Everett mayor reports crime is down citywide amid blame for Fred Meyer closure

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin is trailing behind former Everett City Councilmember Scott Murphy, but just barely. Murphy beat Franklin by only 65 votes in the primary election.

Both Franklin and Murphy emphasized public safety, but Murphy blamed Franklin for an understaffed police department, which he believed led to the closure of a Fred Meyer in Everett.

However, Franklin reported crime is down throughout Everett, and police department staffing is at its best.

“Pretty proud to report that crime is down citywide, on all levels. It’s taken some heroic efforts. Again, I think there’s been challenges in the state of Washington to address crime, and we’ve put a lot of resources to it,” Franklin said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “We’ve hired 18 new police officers to the department. We have the best staffing in the history of the Everett Police Department. We have the lowest vacancy rate in the history of the Everett Police Department.”

She noted Kroger cited crime as a reason for closing the Fred Meyer, but that city data doesn’t support the claim.

“We put a lot of support to that store when they first reported some challenges to us a couple of years ago, we put all of our resources towards emphasis patrol, shoplifting stings. We created a buffer zone, we sent our care team out, and all of those efforts really worked to reduce crime, so that wasn’t the issue, but I do believe that they made a business choice,” Franklin shared.

Looking more specifically at the police department, Murphy claimed there are around 25 vacancies, but Franklin said there are 14.

“It takes more than a year to hire and get an officer on board. So it’s not due to Mr. Murphy’s campaign that we’re hiring police. When Mr. Murphy was on the council, we had about 25 to 30 vacancies as well. So this has been a challenge for many, many years. It’s not unique to Everett,” Franklin responded.

She added that she doesn’t hire every person who comes through the door.

“We want the most experienced, the best officers that are going to do great work in our community, and we have that, but we have far more officers and fewer vacancies than we’ve had in more than a decade,” Franklin added.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.