The Tacoma Police Department (TPD) is the primary

law enforcement agency A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

for the city of

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, United States. The TPD employs 334 sworn officers and 38 civilian employees. The

Chief of Police Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

is Avery L. Moore.

History

The Tacoma Police Department traces its history back to 1874 when the first town marshal was appointed.

Controversies and misconduct

On March 3, 2020, Manuel Ellis, a black man, died while in TPD custody. Ellis said "

I can't breathe "I can't breathe" is a slogan associated with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. The phrase originates from the last words of Eric Garner, an unarmed man who was killed in 2014 after being put in a chokehold by a New York C ...

" several times before his death. In 2021, several people were hit by an officer in a

police car A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

, causing multiple injuries. The officer was responding to reports of vehicles doing

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in the street. It was found that the officer acted in defense for himself and there was no wrongdoing as he was being attacked.

References

External links

Official website

Roll Call of Honor
Government of Tacoma, Washington Municipal police departments of Washington (state) Government agencies established in 1885 1885 establishments in Washington Territory {{US-law-enforcement-agency-stub