From the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council‘s meeting at the Southwest Precinct on Tuesday night:

No new commander announced for the precinct yet, one week after the news of now-Assistant Chief Steve Wilske‘s promotion, which came one year after his SWP arrival. Operations Lt. Ron Smith, who’s in charge of the precinct in the meantime, said he isn’t seeking the position.

CRIME TRENDS: Lt. Smith led the customary briefing. Auto theft is up; burglaries are down. And as has been widely reported, including here, strong-arm robberies are up – if you don’t know the definition, “no weapons implied or used, but that doesn’t make much difference to the victim,” as Lt. Smith put it. He also discussed how incidents get classified as robberies if they aren’t the stereotypical case of a criminal coming up to a victim and demanding something; in particular, the shoplift-turned-robbery type of case was discussed.

Community Police Team Officers Jon Flores and Erin Nicholson got up at that point to get into more detail.

Regarding shoplift-turned-robbery incidents, Officer Flores said they often involve alcohol, so they are continuing to work with stores that just didn’t anticipate the privatization of liquor leading to so mch shoplifting, and didn’t design their liquor sections originally in hadn’t focused much security on it, where it’s located in stores, etc., so now many have built new sections where it’s done, and are making other changes. “It’s still a work in progress, but we’re hoping to see stores go to systems where you can’t just walk up, (get a bottle, and walk out with it).” He said they’re also working with stores regarding the responses that have led to shoplifting turned into robberies because employees’ lives aren’t worth risking over these items – they’re emphasizing having store employees be “good observers” when needed.

While in the past it’s been suggested that police and store security weren’t always in communication, Officer Flores said they’re getting a lot of calls these days, about known suspects being seen, people showing up who have been “trespassed” (written up because of past problems at the store and told they can’t come back), etc.

SOUTHWEST BICYCLE SQUAD: The long-in-the-works plan that was finalized recently is close to reality. It’s starting in two weeks, two bicycles for each sector, and the relief squad too, so “you will see a lot more” officers on bicycles. The two officers who have been on bicycles for a while, said Officer Nicholson, had a meeting with Westwood Village just last week. (She also mentioned a multi-agency meeting is coming up regarding the issues with the Westwood/Roxhill Park transit hub.) Around the peninsula, two bicycle officers will be on night shift and visible while out patroling, Lt. Smith added.

MOBILE PRECINCT: Lt. Smith talked about the new one that the SWP is getting to replace the one that’s been out since arson destroyed it years ago. It’s being put together in Florida. It will not only be helpful on Alki in the summertime, he said, it’ll also work well in a variety of other circumstances, including big events such as West Seattle Summer Fest.

SPECIAL GUEST – FORCE INVESTIGATIONS: The meeting began with a somewhat-surprise guest (no advance announcement from WSCPC), Capt. Mike Teeter, who, as noted in his introduction, worked at the Southwest Precinct in its early days and now leads the Force Investigations Team – another side note, that team was first led by former precinct commander Wilske.

Capt. Teeter’s work relates to the federal investigation of SPD and the resulting reforms. He offered context for his team’s work and how “use of force” investigations have evolved – now starting with supervisors responding to the scene, continuing with interviews and photos, canvassing the area for witnesses and video, accounting for all officers’ actions, evaluating the incident for “areas of concern,” and “prepar(ing) a detailed report.”

The team was “born” a little more than a year ago. He has a lieutenant, sergeant, and 6 detectives, a “very experienced group who received intense training specific to the investigation of use-of-force incidents.”

Capt. Teeter noted that “the vast majority of officers go through the entirety of their career without firing their weapon” – officer-involved shootings happen on average six times a year, in a force that currently numbers about 1,350 officers, he said. When it happens, “We don’t come in assuming it’s a good shooting or assuming it’s a bad shooting – we collect the evidence.” Force Investigations works with the CSI team to process scenes. The Office of Professional Accountability also gets involved. Two binders of paperwork usually ensue, and the investigation goes through “three levels of Force Investigations Team supervisor/staff review internally before submission to the assistant chief.” From there, it goes to OPA, and to the federal monitor, and finally to the Force Review Board.

He said investigations result in training and potential procedure changes, after a long list of questions asked by that board. And he said SPD releases information about it “so the media doesn’t just spin (their own version).”

In 2014, the team handled 46 total cases, 9 officer-involved shootings.

Is the department incorporating body-cam video into these processes and investigations? was the first question when Capt. Teeter segued into Q/A. Yes, he said, while noting that right now it’s just a pilot program through the East Precinct. (Lt. Smith pointed out that blurred versions of the body-camera videos are available now on a YouTube channel.) Also regarding video, he said that police scour areas where incidents happen in hopes of finding citizens’ video, whether via surveillance cameras or phone cameras. Lt. Smith also mentioned the in-car video from police vehicles, saying that supervisors watch every minute of it while investigating/reviewing incidents.

He showed a clip from a Phoenix TV newscast in which a man identified as a local civil-rights activist “experience(d) use-of-force training.” (You can see it here.)

NEXT WSCPC MEETING: The special guest for the next meeting, 7 pm Tuesday, April 21st, is scheduled to be Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.

–Tracy Record, WSB editor