Jaylynn Chambers is a Seattle public relations professional who writes a reader blog for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about nightlife and entertainment. Police protection is not a typical topic for her, as she concedes. But a recent incident involving a neighbor mugged at knifepoint by two men in Pioneer Square has her wondering what it takes to at least get an appropriate follow-up response from police. Chambers writes that her neighbor was distinctly blown off when she reported the crime to an officer she located shortly after the perps ran off with her purse and pushed her into a parking meter, causing injuries. Whatever Chambers' politics, the taxpayer value proposition comes through pretty clearly.
They only fled the scene when an innocent bystander began to scream and run towards her in aid. As they fled the incident she went in pursuit of a police officer. To her and my surprise the police said nothing, didn't take a statement and disregarded the situation saying there was nothing they could do....we...should feel that...when this does take place that the law enforcement that is paid by our tax dollars is going to do something about it....they could at least make us feel safe by asking if we're okay or taking a statement - even a description.
Requiring police to take a statement and description of the perps after a mugging and battery in downtown Seattle should be mandatory, and not just in theory. I'd daresay that trying to catch, charge, convict and imprison the offenders just might be in society's best interests, as well. Unless the perps have suffered from a lack of social justice, that is.
Yes, Chambers' report is second-hand, but from a source she trusts. As a public relations professional with her own blog at the P-I's site, I have to really believe she understands her responsibilities, and is legitimately convinced her neighbor's report is true. Below, I'll provide additional and striking testimonials collected by a neighborhood group, and even from a Seattle police officer, on poor police response and police understaffing.
Episodes like that Chambers reported at her P-I reader blog are not often covered by the hired reporting staff; it's a plus to have local residents blogging at the paper's site about real issues like crime, development, education and even politics. Yet more meat and less fluff is necessary. It would also help a lot if most of the citizen blogs at the P-I were not in their own "silos," cut off from the blogosphere with no links in their posts to local bloggers' posts and with no blogrolls containing links to the main pages of some of those local independent blogs. At least the P-I's staff-written blogs on topics such as venture capital, Microsoft, and aerospace have blogrolls, with outside links. That's not quite the be all and end all, but it helps set the tone around the ideal of online community - or it doesn't. Confined in their silos, the P-I's citizen bloggers get few if any links from "outside" bloggers in return, and are largely ignored but for friends, family and co-workers. One wonders if that is actually what the paper really intends. "Citizen blogging" at the P-I seems a half-baked signifier of "new media" savvy. Based on the roster of "Reader Blogs" which starts in the center-right column found at this central P-I blogs page and is continued in a lower-right pull-down menu on the same page, tokenism plays a major role in the Reader Blogs effort, if it can even be called an effort. A reader "blog" for this neighborhood, one for that neighborhood, one for gardeners, one for UW football fans, one for snappy cool Moms - all cluelessly isolated from, rather than smartly integrated via links and references to, popular same-subject competitors in the regional blogosphere. These limpid sites, even when good writing or analysis or a small scoop surfaces, are like poorly-rooted deep woods saplings which have fallen ill and and are fast dying in isolation. For some clues on how the P-I's reader blogs can latch on to the energy of larger and parallel off-site blog communities without sacrificing individuality or integrity, the contributors and their befuddled enablers should seriously scroll through the archives of Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman's blog. He's writing the book on that, practically every day.
The connectivity between serious - and even just occasionally serious - local MSM blogs and independent, free-standing blogs matters because the content in both venues can deserve broader dissemination and discussion. Take public safety in Seattle. Previously here, I've documented Seattle's police understaffing, and its far higher than average rate of property crimes for similarly-sized cities. In addition, here now are some telling comments submitted in writing by local residents at a public meeting convened last fall by the Greenwood Aurora Involved Neighbors group and attended by city council members and police (these were provided to me directly by GAIN).
"We reported suspicious drug-related activity to the police about six months ago and were told that they were not properly staffed to even investigate our complaints! The house in question is two houses away from ours and we had kept extensive details of individuals and license plates, etc., but the police were simply not interested.""I've never had more problems with crime since I moved to Linden and 87th. Weekly - car thefts or drop-offs, drug deals, drug addicts smoking crack and hassling us verbally. Walking to bus 358, I have daily run-ins with shady characters, which is very uncomfortable and feels unsafe. Greenwood Park is nice but too many alcoholics drinking, loitering and vandalizing in the early evenings. Teens running their foul mouths with little children present."
"I called 911, thoroughly explained that a prowler was in my neighbor's backyard. They did not respond, initially. I was put in a situation that the SPD is trained to perform, not me. I physically removed the prowler after awakening my neighbor. SPD responded 18 min(utes) after the initial call. This is absolutely unacceptable."
"Like most of my neighbors, I've witnessed drug deals in front of my home; found people passed out in my yard, and constantly find bottles and bags on the sidewalk."
"I live at 94th (Street) N. and Stone Ave. just off Aurora...I am surrounded by friends and their small children. It is great. About six months ago, the building next door started to have problems. We began to notice heavy drug activity and prostitution. The noise level increased and so did the garbage outside. We have actually come across people doing drugs behind our dumpsters. There have been at least three drug deals a DAY in front of our building, sometimes even on our property. The police have been called several times...it is getting worse every day...What do we do? I want my kids to be safe. It has to stop and there seems to be nothing we can do - or the police either."
"I live near 137th and Aurora. We have prostitutes, drugs and have an explosion of abandoned cars, people living in RVs and various drug operations operating out of these vehicles. Calls to police are pretty much ignored."
Faye Garneau, a commerical propety owner who heads the Aurora Avenue Merchants Association, shared with me an e-mail to her from a Seattle police officer whose name was redacted (she has worked closely with North Precinct police for some time). It read:
"..it is getting to be like it was five or more years ago along Aurora, we have such low staffing that officers are on calls almost the whole shift and do not have time to make contacts with the thugs on Aurora...when I come to work, like yesterday, there were only two - TWO - officers for the whole Nora sector. I made an arrest and then there was only one officer for the sector. Of course people will say there are other officers available but in reality they are usually way down in Ballard or way over in Lake City. IT IS SUCH AN OFFICER SAFETY PROBLEM THAT I CAN'T BLAME OFFICERS FOR NOT STOPPING AND TALKING WITH ANYONE."
In another e-mail to Garneau, the officer states:
"...we really need about 200 (more) officers for the whole city."
That estimate tracks fairly closely with the net increase of 225 more officers over five years that has been recommended by the Downtown Seattle Association, GAIN, and Garneau's group. The technical term used by the FBI is not "officers," but rather "sworn personnel." That can include detectives, sergeants and a variety of other non-civilian police positions, as well as patrol officers. But in Seattle the greatest need is for more cops on the street to help prevent crime in the first place.
As a result of such chronic manpower shortages, says Garneau, prostitutes, pimps and drug dealers own the streets on and around Aurora, running from about 70th Street to the city's northern boundary of 145th. She elaborates: "What we need is a more visible and nimble police presence. Officers on bike patrols are very visible, very effective, and less expensive, but we don't have a city government that understands public safety. The first priority of a city is the safety of the its citizens. This is why cities were originally formed."
There seems little question the city of Seattle is in glaring violation of its own municipal charter, which states, "There shall be maintained adequate police protection." The City Council and Mayor of Seattle should gore some oxes in the city budget, take the heat, and properly staff the police department. Due to competition from other departments and a limited applicant pool, patrol officer salaries probably need a good bump.
When it comes to police protection, the Mayor and Council need to get the message. Is the Seattle electorate awake on this one, or numbed into indifference by an indifferent city government?
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at August 08, 2006 07:00 PM | Email ThisLocal police are far more interested in protecting themselves physcically, to say nothing of their health care benefits, their pensions, spending unending amounts of time in courtrooms, than your sorry behind.
Clear thinking women will take matters into their own hands. I do believe this is the creed of the feminists. Accordingly, what to do? How about purchasing a product from a fine American company, an incredibly reliable and effective product-a Smith & Wesson revolver/semi auto revolver/pistol; learn how to use it (NRA), and take care of yourself.
Ten or twenty pistol deaths from the hands of irritated women will get the message out: don't mess with Seattle women..........
Posted by: Hank on August 8, 2006 07:20 PMIn the 20 years I've lived here, I've mostly found the police officers to be polite and courteous but Green Lake unfortuneately does have a lot of petty crime and some break ins.
By not taking the victims report and not responding to 911 calls, the SPD is under reporting the true crime rate
I don't know if you can blame this on Royer, Rice, Schnel, Nickels and/or Seattle City Council
I'm surprised that the policemen's union is not pushing this in budget reviews.
Eric, maybe you can keep an eye on this and determine if the Pioneer Square and other incidents are isolated exceptions or a continuing problem
Posted by: Green Lake Mark on August 8, 2006 07:41 PMI am sick of liberals whimpering, whining and crying about how the poor downtrodden homeless/minorities/nightlife community are being victimized by the heartless thugs of the SPD, and then wondering why large swaths of downtown are essentially de-policed after 6 PM or so. Do you think Seattle would have hired gutless career administrators like Stamper and Girlikowske as police chiefs if not for the Perpetually Outraged Progressives?
Quit sniveling, liberals - the degradation, danger and filth are the price we're all paying for the ideal of "Diversity" you're so willing to ram down our throats from behind your locked gates and private security guards. This is the city YOU have created - just shut up and enjoy it.
Posted by: Disgusted Old Man on August 8, 2006 08:01 PMwe need a new revival of old fashioned law & order; crack a few skulls with nightsticks a-la '68 Chicago SDS riots;
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on August 8, 2006 08:11 PMIf more folks carried and more perps found themselves looking at the muzzles crime would drop.
Posted by: JCM on August 8, 2006 08:44 PMWhen living in the U District and having our car broken into almost nightly. Why I don't know there was nothing in it and as a good little victim upon police recommendations leaving glove box open and all that At least 3 attempted thefts of just my vehicle alone (damaged in the process) there and around 75 break ins, several attempted thefts and a couple actual thefts of vehicles there - one complex over a period of about 3 months.
I was told (after we figured out one of the "people" who was doing it) by the police that they could not arrest anyone as it would take them off the streets. I was told that on two separate occasions. WTF?!? To be fair, it probably took them 3 weeks to write up one arrest with the impact statement for every minority within 10 miles of the incident.
After a while no one bothered to report them to the building management nor the police. I suspect this is why crime statistics go down...
Seattle police are not worth the powder and shot nor one damn dime of my tax money. No one respects them, I wonder why?
Yes we moved out as soon as we could afford it.
Yes, I am a bit upset about it. Still. I do realize that the problem is probably more with Seattle government than the police, but what kind of cops does a government like that get?
Because of that I refuse to purchase another vehicle until I get out of this town, this one is so trashed as a result of that experience that it is now safe from vandals (maybe).
Citizens with the aformentioned Smith & Wesson could do in days what the police do not seem to be able to do at all.
Oh yeah, on top of all the taxes you pay, if this happens to you, you get to go to them and pay for a copy of the report.
I did hear that a couple of the tenants caught one of the "people" breaking in a car and took him up into the Cascades and worked him over with a baseball bat and left him there. Don't know if that is true or wishful tenant thinking, personally I hope it was true.
Sheesh... Chicago got nothing on this burg.
/disgust does not even begin to cover it.
Posted by: Fox3 on August 8, 2006 09:06 PMThe the 911 operator:
"I am holding the suspect at gunpoint!"
Posted by: JCM on August 8, 2006 09:45 PM1. Enforce current laws, ie: any possession of illegal drugs is against the law.
2. Pass a law aginst being drunk in public, 3 days in jail minimum.
3. Pass a law against living in any structure not permitted in city of seattle, and enforce it. (short term camping in approved areas would be exempt)
People must realize that these folks are the ones committing these crimes. They are putting a strain on emergency services. Go to the firestation at 4th and Battery street. Station 2. It is the busiest station on the west coast. Why? Because they run all day and night taking care of the homeless/indigent. When we find these people in their drunken stupor, or beaten by other homeless, we send them to our regions only Level 1 trauma center..Harborview, further taxing our resources. Aid 2, the aid car at station 2 is on pace to set a record, over 6000 runs this year. Do the math 6000 divided by 365 divided by 24. thats 16 runs a day. 2 runs every 3 hours. That is just one unit at station 2, there is also an engine (pumper truck ) that will get about 3500 runs in 2006 and a truck (aerial ladder) that will get 2500 this year. Extrapolate that into wages and vehicles, fuel and wear and tear on vehicles, emergency room services and the cost of being busy when real emergencies occur.
These bums/crimminals are costing seattle taxpayers in a big big way. Not to mention the cost to the victims. Seattlelites are getting what they deserve, and they are paying for it, they just dont realize it. Th ewonderful utopian society has an ugly underworld. I hope they enjoy it. Seattle Fire Fighter
Posted by: seattlefire on August 8, 2006 10:41 PMBut they won't do a thing to stop break-ins of unoccupied buildings, or stop drug dealers from setting up crack houses, or stop addicts from doing their dope behind the dumpster.
While confronting these folks might feel good, unless they're directly threatening you with violence, or are actually on your property, initiating an armed confrontation isn't self defense.
That said, if the SPD doesn't want to deal with the druggies, even when presented with lists of license #s and maybe even pics of the folks coming and going, why not give the info to the KC Sheriff's Dept? Maybe a bureaucratic turf battle will motivate SPD to actually do their job.
And is it also possible that prospective cops don't want to work for SPD because of what we in the Army call 'command climate?' That they want to work somewhere where arresting and prosecuting criminals, even petty ones, is encouraged? Most cops don't become cops for the paycheck and the bennies-they do it because they actually want to help good people and put bad ones in prison. When the higher ups-that's you, Chief Kerlikowski, Mayor Nickels, Seattle council-don't think that's important, cops will go to departments where their efforts will be encouraged and rewarded.
Posted by: Heartless Libertarian on August 9, 2006 10:02 AMWhy the hell I ever let my wife (a seattle native) talk me into coming back here I'll never know.
Posted by: Robert on August 9, 2006 10:05 AMI know he's an exception to the rule, but I was less than impressed with his commitment to law and order. I think he's the kind of cop that these losers (above story) were, in it for the high pay and benefits, and pension, and power position it gives them. I think (name redacted by editor) is something of a scam artist who uses his badge to obtain an edge over sellers.
Posted by: Anon. on August 9, 2006 10:08 AMThis incident illustrates that the Democrats are indeed the party of talk...not action.
They talk a good game but refuse to actually do something other than raise taxes.
One more arguement for concealed carry.
Why do they always seem to support the criminal over the lawful?
Posted by: Jack Burton on August 9, 2006 10:28 AMsure--in my day, the pot-bellied cop may have enjoyed a doughnut, but he also would crack your skull for smarting-off to him; he was like an uncle, too--friendly but stern;a role model; we respected them & we all knew the rules; but--that was before the explosion of "perp rights;"
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on August 9, 2006 11:24 AM
Then when We the People tell our "Representatives" no more taxes ... they cut funding to the essentials: Fire, Police, etc.
But the bums don't get voted out by the Blue-Staters ... gosh, can't imagine why we've got the situation we've got.
Isn't the P-I complicit in this ... always supporting Blue candidates and not bashing the "representatives" next election when they pull these stunts.
Seems that blogger is part and parcel of the problem.
Posted by: lee egg on August 9, 2006 11:47 AMUnder Giuliani's watch, the crime rate dropped dramatically with the "you break the law, you pay the price" theme. The crime rate is now back up because the current mayor and city government thought Giuliani's approach was too harsh.
Having called 911 after witnessing a shooting and not being able to get through for at least 10-15 minutes (that was not fun!), the city needs to reorganize priorities. An effective police force is more important than sculpture parks and free apartments for drunks.
Posted by: Burdabee on August 9, 2006 12:06 PMWe're talking about lefties here. To them the police are the bad guys, ("the pigs" as they were called circa 1970). Drunks, thugs and people who urinate in the doorways of businesses are victims of our oppressive corporate society. They are heroes of "the struggle". The left wants as many of them despoiling the city as possible. After all it just bolsters their argument that we need socialism. Do they really care about these people? Not any more than they care about unborn children. Besides thanks to the left the police have much more important duties, like enforcing Seattle's mandatory bicycle helmet law. It's all about priorities.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on August 9, 2006 03:10 PMThis is a fine paper done on guns that shows everyone where their protection exists. The site gives various ways to view the facts. At the end, it shows numerous country's that took away guns resulting in genocide (56 million world-wide). I would encourage people to carry some sort of protection with them at all times...even if its pepper spray. Waiting for the police is a choice that most victims have after the crime is commited. protecting one's self can stop it.
Posted by: Dan Bihary on August 9, 2006 03:50 PMThis is a fine paper done on guns that shows everyone where their protection exists. The site gives various ways to view the facts. At the end, it shows numerous country's that took away guns resulting in genocide (56 million world-wide). I would encourage people to carry some sort of protection with them at all times...even if its pepper spray. Waiting for the police is a choice that most victims have after the crime. Protecting one's self can stop it.
Posted by: Dan Bihary on August 9, 2006 03:51 PM