Law enforcement funding, recruitment, retention challenging

OLYMPIA — A proposal to allocate money to help hire additional law enforcement officers would address one part of a complex challenge — but recruiting isn’t necessarily the biggest challenge for Columbia Basin law enforcement agencies. That was the reaction of local law enforcement agencies to the proposed legislation. 

Senate Bill 5060 is sponsored by Senators Jeff Holy (R-Spokane) and Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond) and would allocate up to $100 million to help agencies statewide to hire additional officers. The grants would provide 75% of the cost of an entry-level salary for three years. The local agency would provide the remaining 25%, and that, said Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner, is where the challenge comes in. 

“For small agencies like (ACSO), that just doesn’t work for us because we can’t do the 25% match, because our funding is not there to hire anybody,” Wagner said. “And after three years you have to (fund) the whole thing. So, it’s really a struggle for smaller communities.” 

Holy said in a press release that crime in Washington is a growing problem, in part because the state doesn’t have enough officers. 

“Washington ranks among the worst states in several categories, including murders, auto theft and retail theft,” Holy said. “A key reason is that we also rank 51st nationally for the number of law enforcement officers per capita.”  

Moses Lake Police Chief Dave Sands said Holy was right that staffing levels are low across the state. Moses Lake, however, is in a pretty good position. 

“The (Moses Lake City Council) has made public safety a priority and committed to more positions,” Sands wrote in answer to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “If all goes as planned the MLPD will have 49 officers by the end of 2025 and 50 officers in the agency by end of 2026. That would put us at 1.8 to 1.85 officers per thousand, which is higher than the current Washington state average of 1.29. It is also important to mention the Moses Lake School District provides funds to pay over half the costs of our four school resource officers.” 

Othello Police Chief Dave Rehaume said OPD has the staff it needs, at least for now. 

“Currently, we are fully staffed,” he said. “We’ve been lucky.” 

Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said Quincy was also close to a full roster.  

“We’re pretty fortunate where we’re at as far as staffing,” Green said, with a high number of officers in relation to Quincy’s population.  

Green said the challenge for Quincy lies elsewhere. 

“I think that money would be most beneficial if it went toward hiring and retention,” he said. “(Retention) is the one thing we have to deal with constantly.”  

Wagner said that’s a common challenge for small law enforcement agencies.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate – I've been able to keep most of my (patrol) guys for a pretty good length of time. But small agencies right now are struggling with the revolving door. After two, three years, people tend to leave, and you’re starting all over,” he said. 

Rehaume said the work environment plays a big role in retention, in his experience. 

‘It’s not always pay,” he said.  

What he called “officer wellness and resilience” are just as important, Rehaume said. Support in the workplace – and the community – really matters, he said. 

Some of it is about pay, Green said. Quincy has a healthy property tax base, he said, but a lot of that money goes toward facilities rather than things like wages.  

Being able to offer additional training at the state level would help local departments, he said. Continuing education opportunities are a challenge, due in part to short staffing at the Criminal Justice Training Commission.  

“They don’t have enough money for trainers,” Green said.  

Wagner said the biggest challenge for Adams County is the Adams County Jail, closed since 2022. 

“I have a jail that’s struggling right now, because - one, manpower; two, the cost outsourcing, and we can’t do the same way we’ve been doing it for so many years. We need double the staff, and we don’t have the funding to do that,” he said. “We’re spending a lot of money on outsourcing, and there’s really no other way to do it currently.” 

Adams County is not the only county facing challenges with its jail, he said, and state assistance for corrections is something legislators should consider. 

Rehaume said that while OPD is fully staffed, he would apply for a grant to hire additional officers, “because of the amount of growth that we’re seeing now. We are growing and there’s going to be a time when we need more officers.”  

Even with the additional revenue generated through growth, Othello can’t afford to expand the OPD without some outside funding, he said. But with the projected growth the city should be able to pay for the expansion after any grant it received expired, Rehaume said. 

    Othello Police Chief Dave Rehaume, left, and Assistant OPD Chief Aaron Garza, right, hang the plaque recognizing the OPD’s accreditation. Hiring additional officers statewide is the focus of a bill submitted for consideration during the 2025 Washington Legislative Session.
  

    Washington State Senator Jeff Holy (R-Spokane) is co-sponsoring a bill to allocate up to $100 million to hire additional law enforcement officers statewide.