Marysville Police serve community

The Marysville Police Department will soon find themselves in a new home.

The department, with more than 100 employees, will be moving into the new Marysville Civic Center between April and June. The new building will provide a larger and up-to-date facility for law enforcement services.

For example, the current jail on Grove Street is 5,000-square-feet and the new jail will be 20,000-square-feet. The new jail will have 92 beds divided into four pods which helps with segregation of inmates.

“The new facility offers a lot more flexibility,” Police Chief Erik Scairpon said.

The six-acre Marysville Civic Center is located on Delta Avenue between Fifth and Eighth streets next to Comeford Park. In addition to the police department and jail, the Civic Center will be City Hall.

Marysville has seen a slight increase in crime from 2020 but is still lower than 2019.

Scairpon said the previous year was abnormally low because everyone stayed home during the pandemic. “Even the bad guys stayed home.”

Police continue to work through a variety of challenges ranging from staffing issues, responding to complicated mental health calls, and dealing with recent legislation.

“I’m really proud of the work we’ve done here,” Scairpon said.

Officials are working to improve customer service. If someone makes a 911 call from a smart phone, people can receive text updates about their call and the department can get information about how satisfied people are with the professionalism of the department.

Scairpon said one year of data is available and it informs officers of top concerns from the community — vehicle prowls, burglary and theft, and homelessness.

Graffiti is also concern among residents, who can go to the city’s website to report incidents of graffiti. Go to www.marysvillvewa.gov and type in “graffiti” in the search bar to go to the form. 

“We know if we leave graffiti up, it tends to attract more graffiti,” Scairpon said.

The department has an Embedded Social Worker program where a social worker and a police officer team up together to reach out to homeless camps in the community to try and connect homeless people with the services they need to improve their situation.

“It’s amazing the kind of work they do,” Scairpon said about their efforts to get people into treatment.

Thanks to grant funding, Marysville is partnering with departments in Arlington, Tulalip and Lake Stevens to provide IMPACT teams, which partners a mental health professional with police to respond during mental health calls.

Another grant funded the purchase of automated external defibrillators for patrol cars.

“We can be the first on scene and potentially start life-saving efforts,” Scairpon said.

The police department is also implementing body cameras for officers. The department started a pilot program during the last quarter of 2021 and will be implementing it during the first quarter of 2022.

“They are a phenomenal tool. They help tell the story of the work we do,” Scairpon said. He added the cameras can help with prosecutions and with holding the police accountable.

In addition to the body cameras, police are implementing a full digital workflow, which should provide officers with more discretionary time. “That should save a ton of time,” Scairpon said of the new digital workflow.

The Marysville Police Department had some retirements from long-term officers, some with 20-30 years in policing, and some other employees on long-term medical leave,” Scairpon said.

The department had to collapse several special teams and the swing shift into patrol to meet needs of the department and still provide time for staff to receive professional development and time off for rejuvenation, Scairpon said.

The previous year saw the department hire 18 employees throughout the organization, Scairpon said. The department has eight vacancies, and the department will hire more staff when the new Marysville Civic Center opens.

“By the end of the year, we’ll be looking a lot better than we are now,” Scairpon said.

The Marysville Police Department started following the state’s law enforcement reforms before they went into effect. Scairpon said the new law caused an inability to detain individuals on an investigative stop, and it’s emboldened people who don’t stop for officers. He added the complexity of the new laws start to create confusion. He hopes to see improvements soon.

“I’m extremely hopeful the legislature will address shortcomings of the law,” Scairpon said.