Tonight I attended the public safety meeting held in my neighborhood as a response to the scary spree of street crimes and house burglaries. I thank the Lakewood Seward Park Community Club, in partnership with the Southeast Seattle Crime Prevention Council, for putting this together.

Below are some notes I took, most of which is based on the 1st 45 minutes when the various officials were talking: the Police Chief, the Police Captain, the Deputy Mayor, etc. I did not take many notes during the Q&A which lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Your comments and replies are welcome, below. If you think I took some mistaken notes, please let me know nicely.

a 100-year-old non-profit association serving the community in Lakewood/Seward Park (click the image to see their site)

As I approached on foot, I could see that the little building which is the Community Club was packed. There was a line of people that snaked past the corner. Those inside squished together multiple times until more and more people were able to enter the building. I was lucky enough to get in. At 1st I was in the back behind a bunch of neighbors. I noticed that in the very full hall, the middle aisle was mostly empty. I climbed over some folks (sorry, neighbors, and thanks) who were sitting on the floor near the back in order to use up the perfectly good real estate on the floor all the way up the middle aisle. Others followed me and so this made room for a few more people to squeeze inside. Everyone adjusted.

The speakers started talking. Someone said there were still about 100 people outside. “Could we put one of the speakers on the windowsill so those outside could hear?” No, we only had one speaker, connected to the mic with a 9-foot cord.

click the image to see their site

John Diaz:

1. Joked that we were SO over-capacity, he was glad the Fire Chief didn’t come tonight.
2. They have three pillars:

•       preventing crime
•       reducing the fear of crime
•       building community

Captain Mike Nolan:

1. The guy who was mugged and stabbed at the bottom of the stairs that go from 49th down to 50th was attacked by a mentally-ill person who will be arrested (or maybe already has been).  [See comment from Wendy below.]  This was a random act, not one of the pattern street crimes that have been happening a lot lately.
2. Another crime at Noah’s Grocery and Lake Washington Boulevard: they have leads and are just waiting on some lab work before making an arrest.
3. The attempted robbery at Ideal Pet Stop is indeed part of the recent series of pattern robberies. One of the women working the cash register there was held up at gunpoint in the store about 2 weeks ago.
4. Street robberies near the Light Rail stations and other transit centers have spiked in a major way since September 2011. He said they have a task force dedicated to this. It seemed to me, though, that it was just 2 cars patrolling plus transit security and such. Did I hear this correctly?
5. Three groups have been identified as the likely perpetrators. All local gangs, many of the members are juveniles. They are organized, and have honed their systems down: look for a likely victim with electronics and stalk that person. There are others in the group who get the message. Often one is in a car that can be additional back-up or is the get-away.
6. One such group has a leader who is about 14.
7. Burglaries in homes have also increased markedly since September. We used to have 10 or 15 a month. Now there are 30 a month.
8. He says this number has begun to decrease. Is it really true? Is this so we can feel a little better?
9. Some 27 suspects have been identified. They plan to arrest 6 people who are connected to specific robberies in our ‘hood. Some were ID’d using the fingerprints officers have collected at the various scenes.
10. Suspicious behavior should always always always always be called in to 911:
1.       going door-to-door with some ridiculous story
2.       wandering from one yard to the next
3.       etc.
11. They are looking for gold and/or electronics.
12. The next phase for police: where are these stolen goods being fenced?

John Hayes:

1. He repeated the 3 pillars.
2. Recommends that we go on the Community Walks. There is one soon on Beacon Hill. There is another soon in the Rainier Beach area. Some neighbors explained the details but I could not hear them. Do you know the details? If so, can you post a response below?
3. We should learn to be better witnesses: be able to describe who we saw, what they did, what kind of car they used …
4. Never hesitate to call 911.
5. They are aware that there is sometimes a delay in the police response after a victim calls 911. They know this can happen and are trying to be aware of it, and have the operator call the victim back to give them a schedule update and to reassure them that the police are on their way still. They are trying to have good customer service.
6. He mentioned that arrests do happen and these are listed out somewhere. During the Q&A, I asked where these lists exist so that I can keep up-to-date. It would help me to feel better knowing not just about all the crime but also about the arrests. I was told that since 70% of these perpetrators are under-aged, they are protected by privacy laws and I cannot know about those arrests. Other arrests (of adults) are tied up in legal systems and so I do not know about those arrests. Great.
7. Mental health issues present a tough challenge for police.

Other notes:

1. Sergeant Steve Damon – I think he’s the one to call for an update on a specific crime, if you need specific info.
2. Sexual assaults (like that rash in Seward Park and elsewhere) have not been forgotten. I could tell their current focus is on the street crimes and house burglaries right now. I understand that not everything can be the top priority all the time. Someone has to triage. Car thefts are not top priority right now, for example.
3. The police focus on arresting serial offenders for better efficiency.
4. We cannot arrest our way out of this situation:On about 3,000 arrests, only 54 individuals are represented. That’s a lot of re-arresting people who are still not in jail. [See comment from Alyssa below.]
5. One guy noted that this crowd was the largest he had seen for such a topic in many, many years.

There were many great questions and comments from the audience. I have them in my head but did not take specific notes. Now I kind of wish I did so I could write more here. What can we do to help? Why is this happening? What about gangs? What about prevention? Pride in our racially diverse neighborhood. How to reach those folks. How to get more Seattle-ites to become Seattle cops. How to be better influences for our youth. What behaviors to be suspicious of, as opposed to what colors to be suspicious of. At least one neighbor blamed the crime victims; not cool.

I am glad I attended. It’s often good for the community to come together. I did not feel better at the end of the night.

I was nervous walking the 4 blocks to the meeting at 6:50 pm. I was nervous walking home the 4 blocks at 9:00 pm.

Someone said this was all live on Seattle Channel 21 – at least one person told me they saw it there. At least one other person I know went to Channel 21 only to find some unrelated programming on. I do not know what’s up with that discrepancy.

Does anyone know if this will be aired later on Seattle Channel 21?