West Seattle Crime Watch: Fighting crime, by intervening early

Out driving around to check on a few things this morning, we noticed what looked like a particularly prolific graffiti-vandalism spree in recent days – one particular tag (which we will not name or show) in dozens of spots, from safety signs to real-estate signs to concrete construction blockades, where it hadn’t been just days earlier. Can’t say for sure if the vandal is a teenager, but in most cases, graffiti vandalism is done by young offenders. That reminded us we’d been meaning to write about a discussion at last week’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting — an update on the mayor’s proposed youth-violence-prevention program, and what local police are seeing and doing:

Early on in the meeting, during the regular update on area crime concerns, Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen discussed the recent tagging troubles in Highland Park and South Delridge (WSB coverage here). He described most of the suspected culprits as repeat troublemakers who live “outside the city, but after school hang out around 8th and Roxbury.” After a few attendees mentioned problems in their neighborhoods, Lt. Paulsen went on to note that the Highland Park graffiti problem had lessened, thanks in no small part to community members washing it off/painting it over as soon as they could. “It shows you care about your neighborhood,” he explained. “If (vandals) see their markings go away immediately, they’re going to go to an area that doesn’t care, where it might stay a while.”

He then discussed some of the specific measures that local law enforcers are doing to try to stop youth-crime problems before they happen: “Touching base with non-English-speaking populations, finding trusted community liaisons reaching out to them,” and finding out what’s happening in the kids’ homes; often, he said, kids with homes where domestic violence is happening “may act out later,” so outreach is being done to try to find out what’s happening at home and whether intervention is necessary.

Police also are working closely, as we’ve reported before, with local high schools and middle schools; the Community Police Team officers are involved there, but as Lt. Paulsen said, they’re not there “to be school officers, but as a point of contact … we don’t want to inhibit the learning process, but want to have a relationship, so that when school staff sees a problem, they have a point of contact they know and can turn to.”

He also mentioned a program last summer in which the Seattle Police Department had middle- and high-school-age kids in a sort of summer-job program, employing them at various precincts around the city: “They were phenomenal,” he recalled. “We had a kid on a harbor boat … he felt like part of the police family. He was there every day,” and made money, too. (That program, he added, was sponsored by the Seattle Police Foundation.)

Later in the meeting, the Crime Prevention Council got an update from Julien Loh, who observed that much of the meeting till that point had been spent talking about youth-crime concerns, and that what starts as something nonviolent like vandalism or break-ins can turn “to something more serious, to guns and violence, to being victims of violence, and that’s not something we want to see.”

While violent crime in general is at one of its lowest points in decades, he explained, the level of juvenile crime has “remained constant,” pointing to a spate of deadly shootings in other areas of Seattle earlier this year, all involving teenagers.

“That’s a very sobering thought to the mayor, and to me – I’ve actually even spoke to one victim’s mother,” Loh said. “We recognize we have a very serious problem on our hands, and we can’t just enforce our way out of it. We have to give youth a new direction.”

You may have heard before about the Youth Violence Prevention Initiative – but he offered more details: “We’re focusing on four distinct populations, including repeat offenders, those arrested and then released, middle-school students (at risk), and victims of violence.” The program is focusing on three particular areas of the city: Southwest (including West Seattle), Southeast, and Central Seattle. (The lead agency in this area is Southwest Youth and Family Services; we talked to its director Steve Daschle shortly after its participation was announced – read that story here.)

“We also want you to understand, instead of expecting kids to go to us, we’re going out to them,” Loh continued. “Services will be area-specific. And for those who ask ‘what are we getting in return for our tax dollars’ – we set a very ambitious goal, to cut youth violence by half. That’ll be measured by cases referred for prosecution in each of those three areas. The mayor felt very strongly about setting the bar high.”

At some schools, they also are looking for a 50 percent reduction in “suspensions blamed on acts of violence.”

The program is projected to cost $9 million, which Loh broke down as “$5.6 million new dollars, $3.6 million redirected dollars. These dollars will fund 800 chances to make a difference” — that’s how many teenagers will be directly targeted, by getting to the “root cause of (what’s going wrong in their lives).”

He says the program’s official start will be in January, ramping up to “full implementation” by May, with a community progress report due a year later. But first, the budget has to be approved, which is expected by Thanksgiving. (You can read more about the Youth Violence Prevention Initiative here.)

One more note related to fighting crime among young people: A new group called Detention Prevention is meeting monthly, with its focus on families who’ve had kids/teens in youth detention, to try to keep them from returning. Its next meeting is November 3rd, 7 pm, Westwood Christian Assembly, 9252 16th SW.

12 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Fighting crime, by intervening early"

  • J October 27, 2008 (2:55 pm)

    I noticed a BUNCH of new tags, all same, all along Harbor/Alki Ave. and was SO disappointed to see so. Not only is it not cool for someone to deface all that property, but it took away from Alki’s beautiful aesthetic and, for lack of more sophisticated words, generally bummed me out :-(

  • kevin October 27, 2008 (3:30 pm)

    “The program is projected to cost $9 million, which Loh broke down as “$5.6 million new dollars, $3.6 million redirected dollars. These dollars will fund 800 chances to make a difference” — that’s how many teenagers will be directly targeted, by getting to the “root cause of (what’s going wrong in their lives).””
    So $90,000 per teen/chance to make a difference? Christ, I’m in the wrong racket. I should be an at-risk teen. For $90k, I’d stay out of trouble for TWO years.

  • 120 Bus Rider October 27, 2008 (3:57 pm)

    There was an incident on the (crowded) 120 bus to route to downtown this morning approximately 8:30 am or so. It looked like a young man stole a bag/purse from a young gal at the Youngstown stop and fled towards the park. The victim and another ran after him and eventually confronted him as the bus was pulling away… It appears that the young man ran out of gas and was caught at the end of the park. Anybody else see this?

  • WSB October 27, 2008 (4:12 pm)

    I don’t have the time to research this right this moment (will look later) but I would be surprised if the later costs of incarcerating someone who turns into an adult criminal does not vastly exceed $90K a year. Just a data point; if any criminal-justice professionals happen onto this, they may have the actual data handier – TR

  • P October 27, 2008 (4:33 pm)

    noticed new tagging on 35th Ave SW while heading north this morning at 6:30 on my way to work.

  • d October 27, 2008 (5:34 pm)

    Thanks WSB for attending these meetings and doing these interviews!

    Another brief, related conversation at this meeting which I thought was interesting involved the fact that there were not any obvious Neighborhood Association/Groups officially representing at the Crime Council meeting. Also, there appeared to be only one, maybe two, Block Watch people in attendance. Benjamin Kinslow, the City’s Crime Prevention Coordinator said that there were 200+ Night Out groups in West Seattle. That is awesome, but why don’t Captains or somebody attend the Crime Prevention Council?

    I don’t get it, but I am not very familiar with the Crime Council nor all of the neighborhood groups or block watch groups to know how they communicate with each other. Perhaps these groups all have a closed email system set up with other Block Watch groups, so they are all privy to these meeting minutes? I wonder.

    Perhaps, in light of the Mayor’s Youth Initiative and proposed budget cuts, that the prevention objectives of the WS Crime Prevention Council AND the efficiency of West Seattle Block Watch Groups AND the support and inclusion of the assorted West Seattle Neighborhood groups might benefit from active participation and communication across their boundaries. I wonder.

    As Lt. Paulsen also mentioned, the Community Police officers out of the SW Precinct were not funded through the end of the year, so will not be in attendance at any neighborhood or community meetings until after the New Year. All the more reason for inter-group communications.

    Coincidentally, Highland Park Action Committee meeting is tonight at 7:00 PM at the Highland Park Improvement Club, 1113 Holden.

    If you live in another neighborhood and any of this rings a bell with you, attend your Block Watch group meeting or neighborhood meeting and represent by attending.

    We can not expect WSB and a handful of dedicated, civic-minded neighbors to carry OUR civic duties for us, especially in what might become harder times for kids, families and businesses in our West Seattle neighborhoods. Let’s represent.

  • WSB October 27, 2008 (6:37 pm)

    d – thanks for the additions, just one clarification – Lt. Paulsen didn’t say the community police team wasn’t funded, just that there would be a change in who attends which community meetings, for a while. CPT officers did have to go back on patrol duty for a while earlier in the year but then returned to the CPT focus as scheduled at the end of that stint, which was necessitated by a personnel shortage caused mostly by officer injuries (if you saw our story about the Police Foundation Awards a couple Fridays ago, one of those officers – who suffered a major knee injury while chasing a suspect – was among the honorees). – TR

  • old timer October 27, 2008 (7:37 pm)

    $9 million for a program to TRY to teach these sleazoids some manners.
    Give me a break, how about a public spanking?

  • WSB October 27, 2008 (8:19 pm)

    Just heard one version of the figure I was looking for – at Highland Park Action Committee – housing one inmate in the KC Jail for one year costs an estimated $120,000.

  • wtf October 27, 2008 (9:10 pm)

    Wasn’t for it, but the more I think about it, the more a West Seattle jail is sounding like a good idea.

  • d October 27, 2008 (11:16 pm)

    TR – OK – clarification is always a good idea.

    Also, I misspelled Mr. Kinlow’s name, so my apologies to him.

  • kevin October 29, 2008 (9:11 am)

    If keeping them in jail costs $120k, and _maybe_ keeping them out of jail costs $90k, where does that money come from? I have a job, and I don’t make that kind of money. I pay taxes, and it would take several of my tax bills to pay off one of these thugs. Like I said, I’m in the wrong racket.

    I am a cheap crime prevention chance. I will not break into any houses or steal any cars for $80k a year. What is your price to not commit crimes? Who should be paying you? Where do we sign up?

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