Jeff Myers
City of Hoquiam Chief of Police
Phone: (360) 532-0892

Allow me to welcome you to the police department�s official city homepage. I hope that you find the information posted on this site to be useful and interesting. It is important to our mission that the citizens we serve understand what the men and women of our department do every day to serve you. On this page, you will find links to our monthly and annual statistical reports; these reports give you a snapshot of the regular activities of the department.

You may also want to check-out our page on www.crimereports.com to see a local map with the actual calls and incidents posted by location, date and time.

Violent Crime Rate Down
I am glad to report in the past few years, overall serious crime was down. The 2008 crime statistics reflected a drop not witnessed in Hoquiam in almost ten years; I believe this may be the low-water mark for us, and for many departments in the nation. Although rates increased slightly in 2009, overall crime remained relatively low. I can certainly attribute this positive trend to the hard work of our citizens and the men and women of this department. At the same time however, crime trends often reflect demographic issues, such as the age of the population and the economic stability in the community and in the nation.

The stark reality is that the root of most property and violent crime is also set within substance abuse (alcohol and drugs). As the economy continues to struggle toward recovery, I would anticipate crime rates to fluctuate.

Whatever happens in the future, we will continue with due diligence to take a unified stance with citizens against crime, violence, disorder and disregard for the law.

Changing Faces in the Hoquiam Police Department
In addition to the drop in crime rate for the department in the past few years, we also experienced a period of significant change in personnel which culminated in the final patrol officer position being filled in February 2010. It took some time with retirements and attrition, as well as the new officer position authorized by the Mayor and City Council in 2007, to finally bring the department to full staffing for the first time in many years. With a total of fourteen officers assigned to the Patrol Division, this means over half of the division is now comprised of new officers!

In addition to the new officers hired, a total of four of the five sergeants in the department have been promoted since 2008.

In 2010, the department implemented a comprehensive in-service training program for all sworn staff to assure our officers provide the most professional of service to our citizens.

There is no doubt the City Council and Mayor have strongly invested in the future of our police department.

Crime Watch Volunteers
I am also very proud of our senior volunteers who comprise our CRIME WATCH group. CRIME WATCH conducts residential and business vacation/ security checks, they volunteer at the station doing office work, abate graffiti on public spaces, act as security at community events and help with other public service functions.

So far, this group of 13-active members have donated over 4,000 hours of community service since the program started in November 2007...[visit webpage]

The Future
We continue to look forward to advancing our community policing objectives by tackling drug houses/ locations, enforcing traffic safety laws and targeting chronic public nuisances- such as abandoned vehicles and code violations.

With full manpower, our CRIME WATCH volunteers and the continued support of the citizens we serve, Hoquiam will continue to be strong and self-sufficient; because a strong community is a safe community.