Crime Reduction Team shows promising results in the first few months

EPHRATA — Grant County Sheriff Joey Kriete said he is very pleased with the progress the Grant County Sheriff's Office Crime Reduction Team has made since its launch about two and a half months ago.

“These guys work their asses off and do a phenomenal job out there,” Kriete said. “My whole reason for starting the Crime Reduction Team is because we've had this gap in law enforcement here in Grant County that we just haven't been able to effectively fill for years.”

The sheriff said there are some levels of law enforcement that most people don't consider. The base level is the patrol officer, who responds to emergency calls on a regular basis throughout the day. These calls may involve fender bender, domestic violence cases, or other issues that arise that require an officer to be dispatched. While officers try to track and solve crimes, their daily workload is limited, making it difficult to close cases.

In addition, prior to the introduction of the Crime Reduction Team, there is the Major Crimes Unit. This group investigates violent incidents or serious crimes that are more complicated from an investigative perspective. These include murders, sexual assaults and similar cases that may pose an ongoing danger to the community.

In addition to the Major Crimes Unit, there is the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team, also known as INET, which deals with major drug crimes in the Columbia Basin and surrounding areas. This team includes investigators from the GCSO as well as officers from several other law enforcement agencies in the region. The team's focus is on large drug busts, taking kilograms of substances such as fentanyl and methamphetamine off the street.

“And then you have that gap in the middle (at the patrol level and major crime) that covers the chronic rural thefts, the gang issues that happen; the chronic assaults that happen, whether from drive-bys or anything like that, that really impact members of your community in Grant County,” Kriete said.

That's where the Crime Reduction Team (CRT) comes in, he said. The idea is to fill the gap in solving cases that patrol officers don't have time to investigate, but are also important to getting an arrest and a court date. The cases aren't serious enough to be taken on by the Major Crimes Unit, but they require special attention and aren't something that can just be let go. The GCSO wants the victims and the offenders in these cases to get justice, Kriete said.

The team consists of three GCSO employees, but is expected to expand to include two more members in the next few months as other deputies come out of the rotation to help train new employees. Sgt. Jason Ball leads the team as supervisor, while deputies Chuck Paul and Adam Davis serve on the team, Kriete said.

Each team member brings a unique skill set to the team, Kreite said. Ball has years of experience in law enforcement and a passion for solving cases. Davis is a senior deputy with deep roots in Grant County who has helped train new deputies. Paul has experience with the Moses Lake Police Department, as well as experience in a larger metropolitan area in Texas, and experience in investigations and writing search warrants, as well as technical skills in using mobile devices and other technology that can help find the information that will help solve a case.

Data on the team's overall effectiveness is slowly being gathered, but Kriete said it is already evident that the team is a successful initiative, with multiple reports coming in each week showing cases have been closed and turned over for prosecution.

Kriete said that as with most things, the GCSO can use the public's assistance as it moves forward with the CRT group. Tips about crimes can be submitted through the GCSO's non-emergency number or through the GCSO website.

“If you go to the sheriff's website, you can just type in an email with crime tips and it will be sent to multiple people. It won't just go to one person, but you should reach someone who works every day,” Kriete said.

Submit a crime tip:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 509-754-2011
Emergency number: 911