The Tukwila Police Guild wants to inform the citizens of Tukwila about the pending cuts to the police budget.

The city administration has ordered the police chief to cut $895,712.00 from the annual budget. With a total budget of approximately $13 million, this will greatly reduce police services to the citizens.

The council members themselves stated that this will more than likely cause layoffs within the police department, which in turn, reduces the number of officers on the streets, in addition to cuts in many services within the department including the Major Crimes Unit, Traffic Unit, and Crime Prevention Unit.

Tukwila has historically been tops in the state in crime per capita. The 2009 statistic provided by the WASPC again has Tukwila ranked at the top.

With a population of only 18,000 residents, to most, it would seem like 70 police officers is more than sufficient. The city estimates that the daytime population of Tukwila is approximately 200,000 people, and the calls for service reflect this larger population.

This area includes the Southcenter area, which is one of the largest retail areas in the state. In 2010, Tukwila annexed a large area of land south of South 180th St, and on July 31 Tukwila broke ground on its massive multi-million dollar Southcenter South project. The vision for this area is for it to be comparable in size and number of jobs to the Microsoft Campus in Redmond. This will ultimately increase the need for police services.

The Tukwila Police Guild's position is that these proposed cuts to the police department will severely impact the quality of life of the citizens and the hampers our ability to perform as a full service police department.

We want the citizens to be aware of this decision that was made by the Tukwila City Council. City council meetings are held each Monday at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 6200 Southcenter Blvd. The Tukwila Police Guild encourages all citizens to participate in the decision making process.

For more information, you can visit our website, www.tukwilapoliceguild.com.

Tukwila Police Guild