(L-R, Unified Care Team’s Ali Peters and Darius Foster, SW Precinct Capt. Krista Bair)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

We’ve already reported the two major headlines from last week’s quarterly Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Council meeting – an update on the shooting death of 15-year-old Sudaysi Ida, and news of a one-day retail-theft crackdown at Westwood Village.

Now, the rest of the news from the meeting, facilitated by Southwest Precinct crime-prevention coordinator Jennifer Satterwhite. Precinct commander Capt. Krista Bair was there, Operations Lt. Nate Shopay too, community liaison Officer German Barreto, Unified Care Team director Ali Peters and UCT manager Darius Foster, who focuses on the south end via SDOT, plus two Community Service Officers and two reps from the mayor’s office.

PRECINCT UPDATE: After the two updates mentioned earlier. Capt. Bair opened the floor to Q&A. A resident of the 25th/Brandon area said “it’s an interesting place to live” – no break-ins or robberies on their block but they’re “surrounded by disorganized crime” within a few blocks – homes with too many people living there, ‘we’ve talked to the police ad nauseam and finally given up.” They’re trying to beat back the disorder. “Do you guys know roughly what the population in our precinct is?” Bair didn’t know (but we can offer the estimate of 115,000, since it’s West Seattle and South Park) – Satterwhite will look into it. Bair said “we have a staffing issue” but said she was very excited to hear that SPD hiring “is picking up in numbers – for a while it was trickling in”; not everybody qualified all the way through the process, but now they have 8 to 10 officer candidates going through the academy and they’re “feeling very positive … we’re moving in the right direction – getting some quality candidates.” Regarding the SW precinct, between the three watches, each one has about 20 people or so “BUT we don’t always have 20 people working at any given time.”

They launched into more detailed discussion of specific houses near the attendee’s block.

Barreto explained the Department of Construction and Inspections‘ role in checking out problem residences; here’s how to file a complaint regarding a specific property/building.

Another attendee from further west, on Snake Hill, said Satterwhite is planning to meet with neighbors. For about half a year, she said, there’s been “gunfire nightly” between 26th and the top of the hill. “There was an episode where two cars were chasing each other” shooting at each other, she said. And another night she was headed home somewhat late and encountered a car speeding, hitting “four or five cars,” then abandoned by its driver. “I’ve lived in this area for 38 years, attending these meetings since early 2000s, and Southwest has never been fully staffed – it’s gone from ‘not adequate’ to ‘really really not adequate now'” – so, she asked Capt. Bair, will the staffing increase notably? “I don’t have an answer for you,” Bair said. “Did you (at any time) see an increase?”

No. “Things had gone from bad to really really really bad,” she recalled. She said she doesn’t feel safe going from Delridge uphill on Brandon – particularly when you get past 26th. Bair noted that the Gun Violence Reduction Unit is part of a weekly meeting about gunshots, “and our officers collect those casings and enter them into a database,” which can match bullets to guns. “We are very aware and trying to get ahead of it.”

The original speaker said Southwest seems to have a strong tax base and the city should heed that.

Another questioner, a High Point resident, asked about “obvious drug activity” and whether officers are “hand-tied” so they can’t do anything about it. “High Point now vs. High Point 25 years ago is two different neighborhoods.” He felt a little effort could go a long way – maybe “put an officer undercover … with a camera.” Bair said she wasn’t making excuses but wanted to explain that pockets of specialized teams used to be at precincts, with people focused on specific programs such as drugs. But the officers currently “are tied to the 911 (calls).”Our guys and gals working here are the ones who want to do the emphasis, they want to get arrests ….”

Speaking of specialized teams …

UNIFIED CARE TEAM: Director Ali Peters explained the UCT – “embedded within Mayor Harrell’s Homeless Action Plan.” Three components comprise that plan, she said – build more affordable housing, bringing people indoors, keep public spaces clean/open/accessible. She said she’s been working in the “homelessness world” for 10 years but there was a “lot of silo’ed work” when she started the work. Around 2022, the mayor started the UCT as “the coordinating body … our job is to coordinate with the departments that are actually doing the work. “Multiple departments working together to keep spaces open and accessible.” Things in the way of that last part, sidewalks, etc. “Our goal is to understand the lay of the land.”That means distinct approaches in distinct neighborhoods – “our goal is to know what’s going on.” Through the Customer Service/Find It Fix It reports they receive, they do that, plus there’s a multi-department meeting on Wednesdays – “we really are trying to collaborate,” and they want to be ready to pivot when situations change. The “outreach component” involves offers of shelter – “not all shelters are the same.” And there’s a “limited capacity” right now, she stressed. She said they also need to pivot quickly when something needs to be “addressed right away,” like a blocked sidewalk. Last but not least, they also work on “activation” – to make landscape “more open and inviting for the community” and therefore less likely to be reoccupied. Signage for parking restrictions is one component of that in some cases.

(WSB photo, December 3)

An attendee interrupted with a question about what’s the plan for people moving around, like those who moved during the RV-remediation operation earlier in the week in Highland Park. They have to follow parking restrictions, and that only requires “moving one block face,” she said. Parking Enforcement “is one of our arms.”

Foster took over from there, explaining interdepartmental collaboration. He said their “approach is different,” and they’ve had to “jump on this … post-COVID … we can no longer isolate certain situations. … It’s been a work in progress and we’ve made some progress.” Multiple departments are involved because there are “subject matter experts” among other things, and they need to work cohesively. Besides SDOT, SPD is involved, the Human Services Department (“critical in providing outreach”), Parking Enforcement, SDCI, “just a few of the agencies that we have involved in this body of work.” He said they have “more intentionality” and “more hands on … to do this work.” They do have neighborhood-focused teams, including two in the South End. The Parks Department oversees North End, and he oversees South End. “We understand that when a community is informed …we are being as transparent as we can” with their processes. “Ideally you know who you should contact if this situation is happening.”

Back to Peters: “We are deploying the same (type of) team in every neighborhood” – people who have relationships and information. She can go to a manager like Foster to find out what’s happening in neighborhoods. Just so happens that Foster’s area equals District 1’s turf, though that’s not the same parallel citywide. She launched into an explanation of their prioritization system – using points. That creates a “number that’s the start of a conversation,” not the only thing that determines the plan regarding a site. It “gets the framework started.” Right now, a bit over 200 sites around the city “for our teams to manage on a daily basis.”

What constitutes a site? One tent, or five or more RVs, currently (“although we do sometimes track two or three”).

Foster said they have field coordinators who have authority to oversee camp removals – “we have six or seven” – and they supervise workers, with certain teams including contractors as well as city employees. “Daily we have trash mitigation routes in the city in all five neighborhoods, teams conducting inspections around the city – ” but a resolution is supervised by one coordinator.

Peters went back to prioritization – full mobility merits points if a sidewalk is fully covered (2), partly covered (1), if blocking an entrance or exit to a building, that’s a point, large amount of debris is a point, blocking sightlines is a point, near children’s playgrounds is a point (or other proximity to kids), proximity to waterways, nexuses of violent crimes and fires connected to encampments… overall they look at impact to community “and allocate our resources as best we can”

RVs are in many areas, noted one attendee. How are you going to handle that? Peters said she didn’t have a magic solution for that, but they do remediations and “ask them all to move at once,” but again, that’s only requiring a move of “one block face.” And if they don’t, they can tow. She acknowledged that it’s frustrating because with a one-block move, “they’re still there.” Another attendee said “We’ve been playing ‘musical RVs’ for years now.” He spoke of RVs tagged multiple times whose residents just ignored or removed the tags. “The only time they leave is when an officer comes and forces them to leave.” He wondered how Find It Fix It feeds to the UCT. Peters said a report is the “first step … that goes to the Parking Enforcement team.” If that doesn’t work, they work with SPD and local precincts “to go with Parking Enforcement …” There’s no real place for them to go – there’s a “safe lot” up north that’s full, and they’re looking for more.

Is the one-block move rule new? No, it’s been the city rule for a while, Peters said.

If more people report via Find It Fix It, does that increase the likelihood a site will be addressed? No.

Which reports go to which departments? Depends. It’s “like a funnel system,” Satterwhite said.

“This whole one-block thing is horse pucky,” declared another attendee. “That is a slap in the face to any respectable law-abiding citizen.”Maybe six blocks, 10 blocks, a mile.” When they contact people, do they really KNOW their backgrounds, do they get a database with their story? he wonders. “Do you know who those people are?”

Peters replied, “Our outreach teams often do … for years and years.” They don’t keep that info in a database but the outreach people do know. The attendee retorted, “I think what you’re going to find is that our mental-health system is so horrific …” He also suggested that many people experiencing homelessness had been in the foster-care system.

WHAT’S NEXT: The precinct convenes these meetings quarterly. If you have a crime-prevention-related question in the meantime, Satterwhite’s contact info is on this page of the SPD website. But if a crime or safety incident is happening right now – call 911.