Washington crime rate drops, but remains last in US for police staffing

SEATTLE - An annual report shows crime has declined across the country, including Washington, but behind the positive numbers, the state faces steep challenges regarding public safety.

Governor Ferguson touted the decline in crime in a social media post on Monday, writing, "The latest report on crime in Washington state shows crime significantly down, dropping across all categories. That includes declines of over 20% for murders and property crimes. This improvement reflects the hard work of law enforcement professionals across our state — thank you."

The Governor is referencing the Crime in Washington: 2025 Annual Report released in early August by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC). The report showed a 23.1% decrease in murders in Washington in 2025 compared to 2024. Violent crimes decreased by 13.8%, while property crimes fell by 21.3%.

In the same social media post, Governor Ferguson pointed to one area where Washington has significant work remaining: police staffing.

"We still rank last in number of law enforcement officers per capita. In my inaugural address, I made it clear that I would not sign a budget without $100 million for hiring officers. I secured that funding, and we've now awarded almost $60 million to 25 cities and counties," the Governor wrote.

WA grant program to hire more police officers

The $100 million police hiring grant program passed the legislature under House Bill 2015 during the 2025 legislative session. A year after it was signed, FOX 13 Seattle reported on the progress of the initiative. As of May 2026, the program had awarded $12.6 million, funding a total of 45 new officers across nine jurisdictions. Many said the grant roll out was slow and mired in bureaucratic red tape, making it a challenge to apply for the grant dollars.

Since FOX 13 Seattle’s progress report, the spending has ramped up significantly, reaching a current total of $59.2 million awarded to 25 jurisdictions. That data comes from the Criminal Justice Training Commission, the agency tasked with administering the grants.

"There's been a lot of, you know, frustration over the fact that it's taken so long to get this rolled out," said Steve Strachan, Executive Director of WASPC, in an interview with FOX 13 Seattle. "It was designed sort of from the start by the legislature to have a lot of strings and have a lotta hoops to jump through." Strachan praised Governor Ferguson for making police staffing a priority, but noted that the grant program is not a complete game-changer. "$100 million is a lot of money, but in a state of over 8 million people with almost 300 law enforcement agencies, that's a relatively small amount of money."

As part of the Crime in Washington report, WASPC analyzes statewide police staffing. With around 11,000 commissioned officers in 2025, Washington has a rate of 1.37 officers per 1,000 people. "We are last in the nation and have been for almost 15 years in law enforcement staffing," Strachan said. "It's going to take hundreds and hundreds of more officers statewide, perhaps thousands, for us not to even get to the mid-point, but to even [get] out of last place."

Using FBI data, WASPC places Washington 51st out of all states and the District of Columbia for police staffing.  Oregon came in 50th place.  Strachan estimates it would take about 1,600 added officers to match Oregon's rate.  At the top of the list, the District of Columbia had the highest number of officers per capita, followed by New Jersey. 

Strachan stated that it will take sustained funding over time to move the needle on Washington's police staffing, noting the pushback from some Democratic lawmakers regarding the Governor's grant program. "They were very angry and frustrated with the governor for making this a priority." Strachan added that the best outcomes arise when public safety is kept out of politics. "So this isn't just about ‘Let's throw more officers out there because we want to put more people in jail.’ We want to put fewer people in jail, because more officers equals more prevention, more intervention and opportunities for intervention."

Crime declines in Washington

Regarding Washington's decreasing crime rates, Strachan admitted he wishes the declines were steeper, pointing to other parts of the country seeing historic lows in homicides. "That's not what we're seeing in our state. We're not below where we were even 10 years ago. So we have not dropped at the rate that the rest of the nation has." Strachan also voiced concern over the state's rate of assaults on police officers, noting, "In the last 10 years, we've seen that go up about 65%."

The 2025 Crime in Washington report showed the state's police staffing actually dipped slightly further into last place. Strachan will be keeping an eye on where that number stands in the 2026 report. "When we talk about this again next year, I'll be interested to see if that's starting to trend upward. And if any of that is attributable to House Bill 2015."

Meanwhile, Governor Ferguson is carrying forward his public safety promises, ending his Monday post with: "I look forward to continuing our work together with local governments and law enforcement to reduce crime."

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