According to a confidential Seattle Police Department memo leaked to KOMO 4 News, the north precinct is too short-staffed to actually investigate most burglaries. According to KOMO:
A police source said that unless burglary detectives have a suspect’s name, evidence photos or surveillance footage, and complete witness interviews, it’s unlikely a case will even get worked let alone solved. […]
The memo says at one point, 14 detectives worked burglary, theft and juvenile cases for the north precinct. Today it’s down to two detectives and an on-loan patrol officer, even though the memo says cases have climbed to 1,500 a month. The memo concludes, “misdemeanor and even many felony crimes can no longer be investigated except on a very rare, case by case basis.”
While KOMO goes on to quote Pete Rogerson, a citizen advisor on the North Precinct Advisory Council as saying it’s “very surprising”, to anyone who’s ever reported a burglary up these parts, it’s old news.
Kenn writes that he had to “convince the police to visit my car that got broken into even after I mentioned that there was a bloody finger print on the window.” Our friend Zoey tells us the police told her they wouldn’t be investigating the hit-and-run on her car because no human being was hurt, despite the fact that the car was totaled. I’ve called in stolen bikes and strollers, and never had them do anything more than ask a couple perfunctory questions about whether the object was locked. I called in a drunk and disorderly next to the Wallingford Park children’s playground last month, and as far as I know, police never responded.
As far back 2009, we’ve had reports like this:
I was one of the recent prowl victims. I’m pretty sure I found my stolen GPS receiver on craigslist; it was obvious that the same person was selling several of them, and each one had a different story about why he was selling it. I e-mailed Officer Jackson and called him twice but he never returned my call.
I did get a call from some other detective after I filled out a contact form online. When I asked if he could help me get it back, he recommended that I set up a meeting with the seller in a public place, tell him my unit was stolen and that I wanted to check the serial number, and then dial 911 — “90% of the time, they just run away.” Um, what about the other 10%? When I mentioned that this didn’t sound safe, he said: “Bring a guy with you.” Perfect! If I’m gonna get knifed by a crackhead thief, why not let a friend in on the action?
The cops had a chance to question someone who may have been responsible for several break-ins/thefts, and they did nothing.
What isn’t so clear to me is why the reduction. According to Public Safety and Education Committee meeting minutes from 2010, the 2009 “year-end update projected 49 recruits entering Academy training in 2010. The new update shows that 15 recruits entered the Academy in the first quarter and none entered in the second quarter. It projects zero new recruits for the rest of the year.”
But this isn’t simply due to reduced overall budget. Looking at the City of Seattle General Fund Revenue & Budget Update from 2013, sales tax and B&O tax, two major sources of funds for the general fund (also see the have been growing nicely. But not only isn’t the money being spent on new police officers, the number of detectives is significantly shrinking (as the population grows).
The Seattle Police Department budget appears to be be steady, and offers a few clues (one big ticket item: $12M to “Fund Seattle Police Officers Guild Contract”), but I won’t pretend to understand which of these are appropriate or not. It’s too easy to dismiss any cost as “frivolous” without being educated.
What I do know is that when it comes to burglaries, we’re on our own.
(Thanks to the many folks who sent this in!)
I feel you can expect a lack of accountability in any town that has no real political opposition. This is as true of Seattle as it would be for a city deep in the heart of Texas. The city councilmembers are all essentially incumbents for life, and even the mayors are often unchallenged in elections. So basic services are lacking–now the police missing without explanation–and what can anyone really do about it?
The recent establishment of a parks bureaucracy was another case in point. They didn’t like having to pass a levy every few years… well of course they didn’t! That was a level of accountability they otherwise never have to deal with. For my part it seemed like the Seattle Parks Department was one aspect of city government that was working well… now I expect like the police and transportation departments, it’s going to stop working well because no one will have to answer for anything they do.
Seattle, I have fallen out of love with you.
Cops are too busy citing bicyclists on 2nd Avenue to investigate your petty thefts.
And I’m not joking.
I was cited on my bicycle downtown on 2nd Avenue two weeks ago by SPD motorcycle officer David M Ogard for failure to signal. A quick online search shows that Officer Ogard (a 27 year vet of SPD) was a detective as recently as two years ago. Why is he now a motorcycle cop? Because investigating crimes does not generate revenue, citing bicyclists does.
If this issue is a matter of money, i.e. not enough money in the budget to finance the cost of police officer’s salary, then I have a serious suggestion: Put an officer, one day per month, at the on ramp to I-5 south and 45th to catch drivers of cars with no passengers who skip the line on the left and race down the ramp in the right/carpool lane. My experience is that this is a untapped gold mine for law enforcement. My experience is that waiting in line, at any time of the day when the traffic/regulatory light is on, three or four single drivers race past me while I am patiently waiting in line. In one day, I believe a single officer could pay for his/her salary for a month or more.
I have been told, several years ago now, that there is only one patrol car for all of Wallingford, and that if there is an emergency in an adjacent community, the car goes there. Unless someone is getting hurt, the likelihood that anyone will come is low. Think of it from the police officer’s position. Where is their time best spent? Especially when there are so few of them, so much territory to cover, and so little chance of catching someone in the act.
…and yet if you call on a car parked illegally, someone from SPD is there to write a ticket in mere seconds… Kinda sounds like it might maybe be a little about revenue?
@Jon-And ticketing people getting off the freeway talking and texting on their phones. I see so many people hold their phones while driving. Isn’t that a $200 ticket? Most of the time when me or my neighbors have called 911 about the boarding house, the police have come quickly. Could be it has a bad reputation for criminal activity and the police react quickly.
My car was also totaled in a hit and run accident, like Zoey. Luckily my neighbors got the license plate and description because the cops told me the same, “no injuries equals no investigation.” My insurance company had to do the investigation. Worries me with all the young families in our neighborhood and watching the reckless driving that occurs.
This is all about revenue – if they can’t write someone a ticket, they’re not interested.
moar revenue. moar moar moar. just like red light cameras.
There is no police presence in Wallingford. Seems like we are left to fend for ourselves. Other neighborhoods like Queen Anne or Capital Hill seem to have a more visible police force. Homes and businesses are being burglarized, and there are no repercussions.
#3, I’ve actually emailed the police department and requested that someone do this. It’s infuriating to be sitting in that left hand lane bumping down to I-5 and seeing single people (usually sports cars) roar past.
I wish this were more of a surprise. Actually, it kind of IS a surprise, I guess, in that I knew they certainly weren’t maintaining any kind of patrol presence. But not to respond to break-ins or hit-and-runs causing major damage is just intolerable. So…what can we do about it? I think we’re trying to become more vigilant, but we shouldn’t have to become vigilantes. Is there a someplace to send comments to the police chief? Can she be invited to an upcoming WCC meeting? Any thoughts welcome.
#3 & #10
I’m uncertain, but I think this is WSP’s job not SPD.
I use to regularly travel 520 westbound at ~430pm with two occupied car seats in that old righthand HOV. I’d constantly be pulled over in the trap they had setup near Yarrow Point, sometimes I’d have to wait while they ticketed 3 or 4 cars ahead of us before they’d come over and realize the mistake.
Similarly to RQ (6.), a worker at a construction site on Wallingford Avenue side-swiped three parked cars at once with his truck, slowed down long enough to see there was damage, then took off. Fortunately, there was a witness who got the business name off the truck, and so the victims (of whom I was one) were able to identify the hit-and-run driver. Seattle police took a report but said it was too low priority to pursue, even with the perpetrator’s name and employer phone # handed to them. So now that the driver knows there are no consequences for law-breaking (at least in Seattle), we can expect him to do the same in future, hopefully running away from hitting only more property and not people or pets. Why wouldn’t our community be experiencing more misdemeanor crimes when the criminals know they will get a “pass” from police?
Living in Wallingford for almost 20 years, I feel police presence has increased along with the crime rate. From my perspective, the crime rate has increased a little more than the police’s ability right now to combat it. I also think the neighborhood has changed and sometimes people are complacent about leaving their stuff outside or visible for easy pickings by thieves. I understand it’s hard to lock up all your stuff.
There has been some progress by Police that I’ve seen in my part of Wallingford to combat drug dealing ( or maybe the drug dealers just moved somewhere else in the neighborhood?). They are quick to respond to drug dealing calls. They also are still required to come out and check home alarm calls from ADT. How many false alarms do they have to respond to from ADT? Another revenue source to bill for false alarms. I guess I’m fortunate because the police have always been there for me when I needed them in an emergency in less than 5 minutes after my call (the Number 9 guys too) . I would like to understand what the Police priorities are for our neighborhood.
And they wonder why more and more people are taking the law into their own hands…
Their priorities are anything that creates revenue or may be a lead on something that creates revenue. Also, anything that gets someone a promotion or makes SPD look good. Since they’re up to their eyeballs in audits and complaints, they seem to be more and more willing to respond to the “big” stuff like drug deals, shootings and theft, which gets attention and makes for good stories. That stuff makes it look like they’re doing something useful besides writing us tickets for no proof of insurance. SPD is a joke. It’s past time to clean house down there and start with an entirely new staff and strategy. Things need to change fundamentally with the way cops get paid and the way departments get disciplined.