Telephone Reporting Unit ( TRU ) (509) 575-6200

The Telephone Reporting Unit (TRU) was established in October, 2004 to relieve Patrol Officers from report writing, thereby allowing them more time to do pro-active patrol in their assigned districts. TRU utilizes the non-commissioned personnel who answer phones and handle walk-in business at the station. Approximately, 38% of the reports taken by the Yakima Police Department are TRU reports.

Reports taken as TRU calls would include most vandalisms, thefts, identity thefts, some misdemeanor assaults (non-domestic violence related), auto thefts at the counter (signature required), runaway juveniles (with the parent/guardian signature on file), some civil disputes, some threats and harassment calls, and other information reports. Determining factors would be whether the suspect is still present at the scene, how long before the call did the incident take place, is there possibly evidence at the scene to be collected and, whether there is a public safety issue to consider.

Victims and reporting parties will receive the same service as if an officer came to the scene. They would get a case number. Any cases with significant leads would be assigned to a detective for follow-up. Insurance companies do not require that reports be taken by commissioned officers. The up side is that while you would be waiting for an officer to become available to come out and take your report, a TRU report can be taken in a reasonably short amount of time.

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