Violent crimes drop for WWPD
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, February 17th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WALLA WALLA – Walla Walla Police Chief Scott Bieber has released the crime statistics for the city in 2020 and there was a drop in violent crimes. The statistics show there were 79 violent crimes last year, compared to 107 in 2019.
Of those 79 violent crimes, 19 occurred within the walls of the Washington State Penitentiary. WWPD is required to count those crimes in reports to the National Incident Based Reporting System.
“No doubt 2020 provided us all with opportunities to overcome certain challenges,” Bieber wrote in his report. “We managed to work our way through a health pandemic presented by the COVID-19 virus. We managed to work our way through an economic pandemic in part caused by the fallout of the health pandemic. And we continue working our way through a social pandemic in the calls for social justice and reforms to policing in America.”
Bieber credited several department functions that go into making Walla Walla a desirable place to live, work, and play. The methods include working to reduce crime rates, quicker response times, stepped up patrols, parking enforcement, animal control, code enforcement, and a continuing review of biased-based policing.
The full report is at https://www.wallawallawa.gov/home/showpublisheddocument?id=5056.
