(UPDATED THURSDAY MORNING with our full video of event)
6:58 PM: About 70 people are at the Senior Center for SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole‘s encore appearance. We can’t live-chronicle it due to chairlessness but we are recording video and also tweeting (you can view without being a Twitter user) at @westseattleblog. (Added: Some of what we tweeted during the meeting, focusing on the WS-specific questions/answers)
Chief O'Toole starting WS encore meeting. Maybe 70 people here at WS Senior Center pic.twitter.com/dCYwRSs7UA
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Now-Asst. Chief Wilske talks about arrests in rec Westwood Village-area robberies, says juv susp getting counseling pic.twitter.com/ylYitOeFpJ
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Deb Barker of Morgan Comm Assoc asks chief to roleplay 911 response to low priority calls re Morgan park woes pic.twitter.com/sQZmWtcDmt
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Chief notes even @Mayor_Ed_Murray has acknowledged we have too few officers and that's part of response prob w/lo-priority calls
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
she says they are getting 100 more officers but also will have eval by summer of how many more needed
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
She says 911 center is being evaluated too for its handling of calls b/c citizen concerns
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
*Note, the exchange above with Deb Barker and Chief O’Toole, regarding 911 responses to non-major incidents and whether SPD needs more officers, starts at about 42 minutes into the video. She had said earlier in the meeting that while her former city, Boston, has a comparable population, its police force is more than 800 officers larger. She also discusses an ongoing study that will result in a report to the mayor on what would be the appropriate size of the SPD force, and says that’ll be out in the summer.
The meeting continued:
Carla Rogers from Madison MS brings up recent crimes vs students – 'it's just scary' pic.twitter.com/VhZgWFqDko
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
(she is from PTSA) She is concerned re: continuity of efforts against those crimes w Wilske leaving
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Chief reiterates that Wilske will 'handpick' his successor and will still spend time in SWP in meantime pic.twitter.com/jn25Gy0L6a
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Sandy says she too is concerned about continuity, chief reiterates that Wilske will still be involved 'we won't let you down'
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Wilske (w/@wsblockwatchnet leaders) says he hopes precinct cmndrs will be 2-year assignments pic.twitter.com/FXpWm89TlT
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Cindi Barker of @wsbeprepared speaking re hubs/ @seattlepd engagement w emerg prep (it's their accountability) pic.twitter.com/6RIIPmbUTf
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Chief mentions her new asst. chief from Yakima has major emergency prep cred. She also lauds emerg dir Barb Graf & promises future convs
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
(Added … From the final half-hour of the meeting:)
City Council candidate Lisa Herbold points out a plan in 2007 to hire 105 new officers was unfulfilled. pic.twitter.com/sedwK2eGD2
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Herbold also asked O’Toole if she’s considering using civilian community-service officers; the chief said she “loved that idea.” And she said she had met earlier with Somali families in High Point who told her that they would like SPD to have a community liaison for their community; O’Toole mentioned they are still reviewing candidates for the East African community liaison. Co-moderator Pete Spalding then read an audience question on the same subject, to which O’Toole added that the East African Advisory Committee is being re-established as well.
Another City Council candidate was at the microphone as well:
City Council cand & @wwrhah's Amanda Kay Helmick says she's sad to see Wilske go b/c his responsiveness… pic.twitter.com/EjMUZuK0CX
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
Helmick elaborated regarding the Westwood-area problems on which the community council she chairs has dealt with Wilske and the precinct. She then asked a question about a friend of hers whom she said had applied to become an officer but had been told she didn’t appropriately answer a question about how to handle a difficult situation. O’Toole suggested that Helmick’s friend contact her so SPD could “talk to her and figure out what went awry there.”
Karen from @wsblockwatchnet asks about interjurisdictional investigations. Among other things chief mentions gun crime task force w/ATF
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015
8:26 PM: The meeting’s over. Uneventful – no disruptions, lots of questions, lots of answers. People are lingering to talk not only with the chief but also with now-Assistant Chief Steve Wilske, who will be “hand-pick(ing)” his successor as Southwest Precinct commander, though no timetable has been mentioned.
THURSDAY MORNING NOTE: Update – here’s the video. Update 2 – as of 10:29 am, it’s embedded atop this story, too. Update 3 – as of 12:18 pm, we have added highlights from the final half-hour of the meeting.
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