Police budgets vary widely in North King County

A table compares police spending, staffing and crime rates with data
compiled from city budgets and WASPC

By Oliver Moffat

Police spending varies widely between cities with Lake Forest Park and Bothell spending more than Shoreline and Kenmore. Shoreline’s 911 response times increased last year amid staffing shortages. But crime rates across North King County are some of the lowest in the state.

Shoreline and Kenmore pay the King County Sheriff's Office to provide police services including K9, SWAT, 911 dispatch and major crime investigations.

In contrast, neighboring Lake Forest Park and Bothell have their own police departments.

Lake Forest Park and Bothell will spend roughly 50% more per capita on their police departments than Kenmore and Shoreline will spend on their contracts with the King County Sheriff's Office.

According to the city’s budget, Shoreline will spend $36,586,977 over the next two years on its police contract with the KCSO (about $298 per capita) to maintain a staff of 50 deputy sheriffs or 0.81 officers per 1000 residents.

Kenmore’s 2025-2026 budget says the city will spend $11,007,281 ($235 per capita) for 14 deputy sheriffs - about 0.60 officers per 1,000 residents.

Lake Forest Park’s proposed budget says the city will spend $9,887,623 (or $380 per capita) on its police department with a staff of 20 commissioned officers - about 1.54 officers per 1000 residents.

Bothell’s budget says the city will spend $42,493,990 on its police, about $423 per capita. In 2021, Bothell’s annual police report said the department employed 77 commissioned officers (1.53 officers per 1,000 residents).

According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), last year the state had the lowest police-to-civilian ratio in the country with 10,760 commissioned officers in a state with a population of 7,951,649 - a ratio of 1.35 per thousand statewide. 

Nationwide, the rate of sworn officers is 2.4 per 1,000 residents according to the FBI.

Like cities across the state, Shoreline has struggled to hire and retain police officers - the Shoreline police department ended 2023 with nine 9 out of 50 officer positions vacant.

A graph from the Shoreline police department shows 911 response times

Shoreline police told the city council that 911 response times for the highest priority calls increased from 4.11 minutes to 6.21 minutes, in part because of staffing shortages.

Cities in North King County had a lower crime rate compared to the rest of the state and Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Bothell and Kirkland were named some of the safest cities in the state.

The overall statewide crime rate dropped 8.5% last year, according to the WASPC annual crime report, to a statewide average of 62.0 reported “group A” offenses per 1000 residents.

Crime rates in Kenmore and Shoreline dropped last year. Kenmore saw a 14.2% drop in reported crimes last year to 19.9 offenses per 1000 residents.

Shoreline’s crime rate dropped 5.4% to 46.3 per 1000. Although Bothell and Lake Forest Park are are both still one of the safest cities in the state, Lake Forest Park’s crime rate increased 6.3% to 35.9 per 1000 last year and Bothell’s crime rate increased 4.1% to 40.2 per 1000.

• Shoreline will hold a public hearing on its budget on November 18, 2024
• Lake Forest Park will hold a final public hearing on the budget on November 7, 2024
• Kenmore will hold budget discussions through November
• Bothell will hold a public hearing on the budget on November 12, 2024