Yakima County (Washington) Commissioners LaDon Linde and Ron Anderson have approved the $2.8 million ARPA application forward and instructed staff to enter into an agreement with the Yakima Valley Conference of Governments to immediately launch the new Yakima Regional Crime Intelligence Center.
The project will enhance the capability of law enforcement to solve crimes and streamline collaboration among the participating jurisdictions in the valley. The service will include lab and forensic support technicians who will aid local detectives in their case work, as well as provide high level intelligence staff who will help connect the dots across the region and assist law enforcement across jurisdictional boundaries.
Linde identified public safety as his top priority when considering the use of the nearly $49M in American Rescue Plan Act funds (ARPA) that are being passed through the federal government to Yakima County in two phases in 2021 and 2022. Commissioners called for projects that meet the federal requirements, and Yakima Valley Conference of Governments (YVCOG) submitted an application to fund the project.
In his remarks during the Commissioners’ public meeting last week, Linde said he had three main reasons for moving the proposal to immediate approval: to support law enforcement agencies in their collaborative efforts, to enhance the participating cities’ match funding, and in response to the people’s concern about crime.
Anderson’s remarks in favor of the project were regarding his concern about the rise in violent crime across the valley as well, and his desire to support faster law enforcement investigations, lab work and providing evidence for more rapid prosecutions. He stated his belief that the enhanced speed will provide savings for city and county governments across the region.
The funds will purchase $1.2M in equipment for rapid DNA equipment, NIBIN ballistic firearms examination capability, GrayKey and Cellebrite programs for accessing cell phone and computer data, as well as crime-mapping software. The program will also hire expert level intelligence, forensic and ballistic firearm staff to serve local law enforcement agencies.
Much of this work has traditionally been conducted by the Washington State Patrol’s state crime labs in Seattle and Cheney, but this project will provide the Yakima Valley’s participating agencies with local control and the ability to expedite and prioritize their cases in collaboration with local departments.
The Yakima County Sheriff’s Office and YVCOG, along with local law enforcement agencies, are working in concert with several state and federal agencies to enhance and support strong partnerships and make the program more robust.
“Our capability for building cases and making them stick will be greatly enhanced,” Sheriff Bob Udell said. “The time for a true collaborative effort among all our agencies is now, and I am excited to move this forward and tackle our valley’s crime problems head on.”
The program’s ongoing funding is currently designed to be split among the participating agencies according to population. Larger agencies will pay a larger contribution for their match because they will naturally use the center’s resources more often. YVCOG is pursuing a variety of grants and strategies to support the ongoing costs of the program, so the local funding needs are as minimal as possible.
For example, the cost to smaller cities, based on population, is estimated to cost $540 a year for the Town of Harrah in the first year, while larger populations like Sunnyside will cost approximately $15,275 a year. and Toppenish $8,261 for the first year. These are estimates and will vary slightly based on final participating agencies and agreements, but these figures demonstrate a good faith estimate for the public to understand how the program has been designed.
“The goal is to provide expert level service to every member and make it affordable to even the smallest towns in our valley,” said YVCOG Executive Director Chris Wickenhagen.
Republished courtesy of Yakima County.