Tacoma police chief outlines citywide crime reduction plan

TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma Police Department Chief Avery Moore on Tuesday briefed the city council on the plan he’s developing to address violent crime in Tacoma.

During his presentation, Moore, who started with TPD in January, reported that only 10% of the offenders were responsible for about 40% of the violent crimes in the city.

“I’m not interested in trying to police everybody. That’s why the stats are so important,” said Moore. “This is about the behavior of certain people in the community.”

Moore says he aims to focus more of the department’s resources on the small number of street segments in Tacoma where the most crime is concentrated.

“Police are a necessary, but insufficient resource to reduce violence,” Moore said. “The approach should be purposely built to bring together, in a single comprehensive plan, the best evidence for ‘what works’ to reduce violent crime. We will not employ race-based tactics like over-policing, ‘stop and frisk,’ or zero tolerance policing.”

Criminologists from the University of Texas, San Antonio, will assist TPD in developing and evaluating the violence-reduction strategies.

Moore says the overall crime reduction plan will be developed from now through May, with a draft submitted to the city council in June.

Once the council provides feedback, TPD can then begin implementing the plan which Moore anticipates will be fully deployed by the end of 2023.

©2022 Cox Media Group