Officials willing to collaborate as crime lab moves ahead without Yakima

Yakima will not formally participate in the regional crime lab proposed for Yakima County, but intelligence sharing among agencies is still possible, top law enforcement officials said.

A split Yakima City Council decided against joining the regional effort Tuesday, shooting down a motion to bring back a resolution and amended contract with the Yakima Valley Council of Governments to join the effort for one year.

The county awarded $2.8 million to YVCOG this year to operate the regional lab out of a substation in Zillah. Proponents say the effort will establish a single repository for suspect information, evidence and weapons ballistics and improve information sharing among the county’s 13 law enforcement agencies.

The regional lab will be administered by YVCOG, but overseen by a board of police chiefs.

Discussion in Yakima

The Yakima council was split 4-3 on the decision Tuesday, with Mayor Janice Deccio, Deputy Mayor Soneya Lund and council members Danny Herrera and Eliana Macias voting against and council members Matt Brown, Patricia Byers and Holly Cousens voting in support of the city’s participation.

Deccio and Lund agreed with findings by city staff that the services the city would receive by joining the lab – crime mapping software, analysts and ballistics testing – would duplicate services already provided to or by the city.

Brown, Byers and Cousens said the duplication, and associated costs of $91,099 for the city’s first year of participation in the program, would be worth it for the information sharing and intelligence benefit it would provide.

“The lab side of things to me is – I don’t see a benefit at all to our department because we already have all of those aspects,” Brown said at the meeting. “The intelligence side, though, I would argue that more intelligence is always better, period.”

Yakima police Chief Matt Murray, who voiced opposition to Yakima’s formal participation in the effort, said more information does benefit the city, but he said that communication is already occurring and is not a service that needs to be paid for.

City Manager Bob Harrison said Wednesday that the council’s decision not to participate in the lab was consistent with recommendations from city staff.

“The council made the decision last night to not participate fully, but all that means is that we’ll still work with them. It’s just that we’re not going to be a full member,” Harrison said.

Yakima County Sheriff Bob Udell, the chair of the board that will oversee the regional lab, said the council’s vote was disappointing but not surprising.

“We are very disappointed that Chief Murray did not want to participate, but perhaps when the lab’s success is public he will change his mind, or a change of leadership will bring Yakima into the fold,” Udell said in an email Wednesday.

Murray said the services provided by the lab are beneficial for agencies in the county that don’t have the funds to support similar programs individually. He said he hopes the services are successful so the departments can collaborate.

Collaboration

Though Yakima will not formally participate in the regional crime lab proposed for Yakima County, law enforcement officials have signaled a willingness to share information.

Udell said in an email Wednesday he was not sure if the Yakima Police Department will want to work with the regional lab. He said his agency does not currently receive any information from YPD’s analysts.

“Considering that lack of information flow, will they participate at all? To participate would be a change of culture in that regard towards fellow local agencies,” he said in the email.

Udell went on to say that if Yakima does wish to share information, “we absolutely will.”

He said the regional lab’s executive board will determine policies on any information flow after the lab is running.

Murray maintains that the city of Yakima already shares intelligence information with agencies throughout the county, including through regular meetings with federal and local police agencies and through crime mapping software.

Murray said he wants to continue sharing intelligence between agencies, and he encouraged the Sheriff’s Office in getting its own analysts because of the benefit they provide.

“We’re doing it, and we will still do it and we want to do it,” he said Wednesday. “Nothing about us not participating changes the amount of sharing and intel work that can be done.”

Yakima’s department has the budget for three analysts. Two of the positions are filled.

Murray said the vacant position has been posted twice and received final candidates twice, but a hire wasn’t made either time. He said the position will be posted again at the beginning of the year.

“It’s hard to find qualified candidates in lots of positions. The higher skill positions right now across the country are really difficult,” he said. “We will continue, and I think we’ll get somebody eventually and that’ll be great. But we do have two, and they’re doing a good job. They’re plugging away.”

Lab funding

Udell said Yakima’s decision not to participate in the regional crime lab proposed for Yakima County will not affect the overall budget for the effort for at least three years.

“The plan has been to hire four analysts, but that can be scaled back to three as well to accommodate the funding we do have. Without Yakima, the need for four will not be there,” Udell said in an email.

The group will deal with the long-term loss of Yakima’s share by adjusting staffing plans and seeking federal and state funding, he said. As the department with the largest resident population in the county, the city of Yakima would have had the largest share of funding responsibility for the lab.

“The project has attracted a lot of attention from federal and state lawmakers,” he said. “Regional efforts are encouraged, and in counties like ours that have significant problems, the only way to success.”