Sunnyside has come a long way since 2007 when we attracted national attention for a protracted wave of rampant crime and gang violence (NPR, Seattle, LA Times). In response, our Sunnyside police department attempted to move beyond a reactive, incident-driven model of policing by reaching out to the community for help in identifying problems and finding solutions that might better deal with the sources of crime and gang violence. Within a few years the rising crime rate reversed and continued in a downward direction through the next decade, culminating in a frequently cited ranking by the national trade association for security alarm installers who declared Sunnyside the 3rd safest city in Washington State.

Downward trends, however, provide little consolation for victims of the brutal crime that persists in Sunnyside. The tendency of drug traffickers to follow rural routes, the scarcity of employment opportunities, fragmented public security agencies servicing a dispersed population are among the many factors attracting criminal activity and creating a challenge for Sunnyside law enforcement.

Which makes the current city council’s diminishing support for our police the more disconcerting. Over the past 5 years, the city has chosen to take the most contentious stances in their negotiations with the police unions. In addition, it has actively discouraged the use of many of the problem-oriented strategies that proved so successful in Sunnyside. The fallout from these obstructive policies are compounded when our most veteran officers - those who were at the forefront of implementing Sunnyside’s effective community outreach and gang mitigation programs - become frustrated and take their skills to other communities or seek earlier retirement.

We are just now beginning to see the predictable results from this city council’s adversarial posture towards law enforcement. Anecdotally, stories of Sunnyside murders and armed robberies have filled an increasing portion of our local news. Statistically, Sunnyside has reached the top spot for motor vehicle thefts per capita with one of the highest rates in the nation. CrimeGrade.org recently gave Sunnyside an overall crime grade of F and NeighborhoodScout.com stated “With a crime rate of 37 per one thousand residents, Sunnyside has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 27. Within Washington, more than 86% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Sunnyside.” Even Alarms.org, the oft cited source of “third safest town in Washington” has had to knock Sunnyside out of its top 20.

Our police are a public good, the most impactful public good that our city controls. When a government official abuses this public good for private interests - whether to reinforce extremist agendas, sate personal petty grievances, or stoke fears for political aims - they devalue the worth of a police officer’s work and express contempt for their own constituency. Beyond the obvious fact that redistributing income and wealth to a criminal class neither reduces poverty nor alleviates social tensions - our rising crime acts as a tax on the entire local economy: destroying productivity, reducing competitiveness, raising security expenses, creating uncertainty and inefficiency, and inhibiting investments.

Understandably, those city council members incapable of listening to the community they serve will not see the value of supporting a police force working to cultivate relationships within that same community. The past decade has shown us that with sufficient resources supporting the right people implementing the proper strategies, it is possible to solve Sunnyside’s crime problem. Unfortunately, the dramatic resurgence of criminal activity over the past couple of years has also shown us that this possibility will never be realized until we change the thinking that controls our city council.