The Lake Stevens Civil Service Commission on May 29 received a staffing and recruiting update that described current police vacancies, recent hiring steps and training pipeline metrics showing the department is well below state and national officer-per-population averages.
Julie Kelch, chief examiner and senior human resources specialist for the City of Lake Stevens, told commissioners the department currently has five vacancies and that two entry-level candidates are moving forward: one accepted a conditional offer and the other is in background checks. “We extended a conditional offer to yesterday and they accepted,” Kelch said. She said those candidates must complete psychological, medical and physical examinations before hire.
Kelch also said a lateral officer resigned with a last day "the 23rd," which contributed to the current vacancy total. She said there are no lateral candidates on the list at present and the department is recruiting, including a public safety testing and recruiting event scheduled for June 6 at the Mill; the vendor will run written testing and a physical ability test in Hartford Hall, and agencies can meet candidates at the start of the event.
The commission also heard metrics from the police chief (presented to the commission by Kelch) about staffing ratios. Kelch reported Lake Stevens Police Department has 37 commissioned officers, three of whom are command staff, which yields roughly 0.58 officers per 1,000 residents. She noted alternative calculations the chief provided: 0.9 officers per 1,000 if using the full 37 figure in a different population base, and 0.82 per 1,000 if removing the three command staff (34 field officers).
Commission Chair Ray Mitchell and Commissioner Brian McManus both said they were concerned about the low staffing level and discussed whether the commission should invite the police chief to a future meeting to brief the commissioners and help them determine whether to request more funding from the city council. "Maybe we can ask the chief to sit in on one of our meetings to kind of help us better understand," Mitchell said; McManus agreed.
Why it matters: staffing levels and recruitment determine response capacity and resilience to unexpected absences; commissioners flagged the risk that a single line-of-duty injury could reduce available officers further.
Outcome and next steps: the commission did not take formal hiring or budget actions at the meeting. Commissioners asked staff to invite the police chief to a future meeting to provide more detail on staffing needs and budget implications.