Kennewick police say targeting gangs cut violent crime

Crime in Kennewick last year plunged to the lowest level in two decades, according to numbers released Tuesday by the police department.

Violent crimes and property crimes were down for a second year in a row. The total number of crimes reported went from 2,646 to 2,401 last year.

Violent crimes — homicides, rapes, robberies and assaults — were down 28 percent and the overall crime rate declined 9 percent, the largest drop since 2007, according to the report.

In all, violent crimes fell from 186 the year before to 134 last year.

The department placed an emphasis on stopping violent crimes in the city by aggressively going after gang members with a special unit called the Criminal Apprehension Team and help from the FBI, said Sgt. Ken Lattin, police spokesman.

The result, Lattin said, was a significant impact on criminal gang activity in Kennewick, something that was reflected in the lower crime numbers.

“We were on the offensive. When you are on the offensive they don’t want to come here to commit crimes,” he said. “That spills over into everything else. The gangs are intertwined with other crimes.”

After a record number of homicide victims in 2014, the police classified three deaths as homicides last year.

Police say Doug Brown, 64, shot his wife, Elena, 64, and their daughter, Carmina, 27, inside the family’s Kennewick home. The case was ruled a murder-suicide.

And on Christmas Eve, Francisco Javier Munoz Quintero, 20, is accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend, Luisa Garcia Farias, 21. He is charged with second-degree murder.

Kennewick police are not counting the police shooting death of Roark K. Cook, 36, who was killed during a standoff, as a homicide case.

And they did not classify the fatal hit-and-run deaths of Michael P. Robinson, 58, and Mark Brown Sr., 49, as homicide deaths. Robinson was hit Feb. 22 while walking on Columbia Center Boulevard. Brown fell out of his motorized chair Aug. 26 and was struck at the intersection of Washington Street and Eighth Avenue.

The only crimes that saw an increase last year were thefts and arson cases. There were 1,769 thefts reported, up by nearly 70 cases. Arson cases more than doubled, from 13 intentional fires in 2014 to 29 last year, the report said.

As the population of Kennewick has continued to grow over the years, the city has seen a steady decline in the crime rate per 1,000 people, said officials.

Twenty years ago, the crime rate was 76 crimes per 1,000 residents, compared with last year’s rate of about 31 crimes per 1,000 residents, the report said.

Lattin told the Herald the significant drop over two years shows the community that the police force has been committed to combating crime.

“It’s a huge reduction, although our population has grown almost double during that time,” Lattin said. “That’s a very proud statistic. It shows it’s not an anomaly.”

The department credits revenue generated by the voter-approved public safety sales tax with playing a role in lower crime rates.

Detectives can now investigate cases after hours without the worry of overtime constraints and the department has added a handful of new officers, all made possible by taxpayer dollars, Lattin said. And Chief Ken Hohenberg plans to add more officers to the force this year.

Also contributing to the successful year was citizen tips through social media and Crime Stoppers, and partnerships with other law enforcement agencies in the Tri-Cities and region, Lattin said.

“(Citizens) trust us,” he said. “That makes a big difference.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Kennewick police say targeting gangs cut violent crime."