Crime reports come into Wallyhood anecdotally, so I thought it would be an interesting thing to check out the Seattle Police Incident Map for a larger view. This doesn’t include traffic accidents, but most anything else the police deal with gets reported on the incident map.
Here is the view for the past week as of Monday (4/6). The green icons are for property theft, which dominates weekly reports. Car prowls are the winner for reported crime, with frequent reports also showing up for car theft, bike theft, property damage, fraud, burglaries, and disturbances. The numbered grey circles indicate multiple incidents at the same location:
Zooming out to the last month and filtering to just person on person crime (red), burglary (green), and arrests (blue) produces this map. Person on person crimes include assault (fist icon) and robbery (suspicious mask). It’s interesting that arrests fall so short of the number of reported serious incidents:
Note the robbery icon at 43rd and Woodland Park Ave, which was covered here on Wallyhood. In a bizarre and cruel twist, it is reported that the woman stabbed in that incident also submitted the Stoneway Crossing NPSF project.
Finally, we zoom out to the last year. Now the filter is just set to robberies. So if you want to get robbed, this is where to go:
Some incidents aren’t showing up on the map. There are very few reports of mail theft and narcotics use, probably because people aren’t bothering with the police in those cases. I know the last two times I’ve had my car prowled I haven’t bothered to report it, I just paid the $400 for a new car window. If you want to have fun with the police maps, check it out here.
Report every crime. Every time. It may sound like a hassle, but the police department looks at maps just like these to determine where and when to fund patrols. If we under-report crimes, we’re only hurting ourselves, and making it easier for criminals to get away with it.
I was wondering if anyone has an update on the woman who was stabbed. The post about her proposal said she is taking care of her child who was hit by a car on Stone Way so I’m also wondering if she needs any extra help from the community?
This is not representative of actual Wallingford crime rates. Our car has been rifled through and robbed at least four times this year. We don’t bother to report anything because the SPD ignores property crimes. I imagine my neighbors don’t report similar incidents as well.
Really, report every crime. If your car was rifled through, something was lifted from your porch, etc. you can report it on-line. Very little hassle. There’s not generally an immediate investigation (little to go on) but 1. More crime reported can mean more patrols 2. on the highly-remote chance anything is found, it’s easier to get it back. But do report everything, to get an increase in patrols. Certainly if you see something suspicious (e.g., someone following a delivery truck) call 911. Costs you nothing and could help a lot.