FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Federal Way police say crime is trending down for the third year in a row despite many things residents may be seeing on social media.
Commander Kurt Schwan said in 2019 robbery is down 31%, residential burglary is down 33%, aggravated assault is down 24% and car theft is down 20%.
Police said given all the media attention and access to social media people are focused on crime as a major issue. Schwan said just like any other city crime does exist in Federal Way, but not to the extent that people think.
"To be honest, most breaking news things are not positive," said Schwan. "So when you get bombarded with all this information on a regular basis, you start to believe that all that's going on out there is crime."
He said police have seen great success as they aggressively tackle crime throughout the city.
Federal Way's Safe City program has placed more than 240 cameras throughout the city, and the program expanded this year with volunteers now monitoring video inside the department's Incident Command Center.
Police are also able to access this video from their patrol cars.
"It allows us to monitor intersections and businesses, things like that, and increase the safety for the citizens, and it also allows us to review that video and be able to track people down," Schwan said. "We've had great success this year with some assaults that may have happened where we used the camera information to identify suspects and make arrests."
Schwan the police department's Automated License Plate Reader System has also been helpful as they identify car thieves and make arrests.