Crime Forum

At a crime forum held by Lakewood City Councilor Mary Janssen, September, 2022,  residents asked whether or not Lakewood had an adequate police force to handle the high levels of crime.

Lakewood PD reports nearly 400 employees and over 100 volunteers. They are reportedly fully staffed to within a few positions. Recruiting is always ongoing. In fact, Lakewood is currently recruiting a new police chief.  Full staffing but increasing visible crime suggests a disparity.

There are multiple methods to determine optimum staffing levels, including per capita and workload. Per capita appears to be the easiest and most common. Workload staffing is time intensive and costly. According to an International City/County Management Association (ICMA) analysis, staffing by crime level is different than workload analysis. They also find that tying staff numbers to crime “essentially provides incentives for poor performance and disincentives for good performance” and is rarely used anymore.

Examining police staffing per capita with data provided to the FBI

The data show that Lakewood is within average for officer staffing levels. However, anecdotal evidence from the crime forum and nextdoor.com tells of officers being overwhelmed and slow to respond due to high number of calls.  Visible evidence is seen by the increasing number of Lakewood stores that must employ private security.

Crime statistics for Lakewood are published in an annual report. Per the report, Lakewood saw a significant increase in identity theft (143%), wire fraud (68%), and theft of motor vehicle parts (61%). Lakewood saw a decrease in shoplifting (-27%) and theft from building (-19%).

According to AreaVibes.com, Lakewood would rank an F for crime.

Lakewood Chief of Police Daniel McCasky wrote: “Lakewood is changing to meet the needs of its residents… These improvements are only possible if people are and feel safe.”  Do you?