By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The date for SPD’s second “Our City, Our Safety“ meeting in West Seattle was set months ago.
But it turned out to be painfully timely – three nights after our area’s first murder in a year and a half.
During Wednesday night’s meeting at Delridge Community Center, police didn’t have a public update to share about the deadly shooting, but heard from High Point residents who came to share their stories of living amid increasing gun violence, of which the murder of 28-year-old Omar Tebad was just the most-recent escalation in their neighborhood.
Also coincidentally timely: The meeting came less than two weeks after SPD had an abrupt change at the top. But the ~50+ people gathered didn’t hear from SPD’s newly promoted Interim Chief Andre Sayles until late in the meeting, as he had been sidetracked to a gunfire incident elsewhere in the city, in which three of his officers reported getting shot at. Here’s what he said at the meeting in just under three minutes:
Sayles had also spoken at the first “Our City, Our Safety” meeting in West Seattle back in March (WSB coverage here) – we noted in our report that he answered concerns about driver lawbreaking and misbehavior with a suggestion that education might be better than enforcement. This time, he talked about investigations – saying that was now a prime mission for an SPD unit he’s now calling the “Proactive Team” – and about building relationships. As an example, he mentioned a meeting earlier in the day with first-year City Attorney Erika Evans, who also was there:
She explained her office’s role as “the city’s lawyer” during the earlier round of speeches and presentations, which we recorded on video too. First speaker was SPD’s Dr. Lee Hunt:
At nine and a half minutes in, a key speaker was Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Krista Bair, who rolled out data like this, as was also done during the March meeting:
While she noted that crime hotspots included, as usual, Westwood Village, she also noted that stats had changed because businesses’ “protocols and policies” had changed – rather than theft, many shoplifting incidents were being reported as robberies (which is the classification if the thief uses force, threats, and/or a weapon). She also said they’ve had success in fighting crime there because of increased collaboration with businesses. Overall, Capt. Bair said, the Southwest Precinct (West Seattle and South Park) has seen a 17 percent drop in violent crimes so far this year compared to the same period of last year. Summer, overall, is usually a time when such crimes are on the rise, but not this year, she added.
She recapped the top five concerns voiced at the March meeting: Homelessness/RVs, open-air drug use, traffic safety/recklessness/racing, school/youth safety, police response times/presence. Regarding the top concern, she said the city was clearing some encampment areas in the next week or two (we reported on this one the next day after a reader tip). She also said they were addressing some concerns via “directed patrols” – having officers spend ~20 minutes in a certain area as a deterrent, an approach that she said has been proven to work nationwide.
The second half of the meeting was small-group breakout discussions, with a representative of each group presenting a short summary at the end. The table we monitored included City Attorney Evans, who noted that her office is on track to file more DUI cases than it had in previous years. Evans also said her office just got another attorney to handle Extreme Risk Protection Orders, which seek to at least temporarily confiscate weapons when there’s a concern about imminent violence. That’s a civil action, not a criminal action, though, it was noted.
Many of those who spoke from tables identified themselves as High Point residents. After multiple gunfire incidents, some said they’re afraid to go outside their homes; others said they feel SPD is “not doing enough.” One speaker pointed out, “Some of our houses have been hit … we don’t care about traffic, we don’t care about encampments …” but rather “what we all (are) experiencing.” Another speaker said youth are suffering the worst, in a multitude of ways, and mentioned the community forum set for next Tuesday (here’s the announcement we published).
But more than talk is needed, another man said, recounting one terrifying incident: “Suddenly in broad daylight there was that sound … to see my wife hit the ground, that will stay with me.” He said that in addition to police presence they want to see their area analyzed for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.
It’s not just gun violence, said a High Point resident speaking for another table, saying their neighborhood (Snake Hill) has been having trouble with people driving in “to drop their cars.”
In addition to city and SPD officials we mentioned above, others notably on hand included Jon Jainga from the Seattle Park Rangers, Tom van Bronkhorst from the Unified Care Team, and SPD Assistant Chief Rob Brown. Not there: District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka, but his staffer Michael Taylor-Judd – a longtime West Seattle community advocate before going to work for the city – was.
WHAT’S NEXT: SPD has another Our City, Our Safety meeting planned in the East Precinct area on September 6.
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