Acquiring additional resources
LIBERTY LAKE – The Liberty Lake Police Department is the city department that was allocated the biggest chunk of the 2024 budget, with 33% being allocated for public safety.
According to Police Chief Damon Simmons, this is helping the department bring in some additional officers and resources.
He said the department is bringing on two additional lateral officers to join the police force, but that is just the beginning of their expansion.
Simmons also said they will be updating their evidence facility, which will help eliminate some overtime costs as well as simplify the evidence storage process.
“We are updating our evidence facility which is extremely important,” Simmons said. “Because evidence makes or breaks a case.”
He said the department needs to be able to securely store evidence, so investigations are not compromised.
“Right now our evidence facility is a little outdated,” Simmons said. “Our lockers right now are limited in size and we are starting to see larger objects like rifles and such.”
According to Simmons, some of the existing lockers are not working and won’t currently lock, so some updating is essential to keep their evidence room running.
Simmons said some more license plate reading cameras, known as FLOCK cameras, are also being installed in the city.
Simmons said the department budgeted five cameras for 2024, but if they can procure supplementary grants they may put in as many as 16 additional cameras.
The city currently has 19 cameras in the existing camera network.
Simmons said the additional cameras will help the department be more proactive and reactive in their investigations, and that the existing cameras have helped the department exponentially.
“I’ll tell you what,” Simmons said. “It’s like having 19 additional officers out there that are stationary.”
Simmons said the department has been able to solve or prevent multiple crimes through updates provided by the camera system.
One more addition coming to Liberty Lake police will be implementing another speed trailer in town.
Simmons said the trailers help to compile traffic data such as speeds and traffic volumes, and that can help the department prioritize which areas to focus on for traffic enforcement.
Matthew graduated from West Virginia University-Parkersburg in 2011 with a journalism degree. He's an award-winning photographer and enjoys writing stories about people.
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