Patrick Smith, LPD Chief of Police

June 15, 2023

Lakewood Lyre: What are your immediate impressions of the Lakewood Police Department?

Chief Patrick Smith: "I'm just really feeling my way around the department learning the department as a whole. My initial impression is that for the most part Lakewood is a very good department. A lot of work has been done to try to get it right and do things appropriately with the community. The most important thing that I like is that the Lakewood Police Department is a learning organization. I use the term 'learning organization' meaning that training is built into the schedule. And so there's regularly scheduled training for all officers so that as laws change, as circumstances change, and as things come up, even if you're just changing the mission..."

(At this point diners interrupt the interview to thank Chief Smith.)

Diners: "I just wanted to say thank you for the service you guys do. It's wonderful and I feel grateful for having you around."

PS: "Well, thank you."

Diners: "...people are doing a great job considering the situation."

PS: "We're going to continue to do our best and make sure that everyone is remaining safe."

Diners: "We need a special person to be a police officer.”

PS: “Thank you guys so much. Really."

Diners depart.

PS: "About the learning organization and the fact that training is built into the normal flow of businesses. Officers are trained, whether it be changes in the law, the use of new equipment, qualification, understanding of Use of Force, so I don't use that term loosely. I say it because they're committed to working very hard to get it right and do things appropriately in law enforcement."

LL: Given our 40-hour work week, how much time is set aside for training so far, is it measured by month?

PS: "It is measured by month and the officers go to training every Wednesday [for a full day]."

LL: Is that unusual? It seems like all jurisdictions should be doing that.

PS; "Well, you know, each jurisdiction is going to be different. Their work schedules may be different and how they go about providing internal training may be completely different. Mind you that's just internal training. There are other training schedules and programs that go along outside of that."

LL: What are Lakewood's needs?

PS: "One of the things that that I'm working on is to improve the overall use of technology within the organization. Technology so that officers are getting information immediately, more information to resolve crimes and more information to know where to respond and what to do, and making sure that we have sound missions of what we're trying to accomplish. Not just coming to work, and listen to the radio and follow the radio. Let's have a mission of 'we're going to work in this area’, ‘we're going to try to clean up this corridor’, ‘we're going to fix the following problems', just having missions of what we want to do and how we we're going to go about it. The second thing is making sure that we have the right technology to move the organization forward, with the right technology to address some of the major issues that are happening around us."

LL: Is there any emphasis at the moment?

PS: "The emphasis at the moment that we are planning to focus on is something that affects us all. That is just the number of stolen vehicles within the state and within our area..."

LL: Almost statewide and probably nationwide, isn't it?

PS: "Yes. But there's a difference. Washington has slowly been moving up the rankings of the most stolen cars in the nation. And so depending upon what chart you look at, were like either #7 in the nation or #3 in the nation in terms of the number of stolen vehicles. And so it affects us here in Lakewood significantly. We have anywhere from, I want to say from the most recent stats for this year, anywhere from 59 to 80 stolen cars per month. And that's a lot of citizens who have been impacted by this. Those who need to get to work, those who need to get their kids to school and those who depend on their vehicle for employment. I'm planning to go before the City Council and ask for additional funding to go with more license plate readers so that we know about the stolen vehicles, where they're going, where they're coming from, but it also gives our officers more information in the field. To show that they know when a stolen vehicle passes a certain checkpoint and what type of vehicle it is, in the direction of travel. And that helps us to try to focus in and eliminate crime."

LL: What policies will you bring? I think you may have covered that a little bit. But is there anything you'd like to elaborate on that Lakewood maybe has been needing? You did cover it I believe, but if there's anything you want to add to that.

PS: "So one of the one of the things that... I wouldn't say ‘new policies’ necessarily, but what I will say is to maintain the status. One of the things, that Lakewood is an accredited Police Department, which means your policies are reviewed, your standards are reviewed, and it's all designed to make sure that you are are pretty much in line with best practices in law enforcement. And that's where we intend to stay within best practices of law enforcement. To make sure that we're meeting our goals that we're in line and accountable to our citizens."

LL: What are your long term hopes?

PS: "My long term hope is to slowly work towards integrating technology into what we do. Starting with more license plate readers throughout the city to combat the stolen vehicles that you've seen cropping up across the state, but then certain areas where we may have to have direct cameras because so much is happening. There have been changes in the laws of how we engage and things of that nature. So we have to, we have to use more evidence-based policing. So we have to be able to pivot to do things differently. And that means having more cameras working with businesses, so that we're building cases for arrest versus arresting and coupling with the case..."

LL: Any last word you would like to leave people with?

PS: "My goal as Chief of Police and coming to Lakewood is to further bridge the gap with the community amid programs and things of that nature where we do more partnerships with the community, but also to make sure that our officers have the tools that's necessary to get the job done for our citizens. My goal is to increase security and safety in the city, partnership with our businesses, but also to make sure that we have a long-term plan in place to try to combat crime. Things are happening in Lakewood. Lakewood's a great city and so it's my goal to make sure that we're giving the citizens here exactly what they need from their police department."