Before we get to the toplines from last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, two crime reports.
First, two reader reports about open mailboxes in Arbor Heights. Paula reports:
All of the mailboxes on 37th place between 102nd SW and 104th SW (map) were open this morning when I was leaving for work. They were like this Monday morning as well.
Jeff also e-mailed about this – saying he noticed it at 37th Pl/102nd at 6:45 am – and points out that SPD’s auto-tweets include a “suspicious vehicle” reported in that general area around 2:45 am.
Second, a car-vandalism report from Jamie:
I just wanted to give a heads-up to residents of Highland Park. Sometime between 7 PM Monday and 7 AM Tuesday (1/15) both my car and my husband’s were “paintballed”. No real damage to report – just clean-up needed. I’ve already reported it to the police, but thought neighbors should be aware.
And third – the WSCPC meeting. It was a wide-ranging West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting – from crime trends to cannabis.
Notes from WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand, who covered the meeting:
The Southwest Precinct‘s second in command, Lt. Pierre Davis, explained that new commander Capt. Joe Kessler couldn’t be there but will attend in February. Lt. Davis said the major crime categories such as break-ins and car crimes are trending at or below average so far this month, after an uneven December – some categories on a roller coaster as some suspects got arrested, while others left jail or prison and returned to the streets.
He was asked if there was any progress toward solving the March 2012 murder of Greggette Guy. Nothing to report, he said, acknowledging that he knows it’s still very much on the minds of Beach Drive neighbors. Other neighborhood concerns mentioned included a speeding problem on 16th SW in front of South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) and a concern that burglars might be showing up with U-Haul trucks when breaking into homes.
From the Washington State Liquor Control Board, new enforcement officers Tim Johnson and Rick Smith were in attendance. Most of the questions posed to them had to do with the board’s new responsibility of creating a system for how legal marijuana will be grown and sold in the state. No answers yet – the state has just announced it will hold a series of public forums for input on how the rules should look You can get details on those by going to the Initiative 502 section of the WALCB website, here. The officers also clarified that medical-marijuana outlets will not fall under the WALCB’s jurisdiction, since that was brought about by a different law long ago.
Asked about problems with liquor thefts/shoplifts in the wake of privatization, Johnson said the state has worked with some of the most frequently hit retailers, who have now done more to secure their bottles and move displays to store areas that are less susceptible to theft.
As an aside, he also mentioned that today was the last day of operations at the state’s liquor warehouse on East Marginal Way.
Last major item, a followup on the problem house at 36th and Morgan, from a request at an earlier meeting:
Precinct liaison/deputy city attorney Melissa Chin said the house had fallen short
of certain city guidelines for being a nuisance property (in terms of criteria such as search warrants served, types of arrests made) but recapped how she and Community Police Team Officer Ken Mazzuca had worked with the owners of the property to come to an agreement. That agreement saw the place mostly boarded up and the one resident who was a family member moved out (as first reported here in October). Officer Mazzuca said that since then he has stopped by and talked to neighbors and there has not been a call to that address in couple of months.
Chin talked about what the neighbors did – take photos, document what happened – and how others could do the same if there was a problem property where they lived, along with other steps that might be in the toolbox of dealing with a similar situation.
The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets most months on the third Tuesday, 7 pm, at the Southwest Precinct.
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