Kennewick Police present 2024 annual report; council presses on training, hiring and evidence handling

Kennewick Police Chief Chris Guerrero presented the Kennewick Police Department’s 2024 annual report at the Kennewick City Council workshop on June 10, outlining crime trends, staffing and several operational initiatives.

The report showed overall crime up 1 percent in 2024 while violent and property crime measures were down, a result Guerrero attributed to the department’s focused crime‑fighting strategy and regional prosecutorial support. “Our mission is to provide professional police services with integrity, courage, and commitment,” Chief Guerrero said as he described the department’s organizational priorities: proactive crime fighting, thorough investigation and community engagement.

Guerrero and commanders walked council through staffing and operations. The department remains authorized for 110 commissioned officers and roughly 130 total employees. Commander Davis told council the department completed 150 background investigations in 2024 and hired 11 officers, three police support specialists and one cadet. Commander Davis said the department has brought in roughly 50 new officers over the past five years and that the Pasco Police Academy has been an important training pipeline. “We hire about 3% of those who test,” Guerrero said of the selection process.

Training and records: the police reported more than 31,000 total hours of training in 2024, including academy and field training; department instructors provided about 3,600 hours of instruction. Davis said much of the training total reflects academy hours for recruits and mandated annual training for commissioned staff. The records unit processed 3,266 public‑records requests during the year; staff processed just over 1,000 concealed pistol licenses and entered nearly 1,900 arrest warrants into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

Investigations and special units: the Criminal Investigations Division reorganized daytime detectives into a Major Crimes unit (one sergeant and seven detectives) and a General Crimes unit (one sergeant and five detectives), with three detectives dedicated to special‑victim cases. Command staff reported 436 assigned cases in 2024, 259 search warrants and 50 arrests; the department handled three homicide investigations that were cleared by arrest or cleared exceptionally, the presenters said. The Criminal Apprehension Team reported 91 warrant arrests in May and 47 search warrants completed. The K‑9 unit answered 81 calls for service and recorded 27 apprehensions.

Regional narcotics enforcement and seizures: Metro Drug Task Force members posted 95 cases in 2024, 51 search warrants and 83 arrests. Command staff reported seizures of more than 78,000 fentanyl pills, 85 firearms, 26 vehicles and about $30,000 in cash. Council members asked how seized cash, vehicles and drugs are processed; staff said those items go through forfeiture procedures and due‑process hearings and that narcotics are destroyed (incinerated in Spokane) after case completion.

Evidence handling: the department increased evidence‑unit staffing from one to two technicians and reported 4,561 evidence items entered and 3,921 released in 2024, a ratio staff said was a significant improvement compared with prior backlogs.

Community programs and schools: the department added two school resource officers in 2024, covering all five middle schools and three high schools, and described separate school‑safety officers employed by the Kennewick School District for elementary schools. Presenters said combined counts for assaults, weapons, drugs and alcohol investigations at schools fell from 184 incidents in 2023 to 96 in 2024. The department also described an active homeless outreach effort, a volunteer Citizens Helping and Police Services (CHiPS) program and a department foundation that funds community programs and limited direct assistance for people in crisis.

Council questions and clarifications: council members pressed for more detail in several areas. Councilmember Trumbo asked whether search warrants commonly produced arrests; staff explained search warrants serve multiple purposes (evidence collection and arrests) and said the Criminal Apprehension Team focuses on serious warrants. Trumbo also queried the K‑9 call‑to‑apprehension ratio; staff said many K‑9 deployments deter or de‑escalate incidents without resulting in an arrest. Councilmember Anderson asked whether the increase in traffic stops and citations — traffic stops rose substantially year‑over‑year — reflected a directive to increase enforcement; the chief said a mix of leadership emphasis and recovering staffing levels has restored proactive enforcement and community contacts.

On drug diversion and treatment: staff highlighted the regional pretrial diversion effort coordinated by the prosecutor’s office, which council members and staff credited with reducing recidivism for certain possession and low‑level offenses; the prosecutor’s office was described as a critical partner in the department’s crime‑reduction strategy.

Why this matters: the report laid out operational tradeoffs and near‑term needs: continued recruitment to fill roughly nine current openings and a stated shortfall of about 19 officers before full strength is achieved; technology and records costs that rise with more body‑camera footage; and continuing demands on evidence and records processing. Council directed staff to provide additional detail on media requests, concealed pistol license renewals versus new permits, and the records‑unit caseload breakdown.

The department left council with several follow‑up commitments: provide a breakdown of public‑records request types, supply more detail on concealed pistol license counts (new vs. renewal), and return with options for handling rising data and technology costs as staffing and evidence production increase.