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Port Townsend police present three-year strategic plan with accreditation target
Summary
Port Townsend’s police leadership presented a 2025–2027 strategic plan to the City Council that emphasizes community policing, staffing, technology upgrades and an accreditation process with an assessment scheduled for Feb. 13 and a target accreditation in May 2026.
The Port Townsend Police Department presented a three-year strategic plan to the City Council outlining priorities on community policing, staffing, transparency and accreditation.
The department’s mission, the chief said, is “to work in partnership with the community, provide a safe and compassionate environment, and reduce crime.” The plan covers department vision, core values and operational priorities for 2025–2027 and is intended to align department activities with community needs.
Why it matters: Council members pressed the department for specifics about how the plan addresses rising calls for service, staffing shortages and public-safety events. The department described a sector-based policing model, increased school zone presence, expanded bike patrols and a public-facing annual review process to track progress.
Department officials told council the accreditation timeline is imminent. “Accreditation is we’re targeted for, 2026, which is gonna be May,” the deputy chief said, adding an on-site assessment is scheduled for Feb. 13. Officials said accreditation would codify standards and increase accountability.
The presenters described recruitment and retention as the department’s key operational challenges and said they are taking steps to grow staffing to maintain 24-hour coverage. The department also cited recent equipment and technology upgrades including new patrol vehicles and an online reporting system intended to reduce unnecessary officer responses for low-priority incidents.
Council members asked for crime-trend detail and traffic-enforcement data. Presenters said property-related calls (including package and vehicle theft) drive many service calls and noted seasonal patterns. On traffic enforcement, the department described a multi-year goal to increase proactive policing by about 5% annually and reported an increase in DUI contacts between the most recent years cited: “We went from, 9 DUI or less in 2024 … to 41 in 2025,” the presenter said.
The presentation closed with a reminder that the plan will be reviewed annually and posted on the department website; no formal council action was required or taken at the meeting.
