I frequently see people in the neighborhood that are clearly in need of assistance, but calling the police feels like a disproportionate response. There is no crime occurring and no immediate threat is present. For example, a few mornings ago there was a man moving erratically and moaning in the crosswalk by QFC on Wallingford Ave. He was clearly in need of aid, and standing in the middle of Wallingford Ave in the dark wearing black clothes. Very little good was going to come from this situation without external intervention. I tried to talk with him and get him out of the street, but he was unresponsive.
911 had been my go to mechanism for engaging emergency city services. Knowing the history of the Seattle Police Department, I had a fairly high threshold for calling that number in most 
situations. The situation had to be fairly extreme for me to call 911.
The Stranger had a great story a few months ago that provided several other options for how to address these situations. It outlines several different options depending on your comfort level. In particular, it highlights some of the options within the Seattle Police Department. This quote stroke close to home for me:
When asked if it would be better to just kinda walk on by rather than intervene or call the cops, Mahoney [a social worker and program manager with the Seattle branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness] strongly disagreed. “While the ramifications of calling for police intervention absolutely differ from neighborhood to neighborhood, we at NAMI Seattle definitely do not believe that the only other alternative is to ‘just kinda walk on by’ someone who is in obvious pain, distress, or otherwise experiencing mental health symptoms.”
For the above situation near QFC, I followed the suggestion of calling 911 and requesting someone trained as a Crisis Intervention Team Member, and mentioning the mobile crisis team as a possible resource. I have called 911 a fair amount of times as I have been out walking the dog, and most of the conversations always go towards the risk of police response. Very early in the conversation with the 911 operator, I am asked if I see weapons or is the person aggressive. However, when I mentioned the Crisis Intervention Team Member, I did get a slightly different set of questions. Rather than risk to responders, the conversation was more focused on risk to the individual in need. I was asked questions about the danger faced by the individual, and had I tried to ask him to get out of the street. I did not stay for the whole interactions with the responding team, but from the 911 call it felt like a better experience than I have had in the past.
This is not going to solve the all the issues in the neighborhood, but it felt like a good start in improving communications within the community. In this one instance, the above suggestions allowed me to better communicate what I saw happening in the moment in a way the 911 operator could understand. In the past, I was not sure how to clearly communicate ” There is no imminent danger to the community, but this one person really needs some expert help.” So tip of the hat to the Stranger for the clear article on to relate just that sentiment.
So nice to see The Stranger’s hate the police narrative gain a foothold in Wallyhood.
They’re all a bunch of police abolitionists at that rag. The Stranger and like minded activists have been increasingly urging people not to call the cops for any kind of threat, whether real or perceived, saying the cops might “murder” them. It’s just another underhanded way for them to malign all cops and bash SPD, while encouraging crime to flourish.
And notice how they never seem to have a solution when actual violence is committed. The writer mentions how he’s witnessed people screaming death threats and swinging a piece of rebar around. How does he propose society deals with the situation when the guy decides to crack someone’s skull with it?
It’s a fact that Seattle police murdered people, and was found by Department of Justice to have conduct issues. I am surprised that you guys aren’t aware of facts.
Also highlighting the police issue doesn’t imply anti-police. American police has pretty horrible record comparing to others around the world. Pointing that out isn’t anti-police, just like pointing out the shortcoming of education system isn’t anti-teacher or anti-education. It’s quite the opposite really.
Sure, it’s a fact that you have a few bad cops out there, like the one that gun down the woodcarver years ago. It’s also a fact that a lot of what activists and even councilmembers and mayoral candidates called “murders” by police were nothing of the sort. For example, Charlena Lyles and Che Taylor. And many of them are open about wanting to abolish the police, and they use those stories to achieve that goal. Conversely, I don’t hear anyone who’s pointing out the shortcomings of the education system calling for the abolition of teachers.
There are definitely people who calls for abolition of schools. Not sure why you’d link criticizing police to abolishing police, or criticizing schools to abolishing schools. It’s a fact that American polices are much more dangerous. In the past few years, about 900 civilians got killed by police a year. The typical number for many other advanced countries would be zero. It’s NOT against police to call that out. It’s simply pointing out how some police are worse than others. In the US, whenever you call the police you are risking the life of the police and yourself and whoever you think you want the police to handle. That’s not the case in most other advanced countries. So don’t just randomly call the police. This is especially the case when black people are involved.
“There are definitely people who calls for abolition of schools. Not sure why you’d link criticizing police to abolishing police, or criticizing schools to abolishing schools.”
I guess I need to point out to you that you’re the one who started the discussion linking criticizing the police to teachers and schools. The people who call abolishing teachers or schools are considered to be nuts by the rest of society. And that also happens to be what society thinks of those who call for abolishing the police as well.
I brought up the nuts that want to abolish schools as an equivalent to you bringing up the nuts that want to abolish the police. Neither are relevant to the dialogue, and I am glad that you see how your point was irrelevant now.
Stop associating everything you are against to some extreme ideas, and address reasonable points. Typically people only do the former when they have no true arguments, and I don’t believe that’s what you are doing.
tj, can you provide a factual list of these “murders” by SPD please? Otherwise, using this as the foundation of an anti-police bent is just a feel-good, self-perpetuating, far left fever dream. Aren’t there some examples of use of force short of killing someone that were legitimately questionable that support your argument better than leaping to “murder?” This article rings true to me: http://www.theruralbadge.com/2019/12/decide-what-you-want.html?fbclid=IwAR2AF9xoJ-bweY8jwLOH0tkYLV3ufThFtLxKqB3fECGUhWvP_jPMi0U_4Gw
Just last year, Ryan Smith was shot to death by Seattle Police, when he was later tested to be likely too drunk to understand what polices are shouting. Police were there because his girlfriend called.
This kind of thing is not just a Seattle police problem. It’s an American policing practice issue, where civilian killing is often easily justified. It’s not the police individuals that are toxic, but the culture is. And it IS a good advice to avoid calling for help from police in the US in many situation when one would do so in other countries.
The number one reason for the toxic culture is related to private gun ownership. American police by default assume anybody may be out to kill them and may shot them. That means with any hint of threat they believe they are justified to kill. This is very different from some countries where they have unarmed police that are stations as the may purpose to help out the community.
You mean this guy? The guy who was armed with a knife and who attacked his girlfriend, who then called 911 screaming that he was trying to kill her? The guy who refused repeated commands by the officers, who don’t know what weapons he might have, or if he’s in the process of killing the gf? The guy who disobeyed repeated commands to open the door, put his hands up, drop the knife, and moved toward the cops with knife raised?
Yeah sorry, but that’s not “murder” just because you and Sawant and her ilk say it is.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/seattle-police-release-video-of-officers-fatally-shooting-man-in-queen-anne-apartment/%3famp=1
I think the police should administer a field sobriety test, ask a 20-question mental wellness questionnaire and then shoot. Again, I refer anyone interested in an actual dialogue about this to read the following article: http://www.theruralbadge.com/2019/12/decide-what-you-want.html?fbclid=IwAR2AF9xoJ-bweY8jwLOH0tkYLV3ufThFtLxKqB3fECGUhWvP_jPMi0U_4Gw
I thought you were linking some type of study. It’s just an essay with some personal opinion.
The tragic police culture in the US is really just the result of private gun ownership. Switzerland also has relatively high private gun ownership and police killing.
Why are American polices so jumpy and so eager to kill? Because they are worried about being killed. Gun ownership means anybody may have the capability of killing anyone at any time with limited sign of danger. I cannot ask police to stop caring about their own life, and to train them to be able to always react correctly is impossible.
That does mean in the US, for many situations, it’s better to have response team that are known to be not armed, so they won’t even have the chance to make mistakes and kill people by accident.
tj, you share your opinions here all the time. And, in this case, it’s the opinion of a serving LEO and so deserves to be at least heard. Do you disagree with any of his points? You are certainly welcome to, but I would not just discount “opinion” out of hand. If you do, then many of your posts run the same risk.
Anyway, I came here today because here’s an example of poor behavior that supports a concern with police: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-police-officer-contributed-to-mans-death-with-ruse-that-shocked-the-conscience-investigation-finds/
My god the fact this officer was not fired is definitive proof SPD is a broken institution.
Imagine a financial advisor who falsely told a client his account had crashed to zero who then commits suicide – and then is not fired.
Unbelievable.
I wonder if SPOG had some kind of influence here? I agree with you – given the results of his actions, he should be terminated.
Well, I’m sure 20 years of heroin use also contributed to his suicidal state. Long-term heroin and meth use almost always lead to suicidal thoughts and/or suicide.
The article was about the Crisis Intervention Team – just sayin’. Thanks Ben for an extremely helpful piece, no matter where the information came from….
Thanks for the post, Ben. Very helpful. Some of the comments here are sad (though not surprising).
Thanks for sharing this info, Ben – much appreciated.