With the potential adoption of the City of Centralia’s comprehensive plan looming this summer, the Centralia City Council has a decision to make regarding the Centralia Police Department’s future levels of services.
The department currently funds 29 commissioned officers, with 24 usable officers not in or entering the academy, for a projected population of 18,510 people, averaging 1.57 officers per 1,000 residents. This average is down from 1.7 in 2019 and 1.85 in 2015. In 2024, CPD averaged 39 calls for service per day.
Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell told the council during a Tuesday workshop that the department frequently sees officers who should be on the streets working overtime to finish reports in the office. He said that the department’s current staffing levels require CPD to focus on being a reactive department and that most of its proactive emphasis is on extra duty or overtime assignments.
“I still want to make sure that we’re consistent in that when it comes down to the immediate needs of the community, we can address them. If there is a priority call that comes out, we can prioritize and address those appropriately,” Caldwell said. “There’s not a safety issue; it’s just a matter of addressing the wants over the needs.”
Caldwell added that he would like to see growth in traffic enforcement, patrolling of parks and trails, community oriented policing, youth engagement and parking enforcement.
The chief gave the councilors three options to consider for the comprehensive plan. The council can adopt the current staffing level of 1.57 officers per 1,000 residents, establish a staffing level of 1.67 officers per 1,000, or return to the 2018 adopted levels of service of 1.78 officers per 1,000.
A level of 1.67 officers per 1,000 would require two additional officers for the current population, and jumping to 1.78 officers per 1,000 would require four additional officers. But, because of several planned housing developments and city staff moving to begin annexation negotiations with Lewis County last month, the need for more officers could grow.
Caldwell used data based on samples of five residential areas around different parts of Centralia from 2024 to determine that high-density housing areas averaged .92 calls per unit per year, compared to .36 calls for low-density housing areas. He estimated that the 86-unit Centralia Woods development, the 88-unit Roanoke subdivision and potential Phase 1 annexations would add a total of 1,101 more residents and 227 more calls for service, utilizing average calls per year and average residents per household data for his conclusion.
Caldwell said his priority is to free those with arresting powers in the department to be able to respond where they are needed. The department is down to two community service officers, who can help with this.
“The community service officers are valuable to us. They do the parking enforcement and they do the transports,” Caldwell said. “If we look at the police officer as somebody who possesses arrest powers, anything we can do to have them focus on arrests rather than tasks that don’t require a police officer, that becomes important. Our community service officers are the ones that can help facilitate that.”
Caldwell said the department’s minimum staffing levels are “not set by anything official” and that it “clings to them without really any science or stats to back them up,” but that they are the best thing that CPD has to operate with given its current scheduling and staffing. He said CPD tries to have three officers available from 9 a.m. until 3 a.m. and then two officers from 4 a.m. until 9 a.m.
Caldwell compared Centralia’s police staffing levels to those of agencies such as Kelso, Chehalis, Aberdeen, Shelton, Longview, Ellensburg and Tumwater. With Centralia’s 1.57 officers per 1,000 residents, 82.4 offenses are reported per 1,000 residents for a clearance rate of 48%, meaning the department’s success rate at arresting someone for a reported crime.
The clearance rate was the third highest of the eight agencies behind Aberdeen and Longview with the fifth highest staffing level.
Caldwell advocated for the city pursuing a special service officer, but he acknowledged that it would be a “trial” to see if the department could make it effectively work.
“I do think it’s worth trying. If we’re able to work with the unions and get the unions to agree to release some of that work that officers are currently responsible for … I say this as an optimist: if they say no, they say no, but if we don’t try, we’ve already failed,” Caldwell said. “Even if it was one officer and one special services officer, I think it’s worth trying.”
The city will host a comprehensive plan open house from 5 to 7 p.m. on May 15 at the Fort Borst Park Kitchens for the public to provide comments to consultants and city officials on several items of the comprehensive plan. City staff aim to have the planning commission send the draft plan by the end of June for potential adoption in July.
