Amid police staffing crisis, new state academy opens in Arlington

ARLINGTON — Washington hopes a new police training academy in Arlington can be a key piece in the puzzle to fill law enforcement ranks statewide.

The new Arlington facility is the third police training academy the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission has opened in the past 18 months.

On Tuesday, the training commission held a ceremony to “soft launch” the academy near the city’s airport. Gov. Jay Inslee, state Sen. John Lovick, Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson and the commission’s executive director, Monica Alexander, all spoke during the event.

The commission expects to train 60 recruits at the Arlington academy each year and about 800 total statewide. The facility is expected to fully open in early 2025.

The state has five academies, in Arlington, Pasco, Vancouver, Spokane and Burien.

Officials hope opening new facilities will cut down wait times for slots at police academies. Inslee called the opening in Arlington “one of the great bipartisan successes” of state government. Some local agencies have reported six-month wait times to get a recruit into a classroom.

Legislators allocated more than $1.5 million for the Snohomish County facility earlier this year.

“We need more law enforcement officers in the state of Washington,” Inslee said Tuesday. “We need them on our streets. We need them in our forensic labs. We need them throughout the law enforcement community, both city, counties and state. And this is fundamental to achieving more law enforcement officers on the street.”

Washington has had trouble filling law enforcement positions in recent years.

Washington ranks 51st in the nation for law enforcement staffing, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs reported this summer. Staffing saw net losses in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, the state saw a modest gain in law enforcement recruitment, but it still decreased per capita due to population growth.

Snohomish County showed a net gain of one sheriff’s deputy from Jan. 1 to late June this year.

About 20 elected officials attended Tuesday’s event, joined by dozens of law enforcement officers from agencies across the state.

“We’ve struggled, as mentioned, for the last few years, getting folks in the door. Nothing’s worse than making that hire,” Johnson said. “And I think everybody in this room knows how difficult it is to make that hire just to have them sit and wait. So the changes and the solution that came have been amazing, so far.”

The new training facilities allow training to be more regionalized, officials said. Months of work are required to pass the academy. Recruits usually stay nearby. The hope is that with closer training centers, it will be easier for those interested to stay in the program.

Alexander said the academy trains recruits in firearms, driving, defensive tactics, communication and general principles of law enforcement. In addition to city police, state Fish and Wildlife, tribes, counties and state university officers can all attend the program.

Someone has to be hired as a police officer before they can enter the academy.

Lovick, a former Washington State Patrol trooper, Snohomish County sheriff and county executive, called the opening, “a great day for our region and a great day for our state.”

Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; X: @jordyhansen.