The first fall meeting of HPAC – the community coalition for Highland Park, Riverview, and South Delridge – tonight lasted less than 40 minutes, as one guest was a no-show. But the online meeting’s first scheduled guest was there – on behalf of the Southwest Precinct, second-watch commander Lt. Grant Ballingham. He answered a variety of questions from attendees.
One was whether there’s anything new in the search for Jim Price, the 86-year-old Pigeon Point man who’s now been missing for nine days.
Lt. Ballingham said officers had responded to a few possible sightings, and in two of those cases, they found and talked with the person who was the subject of the sighting, but it wasn’t Jim. Otherwise, he said, all officers have the bulletin flyers with them and are on the lookout.
The Kia/Hyundai thefts aren’t slowing down, he said, though he didn’t have numbers. He said the cars often are stolen where others are dumped. The most-concerning trend, he said, is the “bump-and-rob” carjacking attempts. He said both people who were targeted for those in West Seattle one day last week escaped by simply driving away. He echoed the advice about driving to a safe place rather than getting out of your car.
As we’ve already added to our earlier story, he said Junction TrueValue had to deal with two incidents today, a “robbery by force” and then later the harassment/death threat incident we reported. He said a suspect had been arrested in the latter. And while he acknowledged there are many serious incidents, he said that judging by the number of Significant Incident Reports he sees from around the city each day, the Southwest Precinct has the least amount of violent crime in the city. He also voiced optimism about city leaders’ plans to supplement police with alternate responders. And finally, he thanked community members for their watchfulness and for reporting things (like all those stolen/dumped cars).
ALSO AT HPAC: Next month, HPAC will again join with Highland Park Improvement Club and Highland Park Corner Store for a combination tree giveaway and Halloween event (with a pet-costume contest!), Trick or Trees, noon-4 pm at the store (7789 Highland Park Way SW). … HPIC will soon have another Town Hall to update the community on the rebuilding project and the fundraising to facilitate it.
NEXT MEETING: HPAC usually meets online, fourth Wednesdays, 7 pm – watch hpacws.org for updates.
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