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Ellensburg police report lowest NIBRS crime rate on record but note rising mental-health calls
Summary
Police Chief Ken Wade told the council that overall NIBRS-reported crime and several key categories fell in 2024, with large reductions in motor vehicle thefts and juvenile arrests, but that mental-health related calls have grown and remain a focus; Chief Wade credited an evidence-based policing model implemented in 2022.
Ellensburg Police Chief Ken Wade told the City Council on Sept. 15 that the department’s 2024 crime report shows an overall decline in reported crime under the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), but that calls related to mental health continue to grow and remain a major operational concern.
“In 2024 we handled 16,018 calls and reported 1,183 NIBRS-related offenses,” Chief Wade said. “We made 447 group A NIBRS arrests, a decrease of 12 percent, and our NIBRS data has shown us 56.4 percent — an 11 percent decrease compared to 2023.” He said that since the department implemented an evidence-based policing model in mid-2022, the city’s crime rate measured by these data has dropped about 28 percent.
Why it matters: City leaders and the public use NIBRS and other locally collected metrics to judge public safety and staffing needs. Chief Wade…
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