Public Safety
After Nextdoor posts about kids being intimidated near Avonlea Park, here's how to report it
A Stonegate parent's Nextdoor post saying a child was blocked and intimidated on his way home from Avonlea Park drew nearly 480 reactions and comments. No police statement about the incident has been found. Here's how and when to report this kind of thing in Lacey and the unincorporated areas nearby.
A post in Nextdoor's Stonegate neighborhood is drawing wide discussion. In it, a parent writes that her child was stopped and intimidated by two older, bigger boys on his way home from Avonlea Park in Lacey. The parent writes that the child got away and that two adults helped walk the child home. By Tuesday the post had 393 reactions and 86 comments. In the replies, another resident described separate trouble in the nearby Tanglewilde neighborhood.
Sound Neighbors has not independently confirmed these accounts. We found no statement from the Lacey Police Department or the Thurston County Sheriff's Office about these reports, and we didn't find either incident in the public police logs we searched. If police respond, we'll update this story.
Who covers what. Avonlea Park, at 4112 Ingleside Loop SE, is a city park open 7 a.m. to dark, so it falls under Lacey police. Tanglewilde is an unincorporated census-designated place inside Lacey's urban growth area, so it is generally covered by the Thurston County Sheriff's Office, not city police. Either way, calls go through the county's TCOMM 911 dispatch center.
When to call 911. The City of Lacey says to call 911 whenever life or property is in danger, when a crime is happening or just happened, or when you see suspicious activity and a fast response could help officers catch someone. If a child is being followed, cornered or threatened right now, that counts.
When to text 911. Texting is for when talking out loud isn't safe or possible. It doesn't replace a voice call.
Non-emergencies. For something that's already over and nobody is in danger, Lacey lists a non-emergency number: 360-704-2740.
Other help. The Lacey Police Department lists community outreach and work with schools among its services, and its records line is 360-459-4333. The department says its partnership with residents depends on people reporting what they see.
Sound Neighbors does not name the people in community posts. The accounts above are residents' posts and have not been verified.
Sources
- City of Lacey, Report a Crime
- City of Lacey, Police Department
- Lacey Parks, Culture & Recreation, Avonlea Park
- Tanglewilde, Washington (Wikipedia, citing U.S. Census)
- Nextdoor post, Stonegate, ~Oct. 8, 2026 (393 reactions, 86 comments as displayed Oct. 13)
