FOLLOWUP: After Alki shooting, precinct commander’s message to the community

(Reader photo, early today)

Early this morning, we covered the Alki incident in which two 19-year-old men were shot and wounded. This afternoon, we’ve received a message from Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Kevin Grossman, not so much about the incident’s specifics as about the state of local policing:

Dear West Seattle Neighbors (and Alki Residents, specifically):

As reported on WSB, there was a drive by shooting on Alki early this morning. Following a response from patrol officers, the Gang Unit responded to initiate a follow up investigation. The most recent information about the incident can be found here, on the SPD Blotter.

I am concerned about a recent uptick in shootings in West Seattle and have made violent crime–and gun violence–one of my top priorities. I have directed my officers to deter gun crimes whenever possible, take illegal guns off the street, make arrests for gun crimes, and conduct thorough investigations in shots fired incidents.

I also want to be transparent about SPD’s current resource situation. It is not unusual to have a total of eight officers working in all of West Seattle at any given time–usually four on the west side and four on the east. And during our most busy times, all of those officers are literally running from 911 call to 911 call, based on priority. I recently had to make the difficult decision to eliminate the full-time bicycle squad in West Seattle and to incorporate the officers back into the 911 call response rotation.

Last week I spoke with a frustrated resident who called the non-emergency number several times about some issues at the Don Armeni Boat Ramp, seemingly without a response. I did a little research to find that his call held for almost an hour because officers were busy responding to a rape, shots fired, threats to harm with a suspect on scene, a stolen car, and a stolen license plate. Once officers were finally free and able to respond, they arrived within 16 minutes of being dispatched.

I hear often from residents who make a request to have an officer stationed on their block or in their neighborhood. We simply do not have the resources to fulfill those requests. In past years, SPD had the budget to have officers work emphasis patrols in certain designated areas–like Alki–on an overtime basis. Unfortunately, our budget no longer permits us to do that, and we must work with the available on duty resources.

Please continue to call 911 for emergencies, the non-emergency number for all other complaints (206-625-5011), and officers will be dispatched according to priority and availability. I also encourage you to reach out to the Crime Prevention Coordinator assigned to the Southwest Precinct, Jennifer Danner, about crime prevention strategies. I also encourage you to join SPD in working with other city agencies–like SDOT and Parks–on problem-solving approaches (like the creation of Stay Healthy Streets) that may curb vehicle and pedestrian traffic that lead to other problems.

We clarified with Capt. Grossman that by “uptick in shootings” he included the recent non-injury shots-fired incidents. This is the first injury shooting incident since he took over the precinct a month ago.

112 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: After Alki shooting, precinct commander's message to the community"

  • Mr J August 2, 2020 (5:47 pm)

    Wow, sounds like Carmen Best was whispering in his ear to help stoke a fear of lack of resources to pressure Lisa Herbold. SPD would have more money if they spent less on tear gas and command bunkers.

    • wscommuter August 2, 2020 (6:41 pm)

      I  see – so you think he’s  lying?   Seriously?  How much money do you think is spent on “tear gas and command bunkers”?  And how much do you think is spent on salaries?  You know; the human beings who do the work?  Without knowing the SPD budget, I can safely assure you it is right around 75% of their budget.  

      • NickG August 2, 2020 (7:32 pm)

        I know policing is expensive and complex, and this is a nuanced issue we’re struggling with. But if it’s true that there’s only 8 officers in west seattle at a time, we can do a little math: 8 officers at a time, 3 8-hour shifts per day, $200k-$300k per officer in total comp, 7 districts like West Seattle. That gives us less than $60 million dollars per year. So where’s the other $340 million dollars per year going? I think this statement is a little misleading or over simplified.

        • Glenda August 2, 2020 (8:05 pm)

          NickG – I’m…I’m not even going to get into your math here (although you are also just assuming that police staff all districts equally not dependent on actual levels of crime?) but here are just SOME of the other things in the SPD budget besides patrol officers: Detectives for all major crimes, Victim Advocates, Civilian 911 Dispatchers (24/7), Crime Scene Investigation, Forensics, Public Disclosure Unit, Fingerprint Unit, Latent Print Unit, Evidence Unit, Parking Enforcement, Body-Worn Camera System (think of ALL of those hours of video tape someone has to store and go through), Community Service Officers, Crime Prevention, Traffic, Training, Harbor Patrol, SWAT…I could go on. Right now even the Emergency Operations Center technically is in the SPD Budget (just how it was set up once upon a time.) Also MrJ? What the heck is a ‘command bunker?’ please enlighten me!

        • heartless August 2, 2020 (8:06 pm)

          Yep.  And if you take it further, and actually run the numbers, it only gets more ridiculous.  Seattle has 750k people.  West Seattle has 80k.  Which means West Seattle has a little over 10% of the population of Seattle.  Given cops work in shifts, we obviously wouldn’t get 10% of the cops working our streets, but to come up with 8?  I mean…  Seriously?  Sounds like the SPD has issues and needs to be fixed.

          • Glenda August 2, 2020 (9:09 pm)

            Ah Heartless we meet again!  You certainly are all on these threads making sure the call to Defund! is never forgotten! “Yes SPD is incredibly bloated”.  Please tell me what I lined out in the budget there that you would actually want to get rid of. Someone has to do the work.  Either it’s in SPD budget or someone else’s.  Swapping a unit out of SPD into another one is still the same money.   I mean, I don’t personally who cares what organization the Emergency Operations Center is under, but I assume you would agree that’s important to keep? 

          • Barton August 3, 2020 (8:00 am)

            Glenda – your rational and informative comments are so appreciated.  A real contrast to some relentless comments that are long on arrogance and short on information or real understanding of such a complex set of issues.  I support reallocating duties and corresponding funds after appropriate analysis but not this arbitrary 50% cut that is obviously political showmanship.  

          • wscommuter August 2, 2020 (11:12 pm)

            Well Heartless … we’re all waiting.  You say SPD is “bloated”.  What – specifically – should be cut from its budget?  And how much money will that save for diversion to some other use?  We’re waiting for your specifics …

          • zark00 August 3, 2020 (11:56 am)

            Here’s one: Overtime.  8% of the total SPD budget is in overtime pay.  We have had to anti SPD multiple times for unbelievably bad overtime practices, and they still can’t get it under control.  It grows every single year.  SPD officers have to agree that they read the overtime policies, SPD said it’s “unsure of its ability to enforce the new polices” – they say they ” can not currently track and monitor preauthorization information or maximum hour threshold”.We asked SPD to make sure that officers get authorization from their superior before logging overtime hours – SPD can’t do that, it’s too hard.We asked them to limit an officers work week to 90 hours, 90 hours, in one week, that would be still allowing them to book 50 hours of overtime pay at time and 1/2 for the first 20, and triple time for the rest. SPD said no, we can’t do that either.We asked them to stop letting officers take vacation, and then work, which books as overtime pay – SPD said no, we can ask them not to, but we won’t enforce that.We asked them to stop letting officers “work” overtime hours with zero oversight, and zero management, to make sure they were in fact working – SPD said no, we will not do that, we don’t have enough staff to figure out if our staff are actually working.Auditors said these things need to be addressed to get the rampant overtime in check – SPD said they will put this in a pamphlet and tell officers about it, and have them take a quiz on it, but they will not enforce them or change their internal policies to support them.  I would call overtime a significant amount of bloat.

            • Employees require pre-approval from a supervisor to work overtime.
            • Employee work hour maximums: no employee may work more than 90 hours in one week.
            • Supervisor responsibilities for monitoring overtime use.
            • Lieutenant/manager responsibilities for monitoring overtime use.
            • Employees on sick leave, military leave, disciplinary suspension, or limited duty will not work department overtime.
            • Employees will not use discretionary time off to work department overtime.
            • A bureau chief approves altering regular shift hours to work department overtime.
            • Employees report overtime worked on the appropriate form.
            • Sergeants/supervisors enter overtime within the pay period it is earned.
            • Sworn employees may request overtime for taking law enforcement action off-duty.
            • Overtime is paid as wages or compensatory time off (comp time).
            • Officers assigned as acting sergeants receive training on proper supervision of overtime.
            • Captains retain copies of signed overtime forms for all section and precinct personnel.
            • Captains are responsible to ensure that supervisors approve their direct reports’ timesheets.
            • Captains shall log overtime worked on their timesheets for later use as flex time.
          • heartless August 3, 2020 (2:18 pm)

            Glenda, sorry did we talk before?  I don’t remember you.

            As for what you and WSCOMMUTER and other people ask of me?  Really, you’re tasking me with trimming the fat from the SPD?  Nope, not my job, not going to do that for you-unless you’re offering to pay me?  That’s a big job and frankly it’s weird you’re asking a random person on the internet to do it.

            Look, you can see something wrong with a person or a company, you can see they’re unhealthy or the company is bloated, clear as day you can see it–doesn’t mean you’re the one needs to hold their hand while they get healthy, doesn’t mean you need to come up with a line-by-line plan to fix the company.

      • Brian August 3, 2020 (9:08 am)

        Yes I absolutely think he’s lying. 

      • Brian August 3, 2020 (9:11 am)

        All I’m hearing you say is “police are overpaid”

        • LINDA KUSOK August 3, 2020 (5:57 pm)

          Captain Grossman, thanks so much for the update & Welcome to West Seattle!My husband & I have lived on SW Admiral Way for over 40 years & love our North Admiral location however, in the last few years the excessive speeding and loud noise vehicles has gotten out of control.  As you know these cars and motorcycles come up and down to Alki via Admiral Way. It is to the point we are seriously thinking of moving, we know this is a busy street but the excessive speeding has gotten out of control.  I know there has been many accidents and also some fatalities because of the speeding.  I also believe that if we have more police presence giving out tickets this will certainly help, it will send a message that speeding and loud noise vehicles are not acceptable. The young adults that continue to speed know there is hardly ever any police presence on this street so they they know they are free to speed! We currently have a Speed Radar device that tells you how fast you are going, which is totally useless!  One other suggestion would be to install a Speed  Radar Camera,  after getting a few tickets I know this will certainly help!  Thank you so much, your help is very much appreciated for the safety of our community.

      • Bjorn August 3, 2020 (9:18 am)

        Part of the problem is the “overtime” that is always paid to officers. Instead of simply hiring more officers, they continue to understaff so officers can get paid a lot more. This has been an issue for years, probably decades.There was some noise around this in 2018, doubt anything actually came of that though.

        • Duffy August 3, 2020 (10:20 am)

          THIS X100000. This is not how you run a police department.

    • Jim August 2, 2020 (6:43 pm)

      You’re joking right? How do you expect police to respond to rioters, with hugs? I hope the social worker can find the shooter and give them a hug. 

      • AdmiralE August 2, 2020 (7:00 pm)

        Amen 

    • Joel August 3, 2020 (8:43 am)

      Mabye SPD would have more money if money was being wasted on replacing broken windows…removing graffitit and putting out arsonists starting fires…..or maybe not paying hundreds of thousands in medical bills to treat hurt officers from having rocks and fireworks thrown at them.

  • Mike August 2, 2020 (5:50 pm)

    Sign the petition to STOP the defunding of the Seattle Police Department!Go to stopdefunding.comOur City leadership is so misguided and inept.

    • CH August 3, 2020 (4:54 pm)

      Agree

  • Ex Alki res August 2, 2020 (5:50 pm)

    Lmao excuses excuses the police are a joke!!!! Defunding Defunding Defunding!!!!

  • Wsguy123 August 2, 2020 (5:56 pm)

    Sorry, I have been hearing the same thing from police leaders year after year.  Alki and other areas will continue to be a free for all until it’s a stabbing, shooting, etc. beyond frustrated. PS I’m sorry but dealing with Jennifer Danner got me nowhere, same as with sworn officers. How much longer are we going to have to deal with more of the same?! We need leaders that lead and money for more police!

  • WS taxpayer August 2, 2020 (6:12 pm)

    Thank you Captain Grossman for your letter.  To all who are concerned about police funding please sign the https://stopdefunding.com/We need love to solve problems, not hate!

  • Biden2020 August 2, 2020 (6:23 pm)

    How much of the budget is being spent on officers patrolling the lower bridge? Discontinue all of those patrols and use some limited resources on Alki at peak times.

    • Jim August 2, 2020 (6:45 pm)

      2:55 am is peak time?  I think Herbold and a social worker should patrol Alki at that hour. 

      • Alki resident August 2, 2020 (7:17 pm)

        Great idea Jim then Ms. Herbold can make sure the criminals are not “harassed” by the police. 

  • WS Longtimer August 2, 2020 (6:23 pm)

    Can we all take time out of our normal schedules this week..make it a priority to express to the press, Governor’s office, request a meeting to address WS with Bridge down, Police response down, Residents expense and paying all along, without.  We need somehow to get coordinated to deal with broken promises, ongoing non enforcement, and lack all together.    WSB ?   Help to get it together possible?  

    • WSB August 2, 2020 (7:22 pm)

      There was a WS town hall last week with the mayor, police chief, etc. Some councilmembers have had their own district town halls; Lisa Herbold’s last one was about the bridge. She would be the person you would want to lead one. Also re: Alki, the Alki Community Council meets third Thursdays and often has a police leader there.

    • Wsguy123 August 2, 2020 (8:02 pm)

      Wrote the Governor and Mayor (again) earlier today.

  • onion August 2, 2020 (6:26 pm)

    I appreciate Captain Grossman’s candor.  We get what we pay for, and it’s a discussion that we need to have with council members Herbold, Gonzalez, and Mosqueda because the police can only work with the resources they have available. The council can fix policing on Alki and throughout West Seattle, or ignore it in favor of their other priorities. And yes, people absolutely should continue to call 911 and the regular contact numbers, and communicate via email with whoever will listen. Maybe there should be midnight marches to council members’ homes demanding improved policing. Why should the defund police crowd get all the attention?

  • Andrew M August 2, 2020 (6:32 pm)

    Why do we need or even want (lethally armed) police responding to non-emergency situations?

    • me August 2, 2020 (7:32 pm)

      I don’t think we should pay more for something we don’t need. Is it possible to tell what’s going on by monitoring police scanners? I’ve never tried it but I’d be interested to know if there really are literally back to back 911 calls  all night and how many of those called actually need an armed police officer. Some of them do, for sure! But not all.

      • It’s me, Ed August 2, 2020 (8:59 pm)

        It’s very common for large cities to have very busy call logs.  It’s likely that multiple calls are “holding” or “stacked.”  When an officer clears the call they’re on, the dispatcher will send them to the next call holding with the highest priority.  Especially with our low number of officers, it’s easy to see why these officers are running from call to call, and why low level calls like a suspicious person loitering around a building, fireworks complaint, or homeless person peeing behind a building in the junction will not be responded to quickly or if at all.  Keep in mind that larger event calls like a sexual assault investigation or a domestic violence assault with a suspect in custody going to jail, takes officers out of the rotation to handle other calls because those particular calls take more time to investigate and complete.

    • It’s me, Ed August 2, 2020 (8:35 pm)

      It sounds like guns are what make you uncomfortable.  Majority of cops (Over 99%) never fire their weapon in the course of their job.  Media makes you think cops are shooting and killing more people than they really are.  Guns also don’t grow legs, walk down the street and shoot people.  Cops carry guns because they may have to use it to protect themselves or someone else, especially in a country with plenty of weapons at the disposal of the public and a growing population of unchecked drug addiction and mental illness.  And a deadly force encounter can arise from almost anything.  There are plenty of videos where cops were called to “non-emergency” situations and a person pulls a knife, or a gun and attacks the officer unprovoked.You should see some of the videos of knife attacks in the UK, you see their police run away in the crowds along with everybody else, because most of them are unarmed and can’t defend themselves.

      • zark00 August 3, 2020 (12:14 pm)
        It’s me, Ed
         

        – you are wrong, very very wrong.In fact, only about a quarter (27%) of all officers say they have ever
        fired their service weapon while on the job, according to a separate
        Pew Research Center survey conducted by the National Police Research
        Platform. The survey was conducted May 19-Aug. 14, 2016, among a
        nationally representative sample of 7,917 sworn officers working in 54
        police and sheriff’s departments with 100 or more officers.So the 99% never use their gun – total lie.Google ‘UK police run away from knife” – first like 9 videos are UK cops taking down a criminal with a knife, with no death and no major injuries.  So that’s a lie too.Chief of police in Burlington – talking about how officers routinely treat every situation as “potentially lethal” and how that has created an environment in US policing where officers shoot first, often unnecessarily, and actual escalate to violence when their job is to deescalate. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/opinion/police-shootings-guns.htmlI don’t know if you’re trolling or really this bad at google.

    • HappyCamper August 2, 2020 (9:42 pm)

      They end up being the catch all and sometimes calls change and things that seem like no big deal turn into DV or a stabbing or a high speed chase or whatever. This is tough because we have an armed society. Trying to dispatch a niche specialty to every call would be terribly complex and open to all kinds of error and delays in getting the correct response if the situation changes.If a social worker gets called to something that morphs into a hostage situation or car jacking or whatever now what? The few cops on duty are on the other side of WS busy with some other violent call? (sounds like that happens now anyway) When things go sideways the people actually there need to be able to deal with it with more than a hug and words of affirmation.I’m all for finding a new and better way to police and moving money around to offer more opportunity and equity to people but I feel like this debate has been WAY over simplified. A 50% cut overnight is crazy. Maybe the goal should be 50% and have that be a plan that it’s driven by real data and trends over time.

    • Westie August 2, 2020 (10:44 pm)

      And how could you be sure that a non emergency situation can actually turn violent?

      • heartless August 3, 2020 (8:14 am)

        According to this logic everyone should be armed all the time.  No thanks.

        • HappyCamper August 4, 2020 (7:47 am)

          Not suggesting that at all. Just trying to make the point that a lot of these interactions between police or whomever else and citizens are dynamic so there is no silver bullet. Just because you dispatch a social worker or a cop to the initial call doesn’t mean the situation wasn’t described correctly or that it will not change that’s all.

  • Joan August 2, 2020 (6:35 pm)

    Eight police for all of West Seattle. 

    • heartless August 2, 2020 (9:24 pm)

      Yeah, makes you wonder… 

      Seattle Police Department has over 1,000 police available for deployment… and only 8 in West Seattle?

      Seattle Fire Department has under 1,000 firefighters… and you think they only have 8 in West Seattle?

      hmmmm…..

      • WSB August 2, 2020 (10:00 pm)

        That’s 8 at times, not 8 total.

        • heartless August 2, 2020 (10:04 pm)

          Sure.  I understand it’s a minimum, and I understand why the minimum number would be used.  I wonder how many times the SFD has only 8 people in West Seattle.

      • Joe Dirt August 2, 2020 (10:45 pm)

        How do  you get the number of  ‘over 1,000 officers’ available for deployment?  Do you think any detectives/Sgts/Lieutenants/Captains are answering 911 calls?  Last I heard from an officer I talked to a few months ago, the entire city had less than 400 officers answering 911 calls.  He said that ONLY patrol officers, (not SWAT/K-9/ or the above referenced units) answered 911 calls.  And that of that 400 officers, they have 5 precincts and 3 shifts/day, with 1/3 of that 400 being off at any given time for their normal days off.   Defunding will only make that worse, since most of the young officers are in patrol and they will be the first to lose their jobs.  

  • spooled August 2, 2020 (6:40 pm)

    https://stopdefunding.com

    I signed the petition.  According to their emails, so have 115,000 others, your neighbors, my neighbors, we need more police not less.  (yes, they could be improved, but not a blanket 50% cut for the mobs) We need more deterrence to crime, not less.  No more revolving door of seattle justice.  You get caught, it’s your dozenth time for petty theft / car theft, no more free chances, no more slaps on the wrist and a promise to be better, you get hauled off somewhere away from my home and your home for a long time!  Pretty easy to not get shot by me for breaking into my home and not get arrested and do real time for car theft.  Don’t do those things!  Right now those things are just as easy as shoplifting from QFC.

  • Chell August 2, 2020 (6:45 pm)

    Stopdefunding.com

  • lol August 2, 2020 (6:46 pm)

    What a joke ! Excuses excuses! Defunding…Defunding…Defunding!!!!!!!! 

    • Da August 2, 2020 (7:22 pm)

      what part of this is a joke ? Not understanding your comment ?

      • heartless August 2, 2020 (8:02 pm)

        Seattle has 1000 cops.  Seattle has a population of 750,000.  West Seattle has 80,000 people.  Why on earth would SPD only assign 8 cops to West Seattle?

        That’s the joke, only we’re not laughing.

        • mok4315 August 2, 2020 (9:07 pm)

          Because 1) you really can’t think of where else they might be right now? and 2) over 100 have already quit. Because of people like you. I don’t know what naive unicorn world you live in, and what utopia you strive for, but it’s not a reality many people understand. Have at it. You and our council and the thing they create deserve each other. 

          • heartless August 2, 2020 (10:10 pm)

            If West Seattle is understaffed to the level of 8 officers being here, based on the current staffing numbers of deployable officers, that is not on me, and that is not on the council.

            And if 100 police officers quit–citation for that, please, by the way–then they still have over a thousand cops, which leaves no excuse to regularly be down to 8 in West Seattle.

          • Mel August 3, 2020 (5:14 am)

            Heartless- are you that dense? 1000 cops doesn’t means 1000 patrol officers responding to 911 calls. Do you think homicide detectives, background investigators, captains, and other specialty units like the sexual assault unit are responding to these calls? Use your head. 

          • Zark00 August 3, 2020 (1:42 pm)

            41 officers have quit, three said it was because of the city council “among other problems”, zero said it was because of “people like” us.You are quoting 2018’s 109 officers leaving, which was happening everywhere around the country at the time, no officers said anything about it being the council or us, they left to work in smaller towns closer to where they lived. That’s it.

        • Bjorn August 3, 2020 (9:40 am)

          That’s 8 cops on at a time, at a minimum. That’s probably 50 officers for that coverage. Still not 10% but certainly not 8/1000.

  • Flipzzzz August 2, 2020 (6:46 pm)

    this is exactly why defunding the police is a BAD idea. Give them all the resources they need , the training they need to instill some form of order. Alki has always been a disaster in summer .

    • Andrew M. August 2, 2020 (7:45 pm)

      All the tear gas they need, all the tanks they need, all the consent decrees for excessive force they need…wait what?

      • Flipzzzz August 3, 2020 (7:12 am)

        That’s taking it to the extreme your example of tanks and not at all what I meant  Defunding the police means less police to actively keep order at places like alki that for years have been a problem with crowds and poor behavior. Many locals can’t enjoy this location due to fear of violence especially on weekends . Please don’t obscure and change my words in future To suit your argument .defunding the police is a BAD idea .

  • WSR August 2, 2020 (6:58 pm)

    Looks like it’s time to bring the federal storm troopers to Alki.  Tear gas, batons, and unmarked vans for Seattle beach punks would probably play well for a certain cable news network and the base. 

  • AJ August 2, 2020 (7:09 pm)

    Maybe if they weren’t paying $400k Salaries to patrolmen they could afford more officers… playing politics with this shooting is pretty disturbing. They have time for these press releases and to give misleading Fox interviews but can’t find time to answer the phone? 

    • Blbl August 2, 2020 (8:24 pm)

      AJ, you said it. Not even 24 hours before they start the threats and fear mongering. Disgusting and disturbing, but not surprising. 

    • FFS August 2, 2020 (10:53 pm)

      AJ, from what I read, none of the salaries cleared 400k. There were some in the 300’s, but I understood that to not be a base salary wage, but instead  was mostly due to overtime. I think it’s fair for people to get compensated for overtime, don’t you? As a person who has had to work 20hour days on salary with no overtime, I’m not faulting these people for getting compensated for working  tons of extra hours.  It’s not their fault that there aren’t enough officers to not need overtime. That’s you and this sh—y councils fault for driving them away.

      • Duffy August 3, 2020 (8:23 am)

        It’s hilarious to me that for the first time it sounds like the SPD might need to do some fine tuning to their budget and the way they operate within their budget, and the first thing they do is have the SW precinct commander come out with a statement basically saying “well, we don’t have the resources to keep this community safe, and we REALLY won’t keep you safe if you touch our budget.” This is what I don’t understand; these patrols of “hot areas” or “emphasis areas” that he’s saying they don’t have the ability to patrol anymore because they don’t have enough money; why are they operating a budget where officers patrolling those areas are making overtime?!?! Can’t they adjust staffing so that emphasis points are just someone’s normal shift? It’s the same thing with sporting events, concerts, etc. Officers are asked to work these “events” and they automatically get overtime pay? Isn’t policing a 24 hour thing? This is precisely why I’m very skeptical of the SPDs operation, and really the City of Seattle generally. They are literally handing money out. No scrutiny, no budget adjustments, etc. They just complain that they “don’t have the resources” and the taxpayers are backed into a corner to cough up more or have everything go to $&!@. Shame on SPD for coming out with this statement. These operations need to be run like businesses are run, and I’m about as left wing as it gets. If this type of activity has been going on down at Alki for the last 30 years, what has the excuse been when the threat of being defunded hasn’t been brought up? Maybe the cops need to just be better at their jobs? That’s what my boss would tell me if I came back with a response like this. It’s totally maddening. A group of police officers making well over 300k in SALARY??? That just cannot happen.

      • Bjorn August 3, 2020 (9:45 am)

        It is their fault that there’s not enough officers — they aren’t hiring more and are using that to inflate salaries. This has been a problem for years if not decades. They intentionally understaff so everyone gets more government money. There was a whole thing in 2018 about it.

        • Duffy August 3, 2020 (10:21 am)

          Exactamundo, Bjorn. We are on the same page.

    • Mel August 3, 2020 (5:16 am)

      Do your research on what your average officer makes before you start making blanket statements. I’m so sick and tired of people who can’t even do their own research on the topic, making accusations or assuming they know everything about policing. Read something other than a seattle times article or a king 5 headline.

  • payattention August 2, 2020 (7:28 pm)

    MR J;LOL. Tell us how YOU would be handling the situation. Your comments indicate you have a solution to this. Right?????

  • Look before you leap August 2, 2020 (7:32 pm)

    Thank you, Capt. Grossman, for your transparency. And welcome to West Seattle! I, for one, am glad you’re here and doing all you can. I also wish that everyone who is against defunding the police takes a minute to learn about what it actually means. No one is taking away the police. Instead, resources get shifted to help address systemic problems like homelessness, addiction, etc, so some of the folks committing crimes get interventions before they make a bad decision. 

    • mok4315 August 2, 2020 (9:18 pm)

      A 50% budget cut would take away police. Also, Friday’s council proposal to abolish the entire SPD and replace with a “civilian led Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” would take away police. 

  • flimflam August 2, 2020 (7:43 pm)

    yeah, who needs ’em, right? until YOU need them, that is…

  • WTF August 2, 2020 (7:46 pm)

    I suggest ALL citizens do a ridealong with a police officer. Perhaps get your perspective 1:1  vs. from YouTube or Facebook. You may learn more about the profession, the people behind the badge, and a lot about yourself. Introspection is a good thing.   https://www.seattle.gov/police-manual/title-16—patrol-operations/16030—citizen-rider-program. And, while you’re at it: https://stopdefunding.com

    • Silly goose August 2, 2020 (10:48 pm)

      Bless your heart. But this isn’t Mayberry , a police ride along? LoL  sorry but what has been caught on tape put on social media is the raw truth! And folks this is just the beginning of the truth what happens in the dark will come to light!!! Defunding Defunding Defunding is needed !!! Police reform!!! 

    • ScubaFrog August 2, 2020 (11:15 pm)

      I suggest you *attempt* to grow up black in a city, lick the boots!  This “stop defunding” idiocy is virtually only supported by whites, and this imbecile of a police captain is politicizing a drive-by.  These republican-on-steroids (even if they don’t know it) Seattleites are growing tiresome.   “We don’t have the funding to station on officer on Alki anymore! “.  As if.  RECALL DURKAN, OUST “BEST”!

      • Sarah August 3, 2020 (8:15 am)

        “Republican-on-steroids Seattleites”… What the what?

  • John August 2, 2020 (7:49 pm)

    Do the majority of commenters here also support our public school teachers when they speak out for a more generous budget? Or are you then screaming to cut the fat from the bloated budget? Or is the fear of relatively low crime in our area greater than the fear of an uneducated populace. Or, is this “mission accomplished”, the blooming buds of years of such dirty work?

    • heartless August 2, 2020 (8:37 pm)

      That’s a good point.  All of the people calling for no defunding, calling for more cops, calling for us to continue to pay cops 300k+ a year should also be working for teachers to get more than 70k a year.  Do you think they are?  

      • Westie August 2, 2020 (10:59 pm)

        Do you know that every day a cop goes out and risk their life to protect you, your family all of us?  Heck yeah, I am glad their salary is good. Teachers should be making a better salary for sure but we are not talking here about teachers. Crime (gangs, robberies, rapes) won’t stop with this movement and we better pray that a cop shows up to the call and not the sweet social worker. 

        • heartless August 3, 2020 (8:07 am)

          Do you know that being a cop isn’t even in the top 10 most dangerous jobs?

          “but we are not talking here about teachers.”

          Did you even read the comments?  I was directly responding to John, who wrote “Do the majority of commenters here also support our public school teachers when they speak out for a more generous budget?”

      • wscommuter August 2, 2020 (11:18 pm)

        Ahh, now the stupid lies begin.  Police making “$300K+ a year”.    Right.  That’s what’s happening … keep peddling that trope.  

        • heartless August 3, 2020 (8:03 am)

          Look up how much money they make.  It’s easy to get that information, so prove me wrong.

          • momof3boys August 3, 2020 (1:32 pm)

            I believe that those large salaries included 4 years of retroactive pay, due to the fact that they worked without a contract for 4 years.

        • Duffy August 3, 2020 (8:35 am)

          Are you trying to argue that there are no cops in this town that make those salaries? Because there are. Even if those instances are instances where it is back pay/overtime pay, there is something broken with an organization if even the possibility of making that much money exists, apart from the most senior leadership on the force. Hire more cops then pay them less. Take some of that money and use it for training and community relations programs so that we stand together with the police and aren’t inherently at odds with them. This exists in other industries. You don’t pay a handful of folks outrageous salaries if the work product isn’t up to par. You hire more people and spread pay out more evenly so that the organization as a whole operates as they should. Oh, SPD is having a hard time recruiting? That is their responsibility to appeal to attract talent, not ours. We hand them the budget every year, they need to do better.

          • Mel August 3, 2020 (10:24 am)

            Ha people in this city crack me up. Let’s pay them less, but wait…we need them to be more educated so let’s require a college degree. But we also want them to be diverse. Oh they can’t afford to live in the city in which they work? Well that’s definitely not acceptable. People seem to want it all. It doesn’t work that way.

    • ScubaFrog August 2, 2020 (11:29 pm)

      John that’s a great point.  Teachers should get paid $400k per year.  This gives the Teacher’s Union a hell of a Rallying Cry for their new negotiations.  This just goes to show how strong the police union is, and they put kids in jail (and sometimes kill them) vs nurture them.

      • Mel August 3, 2020 (5:20 am)

        Should teachers get paid more? Yes. Do they have the same dangers as police everyday? No. Don’t believe it? Go on a ride alone. Also, teachers strike practically every year for more money (which is against their contract). Both SPD and kcso were out of contract for 3-4 years meaning no pay increases (which is also why 2019 salaries were larger for those who can’t do their own research). Did you see them refusing to show up to work? No. 

  • Lisa August 2, 2020 (7:54 pm)

    I like Capt. Grossman already. Fast response to a lot of today’s comments and a level of transparency I haven’t seen in a long time.

  • ~Hockeywitch~ August 2, 2020 (8:00 pm)

    Signed!!!      http://www.stopdefunding.com We need MORE police, not less.. When I call 911 for police help I want someone to show up. When my neighbor was drunk and trying to break my door down, thinking it was HIS, yelling, “I’m going to kill you Brenda!!!” (My name isn’t Brenda!) I want the Police to respond and quickly… THANK GOD they did.  2 more good kicks and he would heave been in my home… I don’t want to wait because they have to come from another precinct… or there are only  X many officers on duty..

    • heartless August 2, 2020 (8:39 pm)

      Or we could give police fewer jobs to do, so when something like what happened to you occurs they are free to get there quick.  That’s what defunding will do.  

      • Lowman August 2, 2020 (9:59 pm)

        Heartless, I know you’re getting beat up a lot in the comments. But I just want to let you know that I support you. Keep speaking the truth.

    • 1994 August 2, 2020 (8:57 pm)

      And you don’t want social service or mental health people responding to a situation like your ‘s Hockeywitch! They would most likely request law enforcement assistance thus possibly delaying a response to the drunk trying to break down the wrong door. Sounds like Brenda needs some DV assistance on the other hand. 

  • CH August 2, 2020 (8:48 pm)

    I know it sounds crazy, but I know two people who are reluctant to sign at https://stopdefunding.com for fear of the mob.   Says a lot about the state of our current political climate.

    • wetone August 3, 2020 (10:09 am)

      CH, I also have talked to multiple people that are afraid to sign because fear of retaliation from INTIMIDATORS. Really sad times in Seattle and Washington state when INTIMIDATION and BULLYING seems to be the new norm and allowed by our government, very scary.I also wonder what’s being taught in schools today and direction schools have gone past 15yrs. Do most these people still live at home, have zero budget skills, trust fund babies or just zero common sense. Reading from many of these comments I really worry about the future. We need a strong government back in Seattle and Washington St. sooner than later…..VOTE 

  • JC August 2, 2020 (10:15 pm)

    dang, I don’t know any cop on SPD that makes $200k-$300k per year. 

    • Admiral District August 3, 2020 (6:38 am)

      They don’t.  These people don’t know what they’re talking about.

    • heartless August 3, 2020 (8:01 am)

      Feel free to look up their salaries.  I think they should make that much money–but it does mean that we can’t have as many cops as some would like while still being fiscally conservative and/or having the community services many would like to see.

  • Realistic August 2, 2020 (11:00 pm)

    I recommend everyone watch or re-watch the docuseries Flint Town on Netflix.  This docuseries is a very good example of an understaffed police department, budget cuts, officers getting laid off, out of control violent crimes, racism, and even a major health issue in the city.   In the first episode, 27 hours after 911 was called, a female officer arrives at the home of a victim of an armed robbery who had gone to the hospital to get stitches to his cut up face…..again, 27 hours after 911 was called.  After watching the entire series, ask yourself if this is really what we want in Seattle.Defunding the police will only make Seattle exactly like Flint.

  • I have two sons August 2, 2020 (11:29 pm)

    Everyone’s looking for answers. Everyone is asking why? We all want to know how. And no one knows who. The answer to it all ilies within a 165 year old quote from Frederick Douglas, “It’s far easier to raise a strong child, than it is to fix a broken man”.  Why don’t we all start there then see what starts to happens

    • Mel August 3, 2020 (5:22 am)

      Thank you! Not hearing enough of this. It all starts in the home. 

    • momof3boys August 3, 2020 (1:35 pm)

      Amen to “I have two sons” – let’s support families, and children.

  • FedUp August 3, 2020 (9:01 am)

    Yes!!!  Let’s defund the police and see how residents start to react. Much longer response times. No bike patrols. No patrolling Alki during busy weekends/nights. No gang unit.   West Seattle needs to leave the City of Seattle and move to being an unincorporated area of King County. 

    • Duffy August 3, 2020 (12:12 pm)

      Did you read the statement above from the precinct commander? He already had to eliminate the bike patrol and Alki madness continues just as it always has, and the SPD hasn’t been defunded yet. So what have been the excuses to this point? I’d actually be happier if he came out and just said “we cannot and will not save you.”

    • Wes C. Addle August 3, 2020 (2:30 pm)

      So you want to be in Uninc. King County where you have less police, got it. 

  • anonyme August 3, 2020 (10:02 am)

    There is a lot of hyperbole on both sides of this issue.  The claim by the Seattle Police Guild that 800 officers will be cut seems just as absurd as an immediate 50% cut to SPD.  I do support restructuring and retraining of the police force, but that is not happening in a rational manner or time frame.  Nor does the push to defund have any impact whatsoever on the institutionalized racism that led to the death of George Floyd and so many others.  It’s important that the protections that allowed these murders be examined and eliminated, which will become even more unlikely with defunding.  While protests should and must continue, the current format seems self-defeating – especially when protestors are only targeting their staunchest supporters on the council.  I do appreciate the conversation between Glenda and Heartless, as they present well-considered arguments on both sides.   It’s a shame that there is so much “with us or agin’ us” mentality, as working together might actually get us somewhere. 

  • Medium August 3, 2020 (11:32 am)

    How long does it take to drive from one side of West Seattle to the other? You might need to call 10 minutes before the emergency to get police there in time. Otherwise, you can hope the detectives aren’t cut and they can solve your murder. I want the best police and I am willing to pay for them. Probably because I’m not white and don’t live in a gated community.

  • Alex S. August 3, 2020 (12:39 pm)

    Of the dedicated anti-police people I’ve known over the years, most have had good reason to push for de-funding police: they are life-long criminals involved in criminal enterprises, and the police are viewed as constantly interfering with their “business.”  I see some of the same people posting political messages on social media these days, covering up their true motivations.  It’s amazing how naive Seattle’s do-gooder class can be, especially when they allow their own guilt and ideology to cloud any perception of what is really going on around them.  Let’s give cash to addicts, and see how things turn out & let’s remove the threat of jail from violent offenders and see if hugs can turn their lives around.   

    • Medium August 3, 2020 (1:14 pm)

      You get it. You are for the police or for the criminal. De-fund police, close the jails, fire the prosecutors. I always wanted to visit the Wild West.

  • Science27 August 3, 2020 (5:22 pm)

    we should start an armed West Seattle malitia

    • heartless August 3, 2020 (7:04 pm)

      Is that a malicious militia?

Sorry, comment time is over.