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Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore complained to the city council that his department doesn’t have a drug unit despite the city’s drug crisis. But not only does Tacoma Police have a drug unit, they’ve been hugely successful this year.

Moore was asked about proactive plans to combat crime at a Tacoma City Council budget meeting on Oct. 15. The council and Moore were discussing the proposed budget for Tacoma Police next year. Moore correctly asserted that they’re not fully staffed enough for major plans on proactive policing. But then he made a major misstatement.

“We don’t even have, for example, a drug unit when we have a major drug problem. We’ve made some significant drug arrests, but I don’t have a stand-alone drug unit, and I would like to get that at some point,” Moore claimed.

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What was Tacoma Police officers’ response when the chief claimed there was no drug unit?

A number of Tacoma Police officers felt slighted by the comment. It prompted a press release from the officer’s union pointing to the drug unit, Tacoma Police Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

“SIU’s primary focus is on narcotics investigations and disrupting the influx of illegal narcotics from high-level drug trafficking organizations all the way down to low-level street dealing,” the release said. “The opioid crisis has claimed too many Pierce County lives, and the drug trade cascades into other criminal activity that impacts us all. SIU has worked tirelessly to save lives and disrupt the cycle of crime.”

The release, which was also sent to the city manager, city council members and the mayor, noted that the SIU made more than 60 narcotics-related arrests, seized more than 100 firearms and removed more than 200,000 fentanyl pills from city streets in 2024.

Local 6 president Sgt. Henry Betts explained on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that he couldn’t let the claim go unchecked.

“We can’t abide by that, right? I can’t let something that’s said like this to the council and to the city manager and publicly on camera, and feel like one of our units just doesn’t even exist,” Betts explained. “The men and women that work there, they deserve better than that.”

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Special Investigations Unit has been quite successful in 2024

Betts said that the work the SIU does in Tacoma to tackle the crime crisis is very dangerous. He also said that the release “undersold” their successes in 2024, which he said “broke records.”

“They do dangerous work. And it’s baffling to me because we see this opioid crisis and the level of overdoses. We’re tripling what would have been our standard averages for overdose in the last few years. You hear people talking about it, and I think people don’t want to include that the police are part of the solution to this problem,” Betts said. “But the men and women in Tacoma are doing great work to go address the problem and try to get at the Fentanyl crisis. And seizing not only the fentanyl pills, but now we’re seeing so much fentanyl powder, and then the work is really dangerous and it’s highly scrutinized.”

Chief Moore has come under heavy scrutiny in the last several weeks from the city. In late September, he was placed on administrative leave by City Manager Elizabeth Pauli. She said he was placed on leave to investigate potential personal use of city property and subsequent statements made relating to its use. Pauli said he was counseled on the unspecific conduct and allowed him to return to duty.

But Tacoma Police have complained about Moore for the better part of the year, unrelated to his recent comments about the drug unit.

Chief Moore responds via a spokesperson

A spokesperson for Tacoma Police said Moore was saying the department doesn’t have a unit “solely” dedicated to drug investigations.

“This unit [SIU] has historically played a vital role in addressing narcotics-related crimes within our community and, from time to time, also served as a violent offender apprehension unit,” a spokesperson explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “Prior to the pandemic, the unit enforced crimes such as prostitution, misdemeanor drug offenses, felony drug cases, and violent offender apprehensions as needed. However, following the pandemic and changes in State Laws, the SIU shifted its focus toward conducting more violent offender apprehensions while continuing its primary role of performing felony-level drug investigations.”

But Betts notes that the primary role for SIU is narcotics. He said it’s not common for police departments to have similarly-sized units ²õ´Ç±ô±ð±ô²âÌýworking narcotics cases without occasionally being shifted to other jobs.

Complaints against Tacoma Police Chief Moore have been getting worse

Tacoma Police officers say Moore is disconnected from the problems facing the department. And he doesn’t have their confidence. Betts says if he held a vote of no confidence today, the results would not be good for Moore.

Betts said the problems with understaffing and lack of resources have “only gotten worse over the last six months, rather than improving.”

“I look at what’s happened in Seattle and the amount of recruiting and retention problems they’ve undergone. And then I look at Tacoma sometimes, and I feel like Tacoma said, ‘Hey, hold my beer. Let me see if I can do better here,'” Betts said sarcastically.

Earlier in the year, Moore blamed Tacoma Police for historical racism in a tone-deaf statement appearing to criticize three officers acquitted in the death of Manny Ellis.

Betts also said that city leadership hasn’t done enough to show its support for officers. But Betts says he’s committed to continuing to work with the city and Command Staff to ensure things change for the better. But without progress, a vote of no confidence could come soon.

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