
Jeff Myers
City of Hoquiam Chief of Police
Phone: 360.532.0892 x105
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.
Violent Crime Rate Down
I am glad to report that for a second straight year, all serious crime was down. In most cases, the 2008 crime statistics reflected a drop not witnessed in Hoquiam in almost ten years. 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).
Although we continue to help make Hoquiam stronger and self-sufficient, I hope the current economic down-turn will not result in an increase in crime in the future. Whatever happens, we will continue with due diligence to take a unified stance against crime, violence, disorder and disregard for the law.
Changing face of Hoquiam Police Department
In addition to the drop in crime and Law Incidents for the department in 2008, we also have been experiencing a period of significant change that will continue through 2009. With the retirement of three senior patrol sergeants in 2008 and 2009, three new sergeants were promoted or will soon be promoted. This change is significant because these are the first sergeant promotions in almost eleven years!
In 2008 and 2009, we anticipate that we will have hired a total of six to seven new officers to replace retiring officers or officers who have moved elsewhere. With fourteen officers assigned to the Patrol Division in total, this means almost half of this division will be comprised of new officers!
Maintaining this stringent hiring and training curve continues to be our most significant department accomplishment. Given the average training time of nine to ten months for each entry-level officer, the City Council and Mayor have strongly invested in the future of our police department.
Crime Watch contributions to our community...!
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, staff special community events and help with other public service functions. This group of 13-active members donated 2,134 hours of community service last year and they are going strong this year too!
As our department changes, 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.
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.
Sincerely,
JEFF MYERS
Chief of Police
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