Port Angeles – The Clallam County Sheriff’s office released some data Wednesday following an emphasis patrol conducted by law enforcement this month.

A news release says that in the month of February, the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET) organized proactive emphasis patrols in known problem areas in and around the city of Port Angeles. It points out that with Washington State’s law enforcement staffing being the lowest in the nation per capita, local patrol divisions are kept very busy responding to calls for service.

The emphasis patrols provided additional officers with the specific task of proactive patrols as opposed to responding to calls for service.

Here are a few highlights of the cooperative efforts between the emphasis patrols, Sheriff’s Office personnel, and PAPD’s blue squads:

• Three stolen vehicles were recovered on the same day by local law enforcement – two of the vehicles were stolen out of Seattle, and the third was stolen out of Ocean Shores. Four people were arrested in relation to the stolen vehicle investigations and another male fled on foot. That male is known to law enforcement.
• An officer spotted a man parked in his vehicle in the area of Jesse Webster Park and remembered him from a previous case that placed a no-contact order prohibiting the man from being within a specified distance of a residence in that area. The man was arrested for violating the order and booked into jail.
• A man and woman were contacted together in a vehicle in the 600 block of W 11th Street. As the man was being arrested for an outstanding warrant, officers saw controlled substances in the vehicle and got a search warrant. Fentanyl was found in the vehicle, along with evidence indicating the couple’s involvement in a recent home burglary. Both suspects were booked into jail.

The emphasis patrols were a cooperative effort between OPNET, the Port Angeles Police Department, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Corrections.