March 11, 2024
Salem community members, property and business owners,
I find myself reaching out to you once again on the topic of gun violence in our community. You are likely aware of the recent shooting at Bush's Pasture Park the afternoon of March 7 which left a 16-year-old boy dead and two other boys, ages 15 and 16, with gunshot wounds. This level of violence is simply unacceptable and intolerable. My thoughts are with the surviving victims and involved families as we respond and begin to move forward as a community.
I also want to acknowledge the members of my staff who once again responded exceptionally well, bringing order to a dangerous and chaotic scene of trauma and violence.
Officers arrived very quickly at Thursday’s shooting, even helping to get victims to the arriving medics. Detectives then worked non-stop to solve this horrific crime and make a quick arrest. We also ensured some extra presence throughout that evening and the next day around the park and nearby schools and are closely communicating and coordinating with Salem-Keizer Public Schools for campus safety this week. All that excellent work though was reactive.
I have been asked why we did not have a greater presence in the area leading up to the shooting. We do work hard to keep our community safe by patrolling our parks, schools, and all areas of Salem. However, we have limited capacity to do proactive, preventative patrols citywide.
Over the years, we’ve unavoidably fallen into a more reactive policing model as population and service demands grew without commensurate staffing increases. We have the same number of budgeted sworn police officer positions we did 16 years ago (2008)—meaning we do much less proactive, preventative work now than we did then. Police alone are not the answer, but cops are an undeniably critical piece of any violent crime reduction equation. To be blunt, I am very concerned about further reducing police staffing. We need more officers, not less.
We have the same number of budgeted sworn police officer positions we did 16 years ago (2008)—meaning we do much less proactive, preventative work now than we did then.
A 2021 independent staffing analysis confirmed we are significantly understaffed. The findings indicated we need 27-83 additional officers just for the Patrol Division which is just one of three divisions.
Rising violence is not new. Salem’s violent crime rate has been steadily increasing since 2014, and a recent analysis revealed fatal and non-fatal injury shootings doubled from 2018-2022. Again, we have the same number of budgeted officers that we did 16 years ago. My staff is being pulled evermore toward violent crime response and investigations at the expense of all other types of important service needs, such as proactive park patrols.
Reducing community violence requires resources and a proactive approach that emphasizes police and community collaboration. That is why we’ve started the Community Violence Reduction Initiative (CVRI) to begin identifying what additional police and/or community-based resources might be brought to bear.
Reducing community violence requires resources and a proactive approach that emphasizes police and community collaboration.
The conversation started in earnest during our CVRI kick-off meeting Wednesday night, March 6 with 200 Salem residents. I shared steps law enforcement partners are taking to combat the rise in shootings and we began the first of many conversations to identify community stakeholders, existing and needed resources, and develop solutions. The full meeting can be viewed below.
More CVRI meetings will occur this year and I highly encourage all residents to attend. This will be the best opportunity to voice opinions on public safety priorities and resource needs to help shape the right solutions. Achieving lasting shooting reductions will require focus, collaboration, and commitment from law enforcement partners and our community.
Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to working together to address this important public safety challenge.
Sincerely, Chief of Police Trevor Womack