Crime in Airway Heights increased 97.4 percent from 2017 to 2018, according to the “2018 Crime in Washington Annual Report” released last week by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
Airway Heights experienced the fifth-highest increase in crime in the state among reporting agencies, according to the report.
Leaders at the Airway Heights Police Department initially said they had not seen the report and could not comment, but later the same day offered comments on its contents.
Sgt. Robert Swan said the city’s increase in population and transient housing contributed to the report’s findings.
“We’re just bigger than we were,” he said. “More businesses and more people.”
When questioned on what “transient housing” meant, Swan clarified that the significant increase in apartment developments can be a factor in crime statistics.
“Apartment buildings put a lot of people together and could be called generators,” Swan said.
According to the report, 177 agencies reported two consecutive years of data. Those agencies showed an average of a .7 percent decrease in the majority of offenses.
In Airway Heights, violent crimes in particular seemed to be on the rise. While the city’s murder statistic decreased from one case in 2017 to zero cases in 2018 — statistically described as a 100 percent decrease — other violent acts increased significantly.
The city’s rape reports increased by 500 percent, from one in 2017 to six in 2018, while aggravated assault experienced a 200 percent jump from seven to 21 reports, simple assault increased 55.6 percent from 72 to 112 cases and intimidation increased 166.7 percent from three reports to eight.
There were also two reported cases of sodomy in 2018 compared to zero in 2017. Weapons law violations increased by 400 percent from one offense to five, fondling increased by 20 percent and there was a 35.7 percent hike in violations of no contact/protection orders.
“We’re busier due to population increase and the kind of population increase,” Swan said. “We have lots more people visiting the city, plus housing going in and the kind of housing.”
Other crimes increased as well. Financial crimes showed a serious spike, with counterfeiting increasing by 320 percent and fraud offenses going up by more than 291 percent.
“Those are largely coming from forged checks or businesses in town getting counterfeit cash,” Swan said.
Airway Heights officers investigated a total of 1,050 offenses in 2018, arresting 285 people, 13 of which were juveniles.
Eighty-seven arrests, about 30 percent of all Airway Heights arrests, were made in relation to larceny-theft offenses. Such offenses increased by 80 percent in 2018, from 221 reported cases to 405. In 2018, nearly $389,800 in property was stolen, according to the report.
About 332 offenses — roughly 32 percent — were listed as “cleared.” According to FBI documents, a cleared offender has been charged and turned over for prosecution, though the report said offenders could also be cleared “by exceptional means” if there is a reason outside law enforcement control preventing their arrest like their death or arrest by another jurisdiction. Swan said the department could not comment on the exact definition or of cleared offenses in the context of Airway Heights.
The most common drug offenses, a whopping 45 percent, were for heroin use, followed closely by stimulants at 43 percent. Marijuana accounted for just 5 percent of offenses, followed by opiates at 3 percent, hallucinogens at 2 percent and other drugs at 2 percent.
As for what’s seen on the job, “it’s a close race between meth and heroin,” Swan said.
The Crime in Washington 2018 report was compiled from data voluntarily submitted by state law enforcement agencies. The data submitted uses what’s known as the National Incident-Based Reporting System, and the report specifies that the data cannot be used to compare agencies accurately due to variables that change by jurisdiction like population demographics, transportation systems and the jurisdiction’s proximity to military installations, correctional facilities, universities or state hospitals. Airway Heights, with a population of 9,085, is located near all four of those types of facilities.
The crime report should be taken at face value since the data “could be easy to spin,” Swan said.
“Personally, I think you can skew this stuff really easily,” he said. “For example, the report shows a 100 percent murder decrease, but it’s just one case.”
Other high crime rate increases came from Winthrop, which saw a jump in larceny and a 600 percent increase in assaults from one case to seven; Buckley, which saw a 3,000 percent increase in drug/narcotics violations; Coulee Dam, which had an 1,800 percent increase in simple assaults from one case to 19; and the Ferry County Sheriff’s Office, which combined reporting with the Republic Police Department in January 2018.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at shannen@cheneyfreepress.com.
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