Redmond’s Pro-Act unit leads in Eastside police collaboration

The unit is made up of five anonymous plain-clothes officers who work throughout the region.

By Kailan Manandic • October 23, 2018 8:30 am
Gail Genereau of Lake Forest Park scours the items recovered from the “Movie Bandits” burglaries in 2012 at the Redmond Police Department as the result of a Pro-Act investigation. She found some of her stolen jewelry. File Photo
Gail Genereau of Lake Forest Park scours the items recovered from the “Movie Bandits” burglaries in 2012 at the Redmond Police Department as the result of a Pro-Act investigation. She found some of her stolen jewelry. File Photo

While Eastside police departments focus on community policing, outreach and transparency, one division, Redmond’s undercover Pro-Act unit remains anonymous — working to take dangerous criminals off the streets.

The Pro-Act unit is a plain-clothes team comprised of five officers led by the Pro-Act sergeant. The unit was founded in 2005 in response to a large spike in vehicle theft throughout the Puget Sound region and particularly in Redmond.

“Since its inception, our Pro-Act team has been one of the few law enforcement teams in the area that investigates prolific criminals across the region,” said Andrea Wolf-Buck, public information officer with Redmond police. “While most of the cases occur on the Eastside, the team often works all over King County and beyond.”

A search of the suspect’s residence yielded nearly a pound of meth, almost 20 grams of heroin and a large amount of cash during this February Pro-Act bust. Police also found a loaded handgun in his vehicle. Courtesy of the Redmond Police Department

A search of the suspect’s residence yielded nearly a pound of meth, almost 20 grams of heroin and a large amount of cash during this February Pro-Act bust. Police also found a loaded handgun in his vehicle. Courtesy of the Redmond Police Department

The team was originally created to combat vehicle theft, but now it focuses on prolific and recidivist criminals with a specific mandate of solving property and narcotics crimes, including auto theft, car prowls, burglary and financial fraud. They will often work investigations throughout the region as the crimes they investigate aren’t limited to one city.

The wide area Redmond’s Pro-Act team covers leads to a regular collaboration with other units in the department — particularly on large-scale surveillance operations — and with agencies from around the region.

“Since its inception, our Pro-Act team has been one of the few law enforcement teams in the area that investigates prolific criminals across the region,” Wolf-Buck said. “While most of the cases occur on the Eastside, the team often works all over King County and beyond.”

Recently, the Pro-Act team busted a major Eastside drug dealer who was based in Kirkland and in 2014, the unit busted a large-scale drug operation near Helen Keller Elementary, seizing large quantities of drugs and 26 firearms, from AK-47s to a sawed-off shot gun.

A collection of guns and swords found at a Kirkland house that was raided by Redmond and Kirkland police Oct. 4, 2014. Photo courtesy of Redmond police

A collection of guns and swords found at a Kirkland house that was raided by Redmond and Kirkland police Oct. 4, 2014. Photo courtesy of Redmond police

Pro-Act often employs many different covert surveillance techniques to complete their investigations and often works in undercover capacities Wolf-Buck said. As such, the department its hard to protect their plain-clothes officers’ identities.

“One of the great benefits to the department is that the Pro-Act team has the ability to take time-consuming cases off the plates of patrol officers and see them to fruition,” Wolf-Buck said. “The success of investigations and the safety of the Pro-Act officers is reliant on keeping their identities as protected as possible.”

Redmond’s Pro-Act team has seen numerous successful investigations over the years and its work with other Eastside police departments partly inspired Kirkland to re-establish its Pro-Act unit, which was disbanded earlier this decade amidst budget cuts.

Currently, Kirkland’s Resolution R-5324 is on the ballot for November’s general election and would create a five-member Pro-Act unit — among other public safety programs — using funds from a new sales tax if the measure passes.

Other Eastside police departments have previously tried and failed to establish collaborative Pro-Act teams. Despite this, departments across King County will often collaborate with each other, as the national police staffing shortages hits everyone. Particularly, departments collaborate when investigating many car prowlers, mail thieves, burglars, drug dealers and other criminals who operate across multiple cities throughout the region.

Redmond’s Pro-Act unit also takes some pressure off other officers by focusing on intensive cases, while patrol officers and detectives are swamped with numerous cases.

“The recent case,” Wolf-Buck said, “where the stolen construction tools were recovered is a perfect example of this. Our Pro-Act team had the capability to take that case on, track the sale of the stolen equipment online and then set up the arrest. This freed up patrol officers to use their time for other investigations and to tend to other pressing incidents.”

Members of Redmond Pro-Act unit were unavailable for comment by the Reporter’s deadline and will not be named due to the nature of their work. As other officers work to be a friendly face and establish community policing, Pro-Act continues to works in secret busting drug dealers and nabbing thieves.