There was plenty of good news in the Port Orchard Police Department’s recently released 2024 annual report.

The city’s crime rate went down nearly 30% last year since 2022. Substantially fewer car thefts and less burglaries and robberies contributed to the lower crime rate. Meanwhile, aggravated assaults, drug arrests and issuance of traffic tickets were all up.

“We’re very pleased that we saw the drop in the crime rate. We hope to be able to sustain that by working with the community,” Alan Iwashita, deputy chief of the department, said.

Car thefts plummeted 75% between 2022 and 2024. In 2022, there were 228 stolen car reports, and last year that number dropped to 56. “We attribute (the reduction) in large part to the legislative changes in regard to police pursuits,” he said.

In 2021, police high-speed pursuits were limited by a law passed by the state legislature to incidents involving serious crimes, which did not include chasing someone suspected of stealing a car. This led to a spike in car thefts, and car thieves frequently fled when police tried to pull them over. “That made it difficult to initiate a pursuit. Really, there was no deterrence factor. Some individuals had nothing to lose in trying to evade,” he said.

In 2024, the pursuit law was revised, and discretion was returned to the officer to decide when to conduct a chase. The new law seemed to deter car thieves who feared they could now be chased and arrested.

The number of burglaries also dropped in 2024. In 2022, there were 137 compared to 81 last year, a decline of over 40%. “It seems rather anomalous for a significant drop in burglaries,” Iwashita admitted, who added that technology may have led to fewer break-ins. “There are more cameras around. People are a little bit more aware that a lot of residences do have surveillance cameras.”

Robberies also trended downward. In 2022, the force had 17 such calls and last year only 10.

Property destruction, or vandalism of property incidents, were down. In 2022, there were 247 incidents and last year only 135, representing a 45% decrease.

To explain the drop in vandalism, Iwashita pointed to the unique circumstances associated with the pandemic, which have since ended.

In 2022, before the community reopened after COVID, many kids were still not on campus and others were not working, giving them plenty of free time, he said. Now, with COVID in the rearview mirror, individuals are back to their normal schedules and staying out of trouble.

While there were several positives in the POPD 2024 report, there were some downsides. The number of serious assaults climbed.

“In 2024, we saw an increase in crimes against persons, primarily in the area of assault, both simple and aggravated assault,” he said.

Aggravated, or serious assault incidents, rose from 40 in 2022 to 55 last year, a nearly 40% increase. During the same period, simple assaults inched up, going from 191 in 2022 to 197 last year.

“A lot of your assaults are ‘heat of the moment’ type crimes. It’s difficult to say the motivation behind them. What I can say is, the city is seeing a significant increase in population. The more people there are, the more potential there is for assaults to occur,” the deputy chief said.

Drug offenses more than doubled, per the report. Last year, there were 37 arrests, while in 2022, there were only 11. Legislation out of Olympia was behind the increase, Iwashita said.

In 2021, the state Supreme Court ruled that the drug possession law was unconstitutional, which essentially halted possession arrests. Lawmakers tweaked the law in 2023 to allow police to again cite individuals for drug possession. This led to a climb in the number of drug arrests.

Your chances of getting a speeding ticket in Port Orchard went up last year as cops focused on enforcement to promote traffic safety. This resulted in those in blue pulling out their citation books more frequently.

“I understand from the citizens’ perspective, citations are not something that you want. But we have increased our issuance of citations. This resulted in a roughly 10% reduction in the number of collisions,” he said.

During the COVID era, Port Orchard PD and other police agencies shied away from stopping motorists to avoid person-to-person contact. In 2022, 299 citations were issued in the city. In 2024, the number rose to 669, a 124% increase. “We’ve significantly increased our traffic enforcement. The visible traffic enforcement, as well as the issuance of citations, does have a deterrent effect on traffic-related collisions,” Iwashita said.

The city of Port Orchard spans nearly 10 square miles with an estimated population of over 19,000. The number of calls to the police department last year was 11,109. The top reasons for calls: 1) unwanted persons (e.g. a trespasser), 2) welfare check, 3) suspicious activity, 4) theft, and 5) motor vehicle collisions.