Citizen reporting

The Mason County Sheriff’s Office announced a “triage” for increasing calls for service that mostly limits responses to in-progress crimes, according to a news release.

Known as “Citizen Reporting,” the program started Nov. 1 and requires MACECOM to divert certain 911 callers to a new online form.

“We understand due to historic increases in reported crimes and limitations on available Patrol Deputies to respond, we have had to triage what types of incidents we can respond in person. This has created long wait times for our community members,” according to the release posted on MCSO Facebook page.

“Because of these and other factors, MCS Patrol will no longer respond to the following incidents which are NOT IN PROGRESS where the suspect is not positively identified: Frauds, Harassing Phone Calls, Identity Theft, Lost Property, Non-Reportable (no injury & less than $1,000 in damage) collisions, Thefts, Thefts from Vehicles (vehicle prowl), or Vandalism (malicious mischief). If our citizens call into MACECOM for these incidents they will be redirected to the Mason County Sheriff webpage https://masoncountywa.gov/sheriff/ to file an ONLINE REPORT,” the release states.

People experiencing an active crime or emergency should still call 911, according to the release.

“I got hammered,” Sheriff Ryan Spurling said about social media comments regarding the change.

Spurling and MCSO Sgt. Brian Spera spoke with the Journal Tuesday about the new system.

The sheriff said he understood community concerns.

“We didn’t do the greatest job in presenting it in such a way that it would alleviate some of those concerns,” he said.

Some people are worried those without Internet access won’t get a response, he said.

“That’s not the case,” according to Spurling.

Spera, who provided research for the Citizen Reporting project, said law enforcement has been working with MACECOM on the new system.

“We have worked very strongly with MACECOM, who will be the primary screener,” he said.

“If somebody doesn’t have access to the Internet, or if they don’t feel comfortable using it, they can ask to receive an in-person or telephone contact from law enforcement to investigate their incident,” Spera said.

Diverting nonemergency 911 calls to online reporting is something other jurisdictions are using successfully, according to Spurling.

“Most of the larger agencies around us have had this in existence for a long time. It doesn’t reduce the service. If anything, it enhances the service to the citizens,” Spurling said.

Spera added it was a quick way to file a police report.

“We are using the online reporting as a way for people who are not able to wait for contact with law enforcement, give them an avenue to be able to enter their incident that’s not in progress, that we don’t know the name of a suspect, and they’re looking for a case number in a fairly short fashion. We’re going to give them an opportunity to get that,” he said.

A recently-hired community service office will review every incident submitted online, according to Spera.

“Part of her job is, as soon as that is reviewed and approved, getting that case number to a citizen and getting the case immediately in front of a supervisor,” Spera said.

People can also upload pictures and video to their case file.

Some nonemergency incidents will still get an in-person response.

A tiny home and its contents stolen from Grapeview last month is one example of theft not in progress but still receiving a deputy visit.

Spurling called it an “extremely significant loss.”

He said some calls may not be in-progress events but still require evidence collection.

“We’re going to want to follow up with that,” he said. “We’re not talking about cases where there’s still evidence that needs to be collected right away.”

The online reports are a “tool” MCSO will use to free up officers not only to respond to active crimes, but to be proactive, according to Spera and Spurling.

“The big thing we want to do is be proactive,” Spurling said.

One MCSO budget request for Mason County commissioners is A ProAct sergeant, who would target criminals instead of responding to 911 calls, at $155,100, according to draft budget documents.

“We’ve seen a vast increase in calls for service over the past several years,” Spera said.

He said MCSO was working to get fully staffed.

“When we say fully staffed, we’re only fully staffed for a 2017 level. We’ve had an increase in crimes, so right now we’re going to utilize this tool to allow deputies to get in front of this surge in criminal reports and try and make them available to be proactive,” Spera said.

“This is all moving us towards that proactive posture,” Spurling added.

MACECOM callers have quickly adapted to the program, according to Spera. As of Tuesday, 15 online reports have been filed.

“I am extremely surprised,” Spera said.

MCSO was expecting maybe two or three reports to be submitted during November and December, he said.

“It’s been very successful so far,” Spera said.

Spurling said MCSO will follow up with people who used the online reports and members of the community about the experience.

“This is new. We want to make sure it’s actually serving our community,” Spurling said.