GIG HARBOR, Wash. — A KING 5 viewer said Tacoma is seeing problems with property crime and homicide as of late, but said that it also often gets a bad rap for crime in other cities.
Mary asked KING 5's Verify Team, "Very frequently, we're told that the crime in Gig Harbor is due to Tacoma criminals crossing the bridge. Is this true?"
We spoke with Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey about crime trends for the city and whether or not it sees more crime being committed by people from Gig Harbor or from Tacoma.
THE QUESTION
Is crime happening in Gig Harbor due to Tacoma criminals?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the crime happening in Gig Harbor is not because of criminals from Tacoma
WHAT WE FOUND
Busey said it's not so cut and dry and often depends on the crime being committed.
"We do have a fair amount of suspects that come from Tacoma for sure, but that's not the only place that they come from,” said Busey.
We asked Gig Harbor police for data on all crimes and felony crimes committed in Gig Harbor from 2020 to 2022 showing where the people committing the crimes are from.
Gig Harbor police shared heat maps and crime data with KING 5.
"When we look at all crimes committed in Gig Harbor, we can draw lines to various parts of western Washington,” said Busey. "Whether that is Tacoma-centric, that's not necessarily true."
When looking at the heat map showing all crimes in Gig Harbor, you can see that most people committing crimes in Gig Harbor are from there, not Tacoma.
"If we're talking about all crimes, in general, of course, we're gonna get a higher concentration of suspects or arrestees that originate from Gig Harbor, and it branches out from that. But when we start parsing out different crimes -- theft, for instance -- we see different patterns emerge,” Busey said.
Looking at the following map, the highest concentration of people committing felonies in Gig Harbor come from zip codes in unincorporated Pierce County, just west of Gig Harbor, and Tacoma.
"They will come across the bridge to commit crimes, but I'm certain that there are people that would start in Gig Harbor and go across the bridge to commit crimes as well,” said Busey.
Busey said to blame the city's crime on Tacoma simply isn't accurate.
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