The city of SeaTac has a population of over 25,000 permanent residents. Yet thousands of other people move through it every day by way of SeaTac International Airport. This creates very special demands for police services in the community.

SeaTac has contracted with the Sheriff's Office since incorporation in 1990. Their police chief oversees the activities of a 51-person force that includes patrol officers, detectives, and support staff. The city can also call on the support of the Sheriff's Office special teams such as canine units, bomb squads, and drug enforcement. The SeaTac police are easily identifiable in the community as they wear blue uniforms with the city-marked patches and drive city-marked patrol cars.

Crime Prevention

The SeaTac Police Department’s first priority is to do all they can to prevent the next crime from occurring. They strive to accomplish this through community education and collaboration. Programs such as Neighborhood Crime Watch, Crime Free Multi-Unit Housing, Citizens Academies and the SeaTac Owners and Managers Pride in Properties (STOMPP) are examples of police-community collaboration. SeaTac has provided a School Resource Officer to serve its schools, and actively works with the business community to make SeaTac a safe place to conduct business.

Additionally, SeaTac has been exploring ways of preventing crime through better design, lighting and other Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) approaches. SeaTac was also the proud sponsor of the 2001 International Crime Free Conference.

Communicating with Crime Victims

Graduates from SeaTac’s Citizens’ Academy have joined with the police to improve communication with and responsiveness to crime victims. These volunteers attempt to contact every crime victim to find out if they have additional information about their crime, inform them of the status of their case, encourage participation in crime prevention programs, and determine their satisfaction with how police responded to their incident.

Improving Traffic Safety

SeaTac Police have worked hard to reduce deaths, injuries and property damage associated with traffic accidents. They have studied where, when and how accidents occur with other city departments and agencies, and are working to reduce accidents through a variety of education, enforcement and engineering efforts. The SeaTac City Council recently enhanced their efforts by passing an ordinance that requires the impounding of vehicles driven by persons whose license has been suspended.