Community conversation with SPD @ West Seattle Crime Prevention Council

March 22, 2018 12:01 pm
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 |   Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

By Linda Ball
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Due to technical difficulties, the scheduled speaker for Tuesday night’s meeting of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council wasn’t able to give his presentation on drug-abuse trends, but Captain Pierre Davis of the Southwest Precinct facilitated a lively conversation with 15 or so attendees.

Davis said police have been working closely with prosecutors to try to keep “prolific offenders” in jail and to get them the help they need if drug addiction is what drives their criminal activity.

He said SPD doesn’t always hear about things that have “gone down,” emphasizing that they do rely on community information. The role of social media and crime reporting brought more than a few laughs from the group.

It can’t be stated enough, Davis said, to call the police first if something looks wrong – don’t just post something online instead of reporting it to SPD, since police can’t and won’t see those posts. Call 911.

Property crime and shoplifting remain the biggest problem in this area right now, and that directly dovetails with the opioid-abuse epidemic. Attendees were reminded that the Southwest Precinct has had a full-time precinct-liaison city attorney since late last year. Joe Everett (who by the way is the guest speaker at next Tuesday’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting) is there to help officers in real-time by answering their questions and working with them and the community to address neighborhood problems before they become criminal problems.

The question was raised about vacant homes and trespassing. Davis said they’ve been able to get squatters out of most of the empty homes, many of which are awaiting demolition. Someone asked whether a “safe injection site” was planned for southwest Seattle was brought up; no location(s) anywhere in the city have been proposed yet, but if there were one here, Davis said, that would “bring a new set of circumstances,” without elaborating. No one was very enthused about the prospect. SPD is aggressively pursuing drug distributors and users, but the challenge is that they move around regionally to avoid capture, he said.

Homelessness is a region-wide issue and Davis said there are individuals who don’t want to be in that situation, but, he added, there are also those who choose to avoid adhering to any rules and comprise the criminal element, usually to feed their drug habits. Fentanyl is here along with heroin and meth, but fortunately a new drug called “flakka” isn’t here. The epicenter of flakka, described as a dangerous synthetic drug produced in China, is South Florida. Called the $5 insanity drug, it causes violent, psychotic behavior in users.

There are some sophisticated actors in the Puget Sound area, not just street-level dealers. But Davis said the police are not going to “arrest ourselves out of this.” Some people need treatment. Another concern is drug deals going down on Metro buses. Several people reported that the back of the “C” line Rapid Ride bus, is “very active” in late night and early morning hours.

The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets on third Tuesdays, 7 pm at the precinct.

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