MILL CREEK — A lot has changed during the 23 years that Mill Creek Police Chief Bob Crannell has been with the city.
It used to be the only reason people went to Mill Creek 23 was to sleep or play golf, said Crannell, who started working for the city in 1986 and was part of a what was then a five-person police force.
Today, a regional shopping center defines the city’s center. Suburban businesses have thrived, the population has surged and the city’s boundaries have grown through annexation.
There’s about two dozen officers and the city is looking to hire four more.
Still, despite growth and pressure from surrounding communities, the crime rate during the last year in Mill Creek has gone down, statistics show.
“We’re extremely proud of our crime numbers,” said Crannell, 47.
The number of burglaries, auto thefts and vehicle prowls all declined in the 2008 below the number from 2007.
The numbers went down as a result of a redeployment of patrol officers, he said. Teams now are assigned to cruise regions of the city. This gives the officers an in-depth familiarity with an area. That helps them to know who belongs and who might be suspicious. On any shift, they might drive through a neighborhood six times, Crannell said.
The near constant presence of patrol cars also deters the bad guys, he said.
Now, the department is looking at how to prepare for the next 20 years. The police department plans to solicit input from residents, business and elected officials on how best to protect the city, the chief said.
Officials plan to balance what the department can do on its own with what can be done to share resources with neighboring police departments and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
There’s one other metric officials say shows that the community believes the police department is doing a good job, Cmdr. Lance Davenport said.
“An absence of complaints means we’re doing something right,” he said.
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com
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