Camas Police Department to fill three positions

The Camas Police Department has begun the process of filling supervisory gaps within its ranks with three newly added positions, a move aimed at alleviating years of staffing pressures that have strained the agency’s resources.

Camas Police Chief Tina Jones said the department is moving forward with adding one police lieutenant and two sergeants.

Clark County voters in 2022 approved a public safety sales tax that increased sales tax in the county by one-tenth of 1 percent or 1 cent for every $10 spent, with the revenue to be divided between the county and cities
. Jones said it was implemented in January 2023, and the Camas police positions it will fund were approved last fall.

Jones recently presented requests to the city’s Civil Service Commission to begin testing for both entry-level and lateral police officers.

The hiring push comes after Jones identified the department’s staffing levels as critical in late 2024. She advocated for the addition of two police lieutenants, one for operations and one for administration; two patrol sergeants; an administrative supervisor; and two officers in the 2025-26 budget cycle.

She said understaffing has stretched the department thin and that the department hasn’t added a supervisor position in 20 years.

“There are days where we may have as many as 14 hours a day without that extra frontline supervisor role to provide necessary guidance and support for the team members,” Jones said. “The vision right now is to get two lieutenants to take some of the load off the captain’s plate and fill that supervisor gap.”

The staffing drive arrives as the city of Camas continues to expand. Camas’ population was 27,970 as of April 1 and had grown 7 percent since 2020, according to Washington’s Office of Financial Management. Jones said the police force has struggled to keep pace with the city’s growth.

Prior to the new positions, the Camas Police Department operated with 29 sworn positions and one vacancy. This roster includes Jones, a police captain, six sergeants with four covering patrol, two school resource officers and two detectives, leaving a core patrol division of 18 officers to cover two rotating 24/7 squad operations, Jones said.

The department has faced staff shortages for several years, a situation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic when several “critical positions” were withheld due to financial uncertainty, Jones said. The city’s 2025-26 biennial budget prioritized restoring and expanding police staffing, acknowledging that payroll already accounts for roughly 89 percent of the city’s general fund expenditures.

Jones said the 2025 budget for the police department was $8.5 million, and for 2026, it is just over $9 million, which is about 22 percent of the general fund.

Camas is not alone in its struggle to retain and recruit officers. Washington currently ranks last in the nation for police staffing per capita, a position it has held for 15 consecutive years.

According to data from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the state averages just 1.36 commissioned officers per 1,000 residents, well below the national average of 2.3. Camas tracks closely with this low state average, operating with roughly 1.16 officers per 1,000 residents.

State officials estimate that bringing Washington’s staffing levels up to the national average would require an additional annual investment of over $1 billion.

While Camas cannot solve the statewide deficit, Jones’ hiring initiative represents a significant local investment in reversing the trend.

“I just want to express gratitude to our leadership and the community for providing us with the ability to add these positions to meet the needs of our community,” Jones said.