Community Safety Action Strategy
We’ve heard from you that safety means more than just the absence of crime. It’s also about neighborhoods that are clean and well-lit; increasing pedestrian access and safety, as well as reducing traffic accidents; providing safe and welcoming public facilities and services; providing the right services at the right time to those experiencing homelessness or having mental health or substance use disorder needs; and more.
The Community Safety Action Strategy is a long-term approach to community safety that goes beyond just policing and crime enforcement, identifying the many factors that impact the community’s perceptions of safety and how the City of Tacoma can work to address them. The Strategy is organized around four goal areas that reflect the community definition of “community safety”, with each goal area comprised of objectives with near-term, long-term, and supporting City actions.
Like our Affordable Housing Action Strategy this initiative encourages cross-departmental approaches and collaboration between residents, businesses, community organizations, law enforcement, and government agencies.
The Community Safety Action Strategy leads with equity and antiracism as intentional and central components, from engagement to implementation. Everyone deserves to feel safe, and different approaches are needed to respond to the different needs of communities across Tacoma and how residents experience safety differently. For example, according to the 2022 Tacoma Community Survey:
- Black residents feel 50% less safe than white residents.
- Hispanic individuals were more likely than the population average to be very or somewhat fearful that they might be affected by crime (88%).
- Respondents with household income greater than $100,000 were more likely to rate their overall feeling of safety as very or somewhat safe (85%), and those with household income between $50,000 to $99,999 were less likely to feel safe (59%).
- Individuals who were aged 34 years or younger were more likely to have been affected by crime than the population average (56%), and those aged 64 or older were less likely (19%).
- White individuals were less likely to have been affected by crime (34%) and Hispanic individuals were more likely (69%).
- Individuals who rented their homes were more likely to have been affected by crime (59%) and those who owned their homes were less likely (35%).
Community Definition of “Community Safety”
This plan has been developed with significant community input through visioning workshops, community meetings, interactive art, lived expert interviews, an online ideas wall, and many other engagement opportunities
What we heard formed Tacoma’s vision for community safety: This plan has been developed with significant community input through visioning workshops, community meetings, interactive art, lived expert interviews, an online ideas wall, and many other engagement opportunities
Based on the voices and perspectives of Tacoma community members, the Community Safety Action Strategy includes four main objectives:
Safe Places and Neighborhoods: Support neighborhood, economic, and environmental conditions that make Tacoma feel safe for everyone to live, learn, work and play.
People Receive the Right Services at the Right Time: Support focused approaches to providing the right services for individuals with specific needs to increase a sense of safety within the community.
Effective Response with Care: Responding effectively to community safety needs to provide the most appropriate and effective response while acting with respect, understanding, and care.
Promote Healing and Repair: Support individuals, families, and neighborhoods to overcome trauma, rebuild relationships, and work towards a community where everyone belongs.
Continuing to Build on Past and Current Work
$372 million was allocated in the budget for safety in 2023 – 2024. The 2025 – 2026 budget allocated $$442.4 million for safety. This funding will go to support what has worked, as well as innovative solutions that have come from the community. This means the launch of programs like the Holistic Outreach Promoting Engagement (HOPE) Team and Homeless Engagement Alternatives Liaison (HEAL) Teams. It also means unarmed Community Safety Officers that are trained in de-escalation and mental health, adding even more ways to respond to community needs.
Other highlights include:
- Supporting the 8 Can’t Wait Campaign, to continue prioritizing de-escalation training and antiracism in community policing.
- Implementing the Violent Crime Reduction Plan, which reported a 17% drop in violent street crime incidents and a 26.7% decrease in homicides in Tacoma at the November 7, 2023, Year One update.
- Uplifting Summer Late Nights as a solution for healthy activities for youth; 2023 saw 12,000 visits, emphasizing the need for programs like these.
- Evaluating projects like Project PEACE and Heal the Heart so we know what worked or didn’t work – and building of off what we learned.
- Implementation of Vision Zero to reduce traffic accidents and pedestrian injuries.
- Leadership and participation in community events by the Tacoma Police Department.
- Publicly available Tacoma Police Department crime dashboard.
- Tacoma Public Library’s Crisis and De-escalation Team.
Next Steps
Thank you to everyone who shared their voices and perspectives at One Tacoma community engagement events, listening sessions, community meetings, and more. For the latest update on the Community Safety Action Strategy, please see the presentation given to Tacoma City Council at the March 25, 2025 City Council Study Session. The next update will be shared with City Council at a study session in summer 2025.