Should the City Council approve its budget requests, the Yelm Police Department (YPD) could benefit from additional vehicles, technology and manpower over the next couple years.
During a Yelm City Council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8, YPD Chief Rob Carlson formally requested three new patrol vehicles, an off-road vehicle, new staff and additional cameras as the city begins to prepare its biennial budget for 2025-26.
Carlson said, if the three patrol vehicles are approved, the first new car would come in 2025. The car with plans to form a new metro unit to oversee traffic comes with a price tag of $237,000.
“That price tag is for everything. That includes putting an officer on the road pulling a shift, vehicles, their equipment, their wages, benefits — everything,” Carlson said. “We would then look at two [additional vehicles and officers] in 2026, with the estimated cost of $474,000. The officer in 2025 would allow us to create a metro unit, to have an officer do nothing but focus their attention on traffic.”
Carlson added that the two positions in 2026 would allow YPD to take its sergeants off the schedule and allow them to supervise and better manage their officers throughout the day.
Carlson said YPD is looking at promoting two officers to detective — the first in 2025 and the second in 2026. Carlson said the estimated cost is at $5,100 each year. He’d like to see the department add a second detective in 2026 as case loads continue to grow.
“That $5,100 is the 5% that an individual gets to become a detective. Right now, Sgt. [Anthony] Sparkuhl, who is the detective sergeant of the specialty unit, is doing the detective position. As our case load grows, it’s important that we fill that position and allow him to be more of a supervisor for that division.”
Carlson noted that the department’s contract with the FLOCK camera program expires in May of 2025. He said YPD originally leased four cameras with Nisqually Tribe grant money, and that he’d like to see the contract renewed with four additional cameras. The cost would be $28,000 in 2025 and $26,500 in 2026. The department implemented the four FLOCK vehicle identification camera systems to be placed in “strategic locations around the community” in the current biennium.
“FLOCK gave us the perfect number for our city and what we should have based on our geography and size, and that was eight. We’re trying to accomplish that,” Carlson said.
Finally, Carlson requested $45,000 to purchase a UTV off-road vehicle. He said, often, officers can’t get through neighborhoods due to congestion and traffic, and purchasing an off-road vehicle would provide a solution.
“We have a lot of areas in the city that we’re developing and typically have a difficult time getting a patrol vehicle to,” Carlson said. “This would give us an opportunity to be able to get to those areas, and we also have National Night Out and Prairie Days. Another time I thought this would be important to have is during the Fourth of July.”
He said YPD accomplished a lot as a department during the last biennial budget, most importantly that all officers went home after every shift during the last two years. He stated an incident commander has been added to the SWAT team to assist with operations and highlighted several promotions, including one patrol sergeant to the vacant assistant chief position and one patrol officer to the vacant patrol sergeant position. The department also added a third sergeant to oversee the specialty unit and created a training program to allow officers to receive “four times the 24-hour state-mandated training requirement.”
Two school resource officers were added to the department’s specialty unit to complete the goal of three SROs within Yelm Community Schools. One YPD officer was added to the Thurston County Accident Investigation team, and trauma kits have been added in each vehicle and on the body of officers.
“With the training the officers have, they can provide immediate trauma care to patients prior to medics arriving in a critical incident,” Carlson said. “It’s proven to save lives, so this was a big deal as well.”
Department goals for the next biennial budget include adding commissioned personnel; replacing outdated firearm and taser equipment; and creating a metro unit to serve the Yelm community with ongoing traffic issues. He’d also like for the department to add new pursuit technology, such as Star Chase.
“As we start to get into the new pursuit laws with allowing our officers to pursue, we’re finding that our vehicles are getting damaged and that people are getting hurt,” Carlson said. “It’s important that we try to minimize that with some technology that’s out there to help officers fight crime and to minimize the damage.”
He’d also like to see YPD continue building open communication with supervisors and staff to help create a sustained culture “built upon unity and transparency.”
