The Edmonds Police Department has released its annual report, covering the year 2023.
In addition to providing an overview of department staffing, profiles of key personnel and community outreach activities, the report highlights a range of statistics for the department — from the number of traffic collisions and citations and DUI arrests, to crimes ranging from murder to assault to kidnapping to drug/narcotics to fraud.
Here are highlights of crime statistics for 2023 versus 2022.
There was one murder in Edmonds for each year, so no change.
Rape was down 25%, from eight reported in 2022 to six in 2023.
Aggravated assault was down 32%, from 66 in 2022 to 45 in 2023. Simple assault decreased 13%, from 160 to 139.
Robbery was down 38%, from 32 to 20.
Burglary decreased 8%, from 174 to 161.
Motor vehicle theft remained the same, at 115 in both years.
Fraud offenses decreased 19%, from 267 to 216.
Stolen property was down 30%, from 56 to 39.
Drug/narcotic violations saw a 2% increase, from 167 to 170.
You can view the complete report at this link.
We are lucky to have an excellent and effective Edmonds police force, ably led by Chief Bennett. We all enjoy the security of your compassionate and responsive team of professionals.
I’m sorry you are dealing with deep budget restrictions. I’m sure you are doing your best with limited resources. Hopefully, the budget shortfalls will be sorted relatively soon and you can get back to full staffing.
Thank you for all you do.
We all thank Edmonds police for their service. The annual report is loaded with nice color pictures and descriptions of valuable programs. For comparison, check out Shoreline’s 2023 Police Services Report – https://www.shorelinewa.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/61003/638499938195470000 . Edmonds’ report is light on statistics and cost. Shoreline shows more information with 5 year black/white graphs that show trends better than Edmonds’ colorful bar charts. Neither city’s annual police report mentioned the total 2023 budget: Shoreline/King County Sheriff’s police contract = $14.9 million for 59,690 residents; Edmonds police budget was $15 million for 42,600 residents. Police services cost per capita = $249 per year for Shoreline and Edmonds is $352 per year. Why the large difference? Shoreline shows 2023 data and 5-year trends for: # of commissioned officers per 1,000 residents = 0.82; complaints against officers per 1,000 dispatched calls = 1.17; response time trends for critical/emergency (6.21 minutes) and other priority dispatches; and dispatched 911 calls per officer. (393), or 33 per month per officer. Why doesn’t Edmonds show this data? Neither city shows an exhibit of the salaries of their Police Chief and top 10 employees. Why is that? The 1 page reference to the Woodway contract raises questions about what Woodway gets for $270,000. The 2 Edmonds’ officers who respond to seven 911-calls/month have 20% of Shoreline officers’ 911-call workload! There’s something wrong with this picture.
Firstly, the efforts of the Edmonds Police Department are widely recognized and appreciated. However, there are significant questions surrounding the department’s financial practices, which have been a concern for some time. These issues contribute to the wider financial crisis facing the city, with no immediate solution apparent.
Is it normal and acceptable to take +7 months to publish this report. I assume a a report like this is not just to supply data and information to Edmonds’ residents but for the police department to use that data to make improvements, increase efficiencies, and adjust resources as needed. Would any respectable business wait +7 months to share their corporate data with shareholders?