Steve Allsop gets the nod as deputy mayor for 2009 City Council

The Sumner City Council elected Steve Allsop as the city’s new deputy mayor at the first council meeting of the new year.

Allsop follows LeRoy Goff as deputy mayor. Allsop won the position over nominees Matt Richardson and Randy Hynek.

The deputy mayor’s duties include attending certain events and meetings in place of the mayor in the event of the mayor’s absence.

Other business included adopting a resolution to increase efforts toward preventing auto theft. The resolution authorizes the city to enter an interlocal agreement with various agencies.

The Washington state Legislature created the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority to prevent and reduce auto theft.

The city of Sumner is one of several cities that applied for a grant from the program to form the Patrol Auto Theft Task Force.

Under the agreement Sumner hopes to be able to prevent more automobile thefts, which have been increasing along with urbanization and density.

The agreement forms a multi-jurisdictional team to investigate auto thefts.

Until now, law enforcement groups worked independently on auto theft cases. The aim of the task force is to pool law enforcement information, training and personnel to reduce auto theft using a coordinated effort.

The task force is to be governed by an executive board comprised of the police chief and their designees from each participating jurisdiction and the board will meet each month. Among the responsibilities of the board is to adopt policies and new procedures regarding task force operations.

The organization will include a task force commander, with the rank of lieutenant, commander, or captain from their respective jurisdiction, a supervisor of the task force with the rank of sergeant from their jurisdiction, six detectives from various jurisdictions, a crime analyst, a paralegal and a prosecutor provided by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

Reach Chaz Holmes at cholmes@courierherald.com or 360-802-8208.