North Bend is about half the size of Snoqualmie, but at least the city’s equal in police statistics. In the first three months of the Snoqualmie Police Department’s contract to cover North Bend, the department saw nearly as much activity in North Bend, population about 6,500, as it did in the first six months of the year for Snoqualmie, population 12,500. Calls for service in North Bend totaled 2,021, and in Snoqualmie, 2,873.

That activity in North Bend included more than 150 arrests and identification and removal of 40 transient camps, Police Chief Steve McCulley reported to the North Bend City Council at its June 17 meeting. Also among the reports were  17 domestic violence incidents, 15 DUIs, a total of 24 drug cases, seven of them felonies, 528 traffic stops with 43 resulting in tickets, 21 concealed pistol license applications and 60 public records requests.

McCulley also detailed the department’s use of an additional $30,000 the North Bend Council authorized for emphasis patrols in the city. The money yielded more than 70 additional patrol hours, including 24 specifically for transient camp patrols, which led to 12 arrests. It also covered the roughly $6,600 in officer overtime.

The seven officers hired for North Bend have logged about 280 hours of ongoing training, which is comparable with the Snoqualmie officers’ training, McCulley said.

He praised his officers ability to rapidly and effectively respond to the many calls from North Bend, and touched on some of the department’s ongoing issues, including a March 9 rape case still under investigation, and the April 25 explosion on North Bend Way.

For the first three months of North Bend’s contract, the Snoqualmie Department received an average of 142 calls for service in North Bend, and about 119 from Snoqualmie. Of those calls, North Bend averaged 42, Snoqualmie, 24.

Asked about possible reasons for the difference in call volumes, McCulley suggested the demographics; Snoqualmie has a larger daytime population, but North Bend is larger at night.