Comments on: Car Prowl / Police Update

By: darren

darren — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:53:22 +0000

has it really gotten this comfortable to walk the streets? Do you think we could get more eyes out there? Ive seen shows where they test people to see how they react to this stuff and they just let this happen right in front of them!

By: paola

paola — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:31:53 +0000

Well, my car was broken into last Monday night (Aug 3rd) in the lower Wallingford area – the second time that I’ve had a car break-in this year. I reported it to the police and they urged everyone who has experienced a break-in or seen something suspicious to make sure they report it so they can focus their resources. I will also be emailing the senior police officers whose emails are given above. I think we just need to keep on complaining and campaigning.

By: BrianP

BrianP — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:20:51 +0000

This thread went cold back in April. Over the months since we were the victims of a car prowler in early April, my level of vigilance has definitely increased. That being said, I haven’t heard much lately about either the car prowl/home burglary issue or the police response to it. Is crime down a bit recently? How have people responded to thievery in the neighborhood? I wonder whether longer days and shorter nights and more people out on the streets at dusk leads to fewer thieves roaming the ‘hood.

By: My Green Lake

My Green Lake — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:31:46 +0000

This post is amazing. Good job!

By: neighbor

neighbor — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:52:42 +0000

Several months ago a similar type of pathetic police response occurred to my friend in the Central District. Her house was broken into causing about $4000 in damages. A new laptop, cell phone and cash were taken. This was one of many similar break-ins that had occurred recently in my friend’s neighborhood I called the cell phone company and they were able to provide a long list of phone #’s called by the thief who had the phone (hey i think this is something the police might of thought to do!). Many of the #’s were repeats and surely could have provided good leads for a detective interested in investigating this apparent crime ring. After many phone calls to the police I was able to finally get someone who seemed slightly intrigued by this info. They never picked up the list of calls. Very disturbing!

By: Wallyhood

Wallyhood — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:14:23 +0000

Fnarf, thanks for providing that data. It’s worth noting that the concern people have is that crime has been going UP since the economy went into a tailspin. Unfortunately, the Disaster Center data you link to only goes up through 2007, prior to this period.

Some data I found at http://homes.point2.com/Neighborhood/US/Washington/King-County/Seattle/Wallingford-Demographics.aspx showed that for 2007, 98105 and 98103 were far ABOVE the national average for crime rates on almost all crime stats.

When I originally started looking into all this ( http://www.wallyhood.org/2009/01/home-invasion ), neither the Seattle Times nor the New York Times seemed to have done any better at getting up to date data.

I guess what’s frustrating for me isn’t just the crime (which is frustrating), it’s the police attitude towards it. They had an opportunity to catch a thief and it wasn’t interesting to them. They mock people who report crimes. They don’t respond when you reach out. If they can’t actually protect me, can’t they at least be nice?

By: Fnarf

Fnarf — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:12:59 +0000

Study after study shows that people who live in the safest areas fear crime even more than people in the most dangerous. To read the comments on this blog and other neighborhood blogs around here, you’d think you all lived in East St. Louis instead of the safest neighborhood on earth.

Year-to-year fluctuations in crime rates mean less than day-to-day fluctuations in Ichiro’s batting average. The fact is, crime — even property crime — is lower now than it was in 1980, and has been going steadily down for a long time: http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/wacrime.htm

Another fact: you fear crime because you hear about it more. These neighborhood blogs seem to be serving as an outlet for fearful old people who think the world is going to hell all around them. Well, the truth is, this little corner of the world is doing OK, and if you don’t think so, you can’t remember 1980 as well as you think you can. Or 1990, or…. The news media’s main function is to drum up fear over crime — almost always unwarranted.

You also hear about crime because it’s noteworthy. I’m sorry that Resident has been burgled twice, but that’s not a trend, nor does it speak to the average. But if it’s anecdotes you want, how about this: I’ve been burgled twice, too — in 1989 and 1997, and physically assaulted too — in 1984. Where’s your “deteriorating situation” there?

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:09:58 +0000

One of my coworkers spouses is a cop on the Eastside, and I went to him with my concerns about Seattle PD after a few incidents I had in the last few years.

According to him, the Seattle PD was working without a contract since around 2006. They were some of the lowest paid officers in the state, and were frustrated at being overworked and underpaid, while unable to reach agreement on a contract.

I haven’t really followed the Seattle PD contract situation, but a quick search online seems to indicate their contract was set in 2008 with big increases in pay. One would think this would have a positive impact on their morale and attitude, but it seems that it hasn’t.

By: Resident

Resident — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:13:18 +0000

Fnarf, I don’t know how you can make that claim about crime being down when there is no way to do a comparison of this year’s crime stats to previous years in the same area since the SPD switched from reporting by zip code to reporting by patrol zones (which don’t correlate). And while violent crimes may be down, property crimes are up, and Seattle has one of the highest car theft/ car prowl rates in the country. But because the courts rarely punish those offenders with more than a slap on the wrist, the police throw up their hands in frustration. Try even getting a live officer to show up at your residence to take a car prowl/theft report any more.

I’ve personally been hit by residential burglars twice in the past 3 years, after 12 years of no incidents prior to that. So to me, that’s a deteriorating situation. I’m starting a block watch with my neighbors so at least we have some regular communication with each other. I know the SPD can’t prevent crime per se, especially with the budget constraints, but it would be nice to have them refrain from the jaded sarcasm that seems to be the normal response to citizen pleas.

And finally, why don’t you keep your comments to your own neighborhood (Phinney) blog. Or to the Slog where you’re lost in the cacophony.

By: Chris W.

Chris W. — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:42:12 +0000

Why am I hearing police cars go up & down lower Wallingford Ave tonight, making that little “beep beep” sound they have on their sirens? Perhaps they want people to know they’re actually here and not at Greenlake?

By: Flash

Flash — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:58:43 +0000

As far as the police comment about 90% of the time they just run away, that is seriously one of the most messed up things I’ve ever heard. Police should launch an investigation when they have a fairly solid lead to go on. There are probably only a hand full of people doing this in Wallingford, but in my experience these types of cats know each other. Catch one and the rest will probably hear about it and hopefully move on to softer targets. Still, unless the cops catch someone in the act, it is very very difficult to find the culprit in a car prowl.

By: Erica

Erica — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:34:21 +0000

Fnarf: Could you post a cite to where you got your stats? That would be reassuring, actually, and I’d like to see trend statistics wrt crime three years (decades?), two years (decades?) or a decade ago, and also a comparison with other neighborhoods in the U.S.

Also, just because it isn’t an epidemic doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be concerned. I don’t think anyone expects a SWAT team to show up to find the perpetrator of a car prowl (regardless of whether it was a car seat that was stolen). (Why a car seat?? Do people steal those more than stereo systems, or cds, or GPS systems?) But it would be nice to get maybe a call back, or an email reply to a question.

By: Fnarf

Fnarf — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:11:08 +0000

You folks realize that crime is way down from three, two, or even one decade ago, right? And you do realize that if a hundred cops set about investigating your stolen car seats 24/7, they still wouldn’t be able to find anything, right? That’s why they don’t do it like that. And I can assure you that the police department is working very hard indeed to break up car theft rings from the other end. And without a serial number a single small item of stolen property isn’t going to amount to anything. Wallingford is still close to the safest neighborhood in America. Just because it makes it onto a blog doesn’t make it an epidemic.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:37:58 +0000

Thanks for the nicely written post. I live next to Meridian Park and years ago our block asked for some police assistance with issues surrounding dicey people in/around the park. It took several calls, by all the neighbors, several weeks, but we finally got some response. It did take forever, though.

A personal story: a few years ago someone “camped” overnight in our backyard and left all sorts of garbage. I called the police and explained what happened and that it was kind of disturbing. The officer I got said, “so a guy had a picnic in your backyard? There’s not much we can do about that. Let us know if he tries break in. Bye.” He was so sarcastic and degrading, I felt more disturbed my call to the police than by the unwanted overnight guest.

I appreciate the commentor who linked to the license plate info. I think it would help us make a case w/ the police when our block calls with issue.

The car prowl response is weird–you’d think they would take that seriously.

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:38:24 +0000

That is unbelievable. This blog is so not “the press”; this is not a region-wide daily metro with no real connection to the community its inquiring into, and he’s obviously just trying to shake off what he probably views as another annoying task he was strapped with that has little to do with his “real” job. I hate it when police officers use the difficult structure of police organization to avoid the public. It’s really unfair to people who genuinely want to be involved in bettering their communities.

I’d love to join in on a field trip to the SPD station or to Zoka, or MIghty-O, to have a community meeting with Ofcr. Jackson and Capt. Washburn — not anything critical, just a little get-to-know-you, here’s-who-we-are, how-can-we-help-you-help-us meeting. Perhaps he’ll find it easier in the future to respond to people he knows.