS) offenses, a national system used by law enforcement all over the nation to collect local data on specific crimes like robberies, forcible sex crimes, kidnappings and others.
For both Enumclaw and Bonney Lake, the most reported crime was larceny, or theft of personal property.
According to the Bonney Lake Police Department, there were 420 reported larceny cases in 2016, up from the 359 cases in 2015 but down from 430 cases in 2013.
Larceny made up roughly 38 percent of all NIBRS offenses in Bonney Lake in 2016.
The Enumclaw Police Department reported 212 theft and larceny cases in 2015 and 191 cases in 2016.
Last year, the most common larceny cases in Enumclaw involved items being stolen out of a motor vehicle (48 cases), followed by shoplifting cases (37 cases).
Both communities also ranked destruction of property and vandalism as their second-most common crime.
Just over 100 property damage cases were reported in Enumclaw in 2015, and in 2016 the number reported dropped to 88.
The BLPD recorded 165 property damage cases last year, up from 2015 (138 cases) but down from 2012 (202 cases).
“The crime rate for these crimes are rather low nationally with even less person crimes occurring. According to the National Council for Home Safety and Security, Bonney Lake was in the top 50 safest cities in Washington,” Powers said, adding that Bonney Lake was 36th on the 2017 list. “What it indicates to me is that we have a strong professional group of men and women that work for the citizens of Bonney Lake and although we are not crime free we do have a reputation that you don’t want to commit a crime within the city limits.”
Bonney Lake also made backgroundchecks.org’s 2016 Safest Cities in Washington list at no. 18, while Enumclaw was rated no. 3.
TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS
In 2013, there were 6,277 traffic violations recorded in Bonney Lake. This dropped to 5,573 in 2014 and fell further to 4,936 last year, roughly a 21 percent drop since 2013.
The reason for this, Powers said, was because in 2016, two officers left the department and one traffic unit had to be put back on patrol.
“With that, citations go down and collisions seem to rise,” she continued. “What you are also seeing is an increase from 15 to 16 in calls for service. Officers use discretionary (not on a call for service) time to work traffic related calls or emphasis.”
There were 251 motor vehicle crashed in 2016 (right on for the average number of crashes between 2013 and 2016) and 84 DUI cases, up from the average of 64 cases over the same time period.
OTHER 2016 CRIME STATS
• Forcible sex offenses — 12 in Bonney Lake, 4 in Enumclaw
• Simple assault — 89 in Bonney Lake, 27 in Enumclaw
• Domestic violence assaults — 60 in Bonney Lake, 29 in Enumclaw
• Drugs and narcotic offenses — 58 in Bonney Lake, 38 in Enumclaw
• Motor vehicle thefts — 50 in Bonney Lake, 34 in Enumclaw
• Counterfeiting and forgery — 22 in Bonney Lake, 7 in Enumclaw
