FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 19, 2021

Contact: Henry Betts, Local 6 Vice President

tacomalocal6@gmail.com

TACOMA, WA:

A Simple Solution: Invest In Tacoma

Crime rates are soaring in our city. It’s not just property crimes like stolen vehicles. It’s serious person
crimes—assaults and even homicides. This is a trend we’ve seen coming. It’s been on the heels of
many efforts to “reimagine policing services” in many west coast cities.

Proponents of that movement want money taken from police department budgets and injected in
social services to attack upstream problems that appear downstream in criminal statistics; in things
like housing, addiction services, and mental health treatment. Those are all laudable goals. But those
services should not be provided in lieu of policing, but rather in addition to policing services.

Put another way, our City officials are incorrectly presenting the public with a binary choice: social
services OR policing. We reject that oversimplified and unrealistic binary choice. As advocates for
public safety, professional policing, and back to basics city government, we know that our
communities want BOTH. They want upstream social services available to heal those in need. And they
want downstream policing services to keep our communities safe.

Our public wants both. They deserve both. It’s up to City Council to give them both.

Tacoma Police Department staffing has been greatly reduced over time and that reduction has caused
our ability to serve the community to suffer. Response times now are often measured not in minutes
but in hours. When a new patrol shift starts, it is common to have dozens of 911 calls held “pending”
waiting for an available officer(s). The impact is on our community members, who are forced to go
without police services due to a lack of police staffing. Our officers want to provide more services, but
we need help to do so. Here’s a solution: invest in and prioritize public safety while we build up
new programs to address social issues.

On behalf of your Local 6 Police Officers, Detectives and Sgts

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The Tacoma Police Union I.U.P.A. Local 6 is an International Union of Police Associations labor organization representing commissioned
Police Officers, Detectives, and Sergeants in the Tacoma Police Department. Our primary mission is to represent and advocate for our
members in collective bargaining and connect our members to the communities they serve.