Subscribe

Camas Police Department releases 2021 report

Police made 208 arrests, resonded to 9,211 calls last year

By
timestamp icon
category icon Latest News, News

The Camas Police Department has released its annual report showing 2021 crime statistics.

Some highlights from the report show the police department, which has 30 sworn officers and eight non-commissioned staff members logged 9,211 calls; wrote 1,012 reports; conducted 2,399 traffic stops; and made 208 arrests in 2021.

The report, released on Friday, June 24, also showed the police department responded to:

  • 156 thefts — down from 199 thefts in 2019 and 250 thefts in 2020;
  • 47 burglaries — up from 28 burglaries in 2019 and 39 burglaries in 2020;
  • 57 assaults — down from 58 assaults in 2019 and 66 assaults in 2020;
  • 2 rapes — down from 5 rapes in 2019 and 5 rapes in 2020;
  • 4 drug arrests — down from 14 drug arrests in 2019 and 16 drug arrests in 2020);
  • 49 DUIs (driving under the influence) — down from 72 DUIs in 2019 and 50 DUIs in 2020:
  • 1 robbery — down from 2 robberies in 2019 and 21 robberies in 2020;
  • zero homicides — similar to the zero homicides reported in 2019 and 2020; and
  • 138 traffic collisions, involving no traffic fatalities.

The report also shows response times for the department’s two patrol-response beats — Beat 92 in Camas’ downtown area and Beat 93 in the Prune Hill area and north of Lacamas Lake.

For the most urgent (priority 1) calls, the department’s average response times in 2021 were 21 seconds (Beat 92) and 4 minutes, 3 seconds (Beat 93). Those response times grew as the calls fell in urgency, with averages of:

  • 4 minutes, 6 seconds (priority 2 calls); 5 minutes, 35 seconds (priority 3 calls); 5 minutes 45 seconds (priority 4 calls); and 7 minutes, 35 seconds (priority 5 calls) in the Beat 92 area; and
  • 6 minutes, 51 seconds (priority 2 calls); 8 minutes, 25 seconds (priority 3 calls); 7 minutes 25 seconds (priority 4 calls); and 6 minutes, 17 seconds (priority 5 calls) in the Beat 93 area.

The report also noted the department’s 2021 highlights, including:

  • Participating in the regional Honor Guard program, which performs duties at memorial services for law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty and other formal events;
  • Participating in the Pink Patch Project, a program that increases public awareness about breast cancer and raises funds to fight the disease, for the first year ever, and raising $1,073 selling pink patches for the nonprofit Pink Lemonade Project;
  • Working with the Police Activity League, which organizes literacy events at local elementary schools and collects toys and bicycles to give to children in need during the Christmas holiday season;
  • Wishing longtime parking officer Tami Strunk a happy retirement after 23 years of service for the city doing parking and code enforcement work; and
  • Responding to a slate of new, statewide police-reform legislation and mandates.

The report also noted that Camas police officer Brent Mayhugh was selected as the department’s employee of the year for 2021.

In 2021, the city of Camas budgeted $19.71 million (about 18% of its $111 million 2021 budget) for public safety. The majority of that budget ($12.5 million) was earmarked for fire/emergency medical services, while another $6.86 million was meant for law enforcement.

Of that budgeted $6.86 million, 94% paid for police department employees (including $3.52 million for salaries and $1.33 million for benefits), 2% was for animal control, 1.9% was budgeted for code enforcement, 1.1% was meant to pay for parking enforcement and about 1% was reserved for facilities and COVID-related expenses.c