Stolen cars, assaults and shoplift reports fell in 2023 in Bainbridge Island while drug incidents rose.

Meanwhile, the number of police officers battling crime was down, the police chief said.

Several types of criminal activity in Bainbridge decreased last year following a spike in 2022.

“2023 was kind of a return to normalcy for us,” BI police chief Joe Clark said, regarding crime. During the pandemic when many were sequestered away, crime numbers had gone down. When the community opened up crime rose in 2022. In 2023, many categories of crime returned to normal levels, Clark said.

“Comparing crime stats of 2023 with 2022 does not provide the full picture. You are only getting a small snapshot in time and not really seeing the big picture. You have to go back five and ten years to see what the changes are,” Clark said.

Assaults, motor vehicle thefts and property crimes like forgery all fell last year, numbers provided by BI police say.

Reports of motor vehicle theft went down by 48% to 16 in 2023. That followed a record-setting number of car thefts in 2022 when BI experienced a 172% increase, he said. The 2022 spike to 31 incidents came after state lawmakers passed legislation restricting when police could conduct a high-speed chase of a suspect, he said.

“Most agencies, including this one, would not pursue stolen cars. When the law changed, it became very public information that no law enforcement agency could pursue any property crimes, and I think that certainly was a factor in driving the increase in motor vehicle thefts across the state,” Clark said.

The pursuit law has been relaxed twice by lawmakers in Olympia. The current version, which went into effect in June, returned discretion to police to decide when to conduct a high-speed pursuit.

Aggravated assaults dropped slightly last year to seven from 11 in 2022. The 10-year average has been around eight, the chief said. Simple assaults saw a bigger decrease. They fell from 57 in 2022 to 38 in 2023. That compares to an annual average of 48. “In general, our assaults tend to be between people that know each other. A portion of them are domestic violence offenses,” Clark said.

Forgeries also dropped. BI had 10 in 2022 and only three last year. Clark attributes the dip to changes in the banking system. “Fewer checks are being written. Things are going digital. Fraud is still out there, it’s just shifting from paper to electronic,” he said.

Staffing

BI has 21 officers. Currently, the force is down 16%, or four officers. Two new hires are in training, and two positions are vacant.

Being down officers has impacted the department, which took nearly 11,000 911 calls last year, up 9.2% from the year before, the chief said. The department serves a population of 25,180.

“When you are a small agency and lose one or two positions it impacts your deployment of patrol officers. Our workload is much more than just reported crime. We respond to all kinds of calls like mediating a civil dispute before it turns into something criminal, accident investigation and traffic stops. When you have vacancies there are less persons out on the road taking care of all of those issues. It’s certainly a challenge,” he said.

BIPD being down officers is not unique. For 13 consecutive years, Washington state has ranked worst among the 50 states for having the lowest number of officers per capita, according to the state Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

Looking ahead, the department plans to continue to focus on drivers with a lead foot. “The number one complaint that we receive on the island is speeding. That will continue to be a priority,” Clark said. During the pandemic routine traffic stops were drastically reduced to avoid person-to-person contact and possible exposure to COVID, he added.

Statistics issue

Gathering crime statistics from last year has been a headache for Kitsap County police. In mid-2023, police departments across the county changed the system used to track crime. The changeover revealed that some crime had been inadvertently entered into the system under the wrong codes, resulting in numbers being higher or lower than they should be. The errors caused departments to conduct internal audits.

While BI and Bremerton have been able to verify their 2023 stats, Port Orchard and Poulsbo are still straightening out crime numbers for last year, officials said.