Ellensburg Police chief presents 2024 annual report: staffing changes, accreditation, decline in overdose deaths

Ken Wade, chief of the Ellensburg Police Department, presented the department’s 2024 annual report to the City Council, outlining personnel changes, crime statistics, new programs and community partnerships.

The report matters because it documents public-safety trends, details operational changes and identifies programs—some newly launched, some expanded—that affect how city police allocate resources and partner with other agencies.

Wade said the report focuses on policing inside the City of Ellensburg jurisdiction and that 2024’s full accreditation review produced no negative findings. “This year in 2024… this is the third consecutive full evaluation cycle that we had no negative findings,” he told council.

Wade reviewed staffing changes and promotions: Captain Dan Hansberry had retired in the previous year and John Einmarch was hired from Redmond; promotions included Cameron Clayson to administrative captain and Cliff Callier and Bridal Potter to sergeant ranks, among others. He listed awards for officers, including Stephanie Drunkayas (officer of the year) and Sergeant Josh Bender (chief’s award), and credited staff involved in a child-safety-restraint program.

Operational statistics Wade cited included 1,618 incident reports (a 5% decrease), 684 collisions, and about 3,100 traffic stops. The detectives unit handled 232 cases, including the recent homicide investigation that led to a conviction Wade mentioned in council questions. Code enforcement, largely handled by a single employee after a retirement, recorded 2,978 parking violations and 252 weed violations; animal control recorded 662 animal complaints and 32 dog-bite or animal-cruelty investigations.

Wade flagged mental-health and substance-use trends. He said mental-health related referrals have roughly tripled since the low point in 2015 and were approaching 500 in 2024, and he noted a decline in calls involving suicide attempts in 2024 compared with earlier peaks. On substance use, Wade reported there were no confirmed controlled-substance overdose deaths in Ellensburg in 2024—down from a record nine overdose deaths in 2023—and he credited a combination of enforcement, outreach and programmatic responses. “In 2024, we did not have a single reported controlled substance on my side for overdose death,” he said. Officers administered Narcan six times in 2024 and the department joined the Washington State Department of Health’s Leave Behind program in October, distributing boxes of Narcan to people likely to experience or witness an overdose.

Wade described drugs trends: a shift from pill-form fentanyl to powders and other novel substances, complexity in university-area drug activity, continuing methamphetamine presence and increased drug enforcement activity. He reported 16 nonfatal overdoses in 2024; one 17-year-old was airlifted to Harborview and is expected to recover.

The department launched or expanded several programs and capabilities in 2024, including: - A new scribe and intelligence analyst role to support evidence-based policing and programs such as graffiti abatement, gang intelligence, a community survey and the CHASE (Community Health and Safety Experience) program being rolled out to students and public participants. - A drone program (22 missions in 2024) that assisted apprehensions, brush-fire response, parades and criminal investigations. - An automatic license-plate reader (ALPR) system installed in November and beginning to generate hits for stolen plates and vehicles. - High-density residential outreach partnered with an apartment complex that produced a roughly 75% drop in call volume at that location after management and police interventions.

Wade said administrative investigations included five job-performance complaints in 2024; two internal complaints were founded and resulted in training or discipline. The department reported eight response-to-resistance incidents for 2024 and noted reporting obligations to state and federal bodies.

Council members thanked Wade and asked which common, low-priority calls the public can help avoid; Wade identified false alarms and frequent welfare checks as areas where community training and targeted notices to high-incident locations can reduce calls for service. Kittitas County sheriff’s office inspector and resident Chris Witsett addressed the council in public comment, praising the department’s coordination with regional partners and the chief’s leadership.

Wade closed by acknowledging department staff and victims of crime and invited questions.