To serve Washougal residents more efficiently, the Washougal Police Department is launching an online reporting system called Public Safety Citizens Service Portal (CSP), for non-emergency and non-violent crimes that occur within the city limits of Washougal. The incidents in the online crime reporting category for the most part, do not require an officer to respond to the victim’s location. The new portal will go live on March 1. CSP will allow officers to focus on serious crimes and time-sensitive incidents and will hopefully decrease response times to those calls.
“The desired goal for the online crime reporting system is twofold; it provides a mechanism for citizens to file a police report online and allows the Washougal Police Department to deploy our limited resources in a more efficient, cost effective manner,” said Washougal Police Chief Ron Mitchell. “The time saved allows officers to concentrate their efforts on crimes that have a higher degree of solvability or are of a more serious nature.”
Through this new system, citizens are urged to report even minor or insignificant crimes that they normally would not have reported because their incident may be linked to a larger problem or a suspect may already be identified, which may be a significant benefit to the department and community.
The specific criteria for crimes that can be submitted are stated on the CSP page. Among the incidents that can be reported online are those that do not have suspect information or evidence that needs to be collected, such as identity theft, theft of property or vandalism. Users are asked a number of questions and if the criteria are met, the citizen can complete and submit a report. Once the report is approved by a reviewing sergeant he/she will assign it a case number and e-mail the case number to the complainant. Often times, a person only needs a case number to file an insurance report, and CSP can provide this in a timely manner.
911 should always be called for emergencies and crimes in progress. Crimes that occur outside Washougal city limits can be reported by calling the non-emergency number 311.
CSP can be accessed via cityofwashougal.us or directly at https://report.citizenserviceportal.com/home/Agency?AgencyCode=WPD.
CONTACT:
Allen Cook, Police Commander
(360) 835- 8701 ext. 407
Allen.Cook@cityofwashougal.us
Michele Loftus, Communications Specialist
(360) 835-8501 ext. 510
Michele.Loftus@cityofwashougal.us