In its never ending quest to totally freak my mother out by convincing her that her son is in constant danger, living as he does in the hive of scum and villainy that is Wallingford, the city has set up a new “Tweets by Beat” program, which should provide a constant flow of affirmation for paranoia:
Today, as part of SPD’s 20/20 policing plan, we’re launching Tweets By Beat, allowing you to view police dispatches in each of Seattle’s 51 police beats.
Tweets By Beat works a lot like a police scanner, giving you information about what type of crimes officers are responding to, and where those crimes are happening. […]
There are a few caveats: in order to protect crime victims, officers, and the integrity of crime scenes, calls will appear on the Twitter feeds one hour after a dispatcher sends the call to an officer. The feeds also do not include information about domestic violence calls, sexual assaults, and other certain types of crimes.
The Wallingford-specific Twitter feeds are @SeattlePDJ3 (covering Lake Union to 50th Ave, and Fremont Ave to I-5) and SeattlePDJ1 (from 50th to 85th).
Fortunately, my mother isn’t quite sure what “The Twitter” is, so the primary danger here is that if there is a special Internet thing to report on Wallingford crime, there must be a lot of it. But rest easy, Mom! Seattle also provides the “My Neighborhood Map” of crime, and a glance at it recently showed that Wallingford is relatively crime-free compared to its neighbors Fremont and the University District:
The icons make everything seem much worse (any drug crime is transformed into a needle and that thing that looks like a bomb is just “illegal dumping”). Of course, we’re curious what icon would be used for “Amazon Fresh stolen from porch” (which happened yet again, this time to Becca down the street) or for “windshield wipers stolen from car” (our co-editor, Margaret!)
Is there an icon for stolen plants? I got one of three dwarf Alberta spruce stolen right out of the pot! Happened one Saturday at lunch!
Don’t forget an icon for wayward cats sneaking into houses and getting drunk on the couch.
Just moved from Capitol Hill to Wallingford and am following both twitter feeds. The differences are pretty great, for example our feed has “suspicious person” and “follow up suspicious person” as a fairly frequent report. The idea of someone on Cap Hill reporting someone who looked “suspicious” is pretty hilarious.
Could you please leave a link to the wollingford aea crimes My Neighborhood Map plese? For soem reason when I access this on my computer from the city website.. I get downtown or another far away area.. and looking for a wallingford option doe snto show one.
Reward……to anyone who can teach me Twitter…. Fast……4,000 pestatles. My son’s safety is at stake.
A basket filled with blooming flowers was stolen off my front porch last week. Along Latona north of 50th Did not notice the theft immediately. So disappointing. It was a cherished gift from a family member.
It is really important that people communicate with McDonald School about some of the crime in the neighborhood and what neighbors have doen and are doing to reduce it. The schools presence with many staff, children, parents and traffic may help reduce problems and theit outlook and observational skills as well as access to Seattlle Sd Security may reduce incidents.
Who draws these districts? The Wallingford district contains a notable swath of Fremont, but is beheaded at 50th?
1) Thanks, Jordan, I am now following my beat!
2) Your mom sounds awesome
3) That just bites, Margaret!
Where’s the stumbling drunk icon?
@mmm: the map is draggable. Click down your mouse on it and pull it to where you want.