More than half of violent crimes in WA go unsolved, data shows

Violent crime in Seattle may have dropped from record-high rates during the pandemic, but more than half of violent crimes throughout the state remain unsolved.

According to Marshall Clement, the director of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center,  just 44% of reported violent crimes in 2024 were solved by police.

“Since 2022, [Clement] says more than 49,000 violent crimes in Washington remain unsolved, including over 400 homicides and nearly 7,000 rapes,” Ursula Reutin, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show,” said. “And I know that we’re going to bring up money. Simply spending money, he says, won’t fix it. The state just approved a new $100 million public safety grant program, and none of it has been spent yet.”

Of the 44% of violent crimes solved, 60% of homicides, 50% of aggravated assaults, 30% of robberies, and only 25% of rapes were solved. According to Clement, Seattle reported a solve rate of only 32% for violent crimes in 2024. Tacoma was similarly at 32%, while the Kent Police Department hit 22%. Other offices, like the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, had 53% solve rate.

“Going back to 1960 to right now, Ursula, what stands out to me is how great they were with the solve rate and clearance rate and all that stuff. It was really high in 1960 compared to right now,” Gee Scott, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show,” said. “You want to know why? Because back then, remember a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the lineup and how people would just say, ‘Oh, yep, that person did it,’ and that person would go to prison. We had so many people who have been and gone to prison because of mistaken identity, because of bad systems that have been put in place, coercion that has happened. Today, we have better protection.”

“I think the pendulum has swung in many ways, to the point where, I mean, this is abysmal,” Ursula said. “Even though we have talked about how violent crime has gone down, not just nationally, but specifically here in the state of Washington, and specifically in western Washington, violent crime has dipped from its pandemic highs, but levels are still far above where we were in 2019.”

WA ranks dead last in amount of officers per capita

Washington ranks last nationally for the number of police officers per capita. According to FBI statistics, Washington has about 1.36 officers per 1,000 residents, as of 2024. The national average is approximately 2.3 officers per 1,000 people — more than a 40% difference.

“One of the other things that you talked about, Gee, is the need to improve community trust, so that victims and witnesses actually cooperate,” Ursula added. “So I mean, these are all things that can happen, but this idea that all these violent crimes are happening, and we have such a low solve rate, frankly, is alarming.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.

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