Overview
The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) investigates and provides investigatory assistance of a diverse assortment of crimes including, but not limited to; Auto Theft, Violent Crimes, Gun Crimes, Vehicular Assaults, Vehicular Homicides, Assaults, Homicides, Threats against Public Officials, Identify Theft, Sexual Assaults, Fraud, and other general criminal investigations.
The Criminal Investigation Units (CIU) within CID are also on multi-agency Independent Investigation Teams (IIT) which work together to investigate officer involved uses of deadly force and in custody deaths. CID CIU detectives are important members on fifteen IITs statewide.
The CID is comprised of four sections:
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- CIU and the Major Accident Investigation Team (MAIT)
- Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Section
- Special Investigation Unit (SIU)
- Regional Auto Theft Units (RATU)
The SIU detectives are assigned to general investigations, identity theft investigations, Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) investigations, and Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) investigations.
Key Measurements and Statistics
The CID auto theft task forces recovered 526 stolen vehicles and made 130 auto theft arrests. There was a four percent decrease in recovered vehicles over 2020, illustrated below. The reason for this decrease was adjustments that needed to be made in police tactics in serving warrants to investigate these cases and recover these vehicles with new police reform laws. Statewide, there were 31,032 stolen vehicles in 2021 compared to 26,520 stolen vehicles in 2020, an increase of 17 percent.
Overall, CID opened 1,478 criminal investigations in 2021 compared to 1,607 criminal investigations in 2020. The reason for this decrease in the overall cases, as mentioned above, was adjustments that needed to be made in police tactics in proactive cases. Even though CID’s proactive cases decreased, CID’s reactive caseload grew overall. The breakdown of the types of investigations compared to 2020 is illustrated below.
Although non-traffic criminal cases have far exceeded the traffic criminal cases, road closure time is still a concern. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and other technology continues to provide efficiencies in both road closure times and the deployment of WSP investigative resources.
CID has 17.5 full time employees (FTE) assigned to the VIN program. Even with several vacancies throughout 2021, these VIN Officers completed 30,369 VIN inspections statewide, an increase of six percent from the previous year, illustrated below. In 2021 the VIN lanes have continued to struggle with catching up from the backlog these precautions created. A Legislative Action Request (LAR) was submitted to tackle the ongoing staffing and backlog problems in the VIN program and to commence a study into best practices for efficiencies in this program.
Successes of 2021
CID continues to explore, evaluate and utilize the most advanced technologies within the investigative arena. The investigations completed by CID detectives continues to grow in complexity. Utilizing innovative technology allows them to be more effective and efficient.
The CID detectives received training and deployed the latest 3D Forensic Scanner units purchased and received during the calendar year. The new 3D scanners replaced a portion of the aging fleet of scanners; providing increased performance, time savings, and higher-quality finished products. This deployment represents the WSP’s commitment to continuous improvement and efforts to utilize the most advanced technologies within the investigative arena.
In collaboration with the Investigative Assistance Division (IAD), CID recognized a need to put on a 2021 Detective In-Service. Detectives from both divisions identified, developed, and deployed reality-based training focused on de-escalation, warrant service, and application of less-lethal tools, which were procured for this need. The training utilized the most current legal updates and requirements to ensure detectives were provided timely and accurate training, ensuring their ability to serve our communities at the highest level
Additional Information and Resources
For more information on the Criminal Investigation Division, click here.