Kitsap County crime stats for 2023 submitted by local police departments for the latest Crime in Washington report do not seem to be reliable.
The problem is technical vs. anything nefarious, local law officials said.
Kitsap police agencies track crime the same way. That system changed in May of 2023, resulting in some criminal incidents being recorded in the wrong category or missed, says police administrators, some of whom are now scrambling to get accurate statistics for last year.
“As local law enforcement executives, we would urge caution on using 2023 crime data with a hundred percent accuracy,” says a joint statement signed by Sheriff John Gese, and police chiefs Tom Wolfe of Bremerton, Matt Brown of Port Orchard, Joe Clark of Bainbridge Island, and Ron Harding of Poulsbo. The statement went on to state, “We want to note that there was an aberration in the statistical reporting for 2023, which should be kept in mind when reviewing local crime data.”
Each year the Crime in Washington report is published by the state Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. The report collects arrest data from 225 police agencies and includes numbers of police incidents regarding crimes, ranging from murders and sex offenses to thefts and DUIs. The report – released July 9 – is designed to give residents, elected officials and law enforcement data-driven information about crime in their communities.
As in past years, the statewide report includes numbers provided by Kitsap police agencies. It is those numbers that are to be viewed with caution, officials said. “We saw pretty dramatic drops in some (crime) categories, and we have found a few things that were miscoded maybe by our software, officers or records. We have found some things to fix,” Gese said.
Numbers of aggravated assaults and kidnapping in 2023 are two categories Gese’s office is reviewing.
Regarding aggravated assaults, the sheriff’s office discovered CPS referrals to their office about allegations of child abuse or neglect were recorded as aggravated assaults. “Those referrals have to be investigated and determined to be crimes before they should be recorded as crimes,” Gese explained. “I fear that (category) is one that is a little overinflated.”
Kidnapping/abduction is a crime category that involves several crimes, including custodial interference and unlawful imprisonment. Gese’s staff recently determined that under the prior record management system several crimes under the kidnapping umbrella were not being recorded, which led to underreporting. When the new system was implemented mid-2023, the missed crimes were suddenly being recorded. The correction contributed to a statistic that indicated there jump of a 140% increase in kidnapping in 2023, Gese said.
In Poulsbo, robbery numbers recorded last year puzzled Harding. “In 2022 we had eight robberies and in 2023 none,” he said. The dramatic drop caused his department to look into tabulation of such incidents.
For over 20 years, Kitsap police groups used what has been described as an “antiquated system” to track crimes. The system was replaced with a program viewed as more powerful, Gese said. “It’s going to generate more reports for us. I would like to do focused crime mapping for communities like Kingston or Silverdale,” Gese said, adding he hopes the system will produce reports about crime in smaller areas that can be given to Neighborhood Watch groups.
The Kitsap Daily News is not publishing the crimes statistics because of the flaws. Those wishing to review the 573-page CIW report can go to: WASPC.org. Local police agencies hope to have corrected crime stats later this month.
The sheriff’s office, which handles approximately 13,500 reports annually, will not be reviewing its statistics, Gese said. “We just don’t have the time. 2023 is kind of in the rearview mirror.”
