July 23, 2001
(FEDERAL WAY, Wash.) -- The police department in the fast-growing 11-year-old city of Federal Way has grown to employ 105 sworn officers since it was founded in 1996.
The department started from scratch. Officer Brett Hatfield said that he was the fifth officer hired. That was in July 1996, and the department was up and running in September.
“Since then crime has steadily declined, and a dedicated, cohesive agency has risen to the task,” Hatfield said. “This has proved to be a very successful endeavor for the city and all of the officers involved. Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, like most of her officers, is a transplant A native of Tennessee, she came to Federal Way last year from Ellensburg, a college town in central Washington where she also served as chief.
While many members of the police department have had years of experience, most have come from outside the area, from around Washington State and across the country.
“People do come from different cultures,” Kirkpatrick said. “We can pick the best of the best of practices.”
She said that her officers can offer examples of how their previous departments handled felony stops or data collection.
Kirkpatrick grew up in Memphis, Tenn., and began her police career there. She moved to Washington State 16 years ago to go to law school and remained there to serve as a police officer. Although she is licensed to practice law in Washington, she is not active as a lawyer.
She said that she has run into few special problems as a female police officer or conflicts between her personal and professional life. She believes that women in non-traditional roles are more accepted in the northwest than they are in the south or even in the eastern or Midwestern states.
Federal Way is on Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma. When the city was incorporated in 1990, it took its name from a high school which had taken its name from a road known as Federal Highway or Federal Way. For the first six years, the King County Sheriff’s Department handled law enforcement. Now, the police department employs a total of 155 people, both officers and civilian.
The area, with its mix of high-tech industry and the natural glories of the Pacific Northwest, draws immigrants from around the United States and the world. Federal Way’s population has grown by about 7,000 people in the past year, to its current level of 83,260. The city is home to 18,000 Koreans and has large Russian and Hispanic communities, Kirkpatrick said.
The police department reflects that diversity. Kirkpatrick said that there are four Korean-American officers, all of them fluent in Korean. The department has officers who can communicate in a total of 20 languages.
The city is home to many high-tech employees who commute to Microsoft and similar companies. Weyerhauser’s world headquarters is in Federal Way, and Boeing and the Sea-Tac Airport are not far away.
Federal Way has some crime problems, Kirkpatrick said, including a high rate of motor vehicle theft and a lot of methamphetamine labs. She calls the mix “unique” and the problems may be the result of a city that has grown explosively.
While her officers may be new to Federal Way, they are trained as police officers to pick things up quickly.
“They get to know their beats and their districts and who are the frequent flyers,” Kirkpatrick said.
As chief, Kirkpatrick has the responsibility of creating a Federal Way “culture” For the department. But she said that the task is not difficult because most of the officers have chosen to come to a new department, knowing that they may have to change the way they did things on their old jobs.
“A lot of it is training,” she said. “After you listen to everybody’s different ideas, it boils down to me being the chief and saying this is the way we’re going to go.”