(WSB photo showing Zebra burglary damage, just after police arrived on July 19th)
We promised a followup on the broken-glass burglaries we’ve been covering in the past two weeks – starting with one at The Swinery on July 16 – so here’s the newest information from Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James. He confirms:
We do indeed have a commercial burglary pattern in West Seattle. To date, we’ve had 8 confirmed smash and grab burglaries that fit within our pattern since the middle of July. The burglar typically breaks a window to gain entry, grabs a cash register/vending machine, then flees.
Lt. James says another common point is that they’re happening in the early morning hours. He says King County Sheriff’s Office detectives also are investigating similar cases, and working with SPD counterparts “to coordinate the investigation.” Meantime, the Southwest Precinct is checking to see if any other SPD precincts have noticed similar trends. As for what else is being done about this new “burglary pattern,” Lt. James continues:
We have advised businesses to try to make it inconvenient for burglars to access cash registers/vending machines. We are also putting out directed patrols in the areas of these burglaries. As always, we ask for the community’s assistance in reporting suspicious people and activities. At this time we’ve been asking businesses with cameras focusing on the exterior of their buildings (to) review those tapes every 24 hours and report suspicious activity.
The most recent smash-and-grab was early Saturday at the liquor store in The Junction (WSB coverage here – our story also lists the previous ones we covered, and has a comment that adds to the list).
Two West Seattle Crime Watchnotes this early morning: First, police are investigating an armed robbery – it happened about an hour ago at the gas station mini-mart at California/Andover (map). Scanner traffic suggests they have a potential suspect in custody – the robber was reported to have fled southbound in a white truck; numerous officers responded, and scanner traffic quickly indicated a potential suspect sighting in the SW Morgan vicinity, as well as a gun having been found in the vehicle. At last report, officers were still working to check with the victim and any potential witnesses; we probably won’t be able to confirm an arrest till later this morning. Meantime, more reported catalytic-converter thefts – coming in as comments on the one published here a week and a half ago – read on:Read More
As much as Seattle Police stress calling them when there’s trouble – either 911 for something urgent, or 206-625-5011 if it’s not – some say the latter number didn’t get them the response they expected. The team at the Southwest Precinct offers some advice: When you call the non-emergency number, to get a dispatcher, press option 2, and then option 8, and that’ll get you to a live person. Again – that’s for when whatever you are reporting is NOT happening now. So what about calling the precinct? Don’t call to file a report or ask that an officer be dispatched – SPD cannot dispatch “from a precinct level,” she explains – but if you need “general information,” as she puts it, 206-733-9800 is the main precinct number. Also: “Sometimes folks want to contact an officer, add follow-up information, just ask a question about something. We’re happy to answer the phones when there is a clerk available.”
First of three short reports from last night’s Southwest District Council meeting at South Seattle Community College: Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James gave members a quick briefing on crime trends – helpful since the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, which usually gets those briefings, isn’t meeting this month. Lt. James says that fighting car prowls has been an area of emphasis for the precinct for the past few months, and in June it appears to have paid off – 80 car prowls in West Seattle in June, down from 130 in May. Auto theft, he said, also is on the decline. And he mentioned that there currently are “more officers assigned to this precinct than we have ever had.” That’s enabled them to have an “09 car” – outside the regular patrol mix – daytime and nighttime, assigned to California SW businesses, particularly from Admiral to The Junction. Those officers “walk, talk, meet with business owners,” according to Lt. James. And without citing specifics, he also said they’re geared up for a “lot of activity on Alki” this first really warm summer weekend (which includes, on Alki, the Seafair Pirates Landing on Saturday).
First came the online availability of police reports in certain categories of incident (start here) – now, Seattle Police have added incident types to the city’s My Neighborhood map, which has been available a while with multiple layers of other types of information. We’re still wandering around it ourselves but wanted to share the link in case you hadn’t already heard. As explained here, the icons – showing what type of report was taken – will start showing up as soon as six hours later. The announcement on SPD Blotter summarizes:
The crime reporting map is a short-term view of crime: it provides a good sense of what is reported to be going on in a certain neighborhood or the city at large at any time. It is also good for seeing patterns of types of crimes happening (such as an unusual amount of reported bike thefts in your area).
If you choose to use the “neighborhood” view instead of the specific-address view, note that Southwest is basically “western West Seattle,” while Delridge is the label for most of the eastern half of the peninsula. 8:25 PM: After spending some time clicking around, one observation: While more categories of crime are reported on the map, the reports to which you can link don’t offer any additional detail – so far we’ve clicked on the report links for crimes such as auto theft and animal bites, and the only detail on the “report” is what block and what day/time.
The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council‘s been bringing it up at every meeting for months (as noted in reports such as this one) – the federal grant that currently pays for the civilian position of Crime Prevention Coordinator runs out next year, and that could mean the job will be cut. Benjamin Kinlow is the man who holds it in the Southwest Precinct, and he’s been busier than ever lately, responding to Block Watch organizing requests, and speaking at neighborhood-council meetings (he’s on the agenda for the Alki Community Council July 15th; photo at left shows him at the Admiral Neighborhood Association). Tonight SeattleCrime.com reports on another indication that the handful of jobs like Kinlow’s – he’s even been helping another precinct whose coordinator was cut last year – may be axed: A meeting is reported to have been held this week, at which the coordinators were given a warning their jobs might end, as well as, one is quoted as saying, information on programs such as retirement benefits and COBRA. Read the SeattleCrime.com report here; here’s the CentralDistrictNews.com take on it. And here’s the flyer the West Seattle advocates have been distributing.
The mayor is making the announcement now (live at www.seattlechannel.org). Chief John Diaz has led the department as acting chief since last year (here’s his background on the SPD website). The mayor described the new chief as “a man of integrity and a hard worker.” Chief Diaz was one of two finalists for the job, along with the police chief of East Palo Alto, Calif. After recounting some of his history and the chiefs under whom he’s worked, the new chief said the choice sends a message to every SPD officer, “that you can someday lead this organization.” He also said, regarding recent controversies, “We take the scrutiny seriously. … But no one’s going to be harder on the Seattle Police Department than ourselves.” Also: “One of the advantages to picking an internal chief is, there’s no honeymoon period” – and no ramping-up time. He also thanked his wife, whom he noted is a 23-year SPD veteran herself. The first City Council reaction that’s in is from Councilmember Tim Burgess, a former police officer who leads the committee tasked with public safety; he promises a “thorough confirmation process” and says he’s “been impressed with Chief Diaz’s leadership over the past 15 months.” From City Attorney Pete Holmes, “Assuming his confirmation by City Council, Chief Diaz will finally be fully in command of an excellent police department that nonetheless needs his firm leadership to face the challenges ahead. Together we can demonstrate to all people in Seattle – and, indeed, the rest of the country – that public safety and social justice are not mutually exclusive, even in the midst of a deep, stubborn recession.” 11:47 AM UPDATE: We asked the Southwest Precinct Advisory Committee’s chair Pete Spalding for his reaction:
I think John is an excellent choice. I have had the opportunity to work with John over the last couple of years on several community issues. He also stopped by our City Night Out event last August in Pigeon Point. The way that John has handled himself and the department over the last 15 months has been extraordinary in my opinion. With everything that has taken place (no need to go into that here) over the last 15 months the leadership and character that John has displayed will continue to serve SPD well in the weeks and months to come. I hope that the City Council does not drag out the confirmation hearings. This search has been exhaustive with many meetings and public comment periods. I for one am excited for John’s selection by the Mayor as Seattle ’s next Chief of Police.
(Tuesday night photo, shared today by Lars)
As promised in our coverage of last night’s police response on Alki – we checked with the Southwest Precinct today for followup. Lt. Norm James confirms one arrest and answers a few of our other questions:
We in the precinct always staff extra heavy for the last day of school. Alki has been a gathering place for teens from all over the city on the last day of school for many years. We had at least two marked patrol cars at the high schools, along with Traffic units prior to school dismissal. Once school was out, those same units were tasked to Alki along with our ACT and CPT teams. We call additional units as needed after that. The Gang Unit provides an additional presence during these times also. There was one arrest for obstructing an officer, and at this point only one additional incident report for property damage was written.
(Photo by David Hutchinson) ORIGINAL 8:31 PM REPORT: We are on Alki checking into a sizable police presence, after tips came in about cruisers heading this way. One tipster says a fight had broken out, but right now there’s no sign of that – the police presence appears to be more a show of preventive force, including a double-digit Gang Unit contingent. We would recommend avoiding driving this way – some traffic was being diverted a block inland, past Whale Tail. 8:38 PM: We just talked to police. A series of relatively small fights brought them out in force to make sure nothing worse happens, since there are many people here celebrating the 1st night of summer vacation. 9:25 PM: We’re back at HQ and adding photos. David Hutchinson‘s image of the gang-unit presence (which had broken up by the time we left shortly after 9) is the most dramatic scene we saw. Before our arrival, he says, a young woman had been cuffed and placed in a police car; we have not confirmed any arrests but will follow up on this tomorrow. 9:45 PM: Adding one more photo, this one from Benjamin Hutchinson, with a little more of an overview of the crowd that was out earlier – about the same density we saw when arriving around 8:15:
At least one of tonight’s fights, according to David Hutchinson, happened near Pepperdock – which, you may recall, was where last year’s most serious Alki incident happened, the shooting on May 1, 2009 (WSB coverage here). 10:39 PM: Worth noting – one commenter points out the mayor’s announcement today of a “Late-Night Safety Initiative.” Here’s the official SPD announcement. While its focus is on Friday and Saturday nights, and primarily neighborhoods near downtown, it’s noted “this model will work in any neighborhood” and the announcement’s concluding line certainly resonates given what happened tonight:
The hope is that the additional uniformed patrols will encourage citizens from all over Puget Sound to visit popular Seattle destination points and do so without fear of harm.
In the Seattle Police Southwestand North Precincts, a “pilot program” is under way to talk one-on-one with residents about crime and safety issues in their neighborhoods – by sending police officers door-to-door with a survey of sorts. We learned about this from a West Seattleite who messaged us about it via Facebook after an officer showed up at her door to ask some questions. Our request to precinct staff for more information drew a callback from Capt. Joe Kessler, who explained:Read More
We’re at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, where Sgt. Jeff Durden has just presented the crime-trends update. So far this month – car prowls are down dramatically – 30 in the first 13 days of June, compared to 123 for all of last month, and 126 the month before that. Sgt. Durden wondered if that might be in part thanks to a June 1st arrest that was reported here three days later – that of now-20-year-old Ronald Thompson, charged initially with 4 car thefts (we are checking to see if any more charges have been added in the case). We’ve also just heard more details about two cases we reported here briefly last night – the robbery at the South Seattle Market at 35th/Morgan, and a burglary arrest elsewhere in West Seattle yesterday. ADDED 11:49 PM: Click ahead for details (including, added at 1:35 am, toplines from City Attorney Pete Holmes’ guest appearance):Read More
If you haven’t had your daily dose of cuteness … there you go … though what you see in that clip is also very serious business! Ruth Oldham of West Seattle See Dogs invited us to drop by the Seattle Police Mounted Patrol‘s headquarters at Westcrest Park on Sunday afternoon as her group and two others from around the region had a special visit. They brought guide-dogs-in-training to get a good look at, and sniff of, Tiger the SPD horse. As we learned while listening to the discussion, future guide dogs need to be exposed to all sorts of circumstances and characters, because you never know what they will have to help their people deal with.
Ruth explains, “Once a month or more, in addition to our regular meetings, puppy-raising clubs have an “outing” to provide their puppies with new experiences. Working guide dogs may encounter mounted police and horse-drawn carriages in the course of their day and so the Seattle Police Department has been generous in providing the opportunity over the years for our puppies to go ‘nose to nose; and greet their horses and to answer questions.”
The puppy-raising clubs that joined WS See Dogs on Sunday are Guide Puppies of Seattle and Bellevue-based For Your Eyes Only. Interested in volunteering to raise a guide puppy for a year? West Seattle See Dogs’ next meeting is one week from tonight, Monday, June 14, at Merrill Gardens-Admiral Heights (WSB sponsor), 6:30 pm, just show up!
Wanted to let people know of yet another car theft and give a huge thank you to the SPD for incredibly quick work recovering it.
We woke up Tuesday morning to find our one and only car missing from our parking spot – 5ft from our house in the Fairmount Park neighborhood. Last night, Tuesday, we got a call that the car was found on the other side of WS, very near the “lifeline vehicle” that WS Blog reported recovered a few days ago. While we were getting the car picked up, the very attentive neighbors around the recovery spot came out and told us that he saw the car Monday night at 11 and again today at 5 AM. He also saw the cops there 2x, the second time with a guy in handcuffs.
Another officer later told us there was a spate of car robberies last weekend. According to him the guy was caught Tuesday in one of other stolen cars and started “giving up the rest” so they found ours. They got a search warrant for the guy’s house and found 40 GPS systems from other stolen cars.
We’re really lucky and glad to have our car back, but wonder one thing, are Subarus the next Honda Civics? I’ve heard of many of them being stolen and ours was one.
We don’t know if that’s related to a similar-sounding case reported in this comment thread; police declined to comment on that because it’s an ongoing investigation.
(WSB photo, taken after rescuers had raised the car and extricated the bicyclist)
Two updates in the aftermath of this morning’s Admiral Way/SW Manning/30th SW (map) collision between a car and a bicyclist who had to be rescued from beneath it: First, Laura, identifying herself as the bicycle rider’s wife, says in comments on the original WSB story that her husband is in ICU awaiting surgery; read her full comment here. Second, Seattle Police investigators asked us to publish this call for any witness(es) to come forward:
(This is) a request from the Seattle Police Department, for anyone that witnessed the collision event between the SUV & Bicyclist on SW Admiral Way & SW Manning St., to contact Detective Tim Wear at (206) 684-8935. Would like to hear from anyone that witnessed the collision event. Thank you.
If you missed our earlier coverage – the car’s driver was not hurt; Admiral Way reopened just before 1 pm, almost 4 1/2 hours after this morning’s collision. ADDED 9:04 PM: And from the comment section following our original report – a commenter who says she is the driver’s wife, explaining that their whole family bicycles too. Read her full comment here.
Thanks to everyone who called/texted about police activity in The Junction just before 6 pm tonight – we happened to be en route to the Triangle Advisory Group meeting steps away and caught the end of it, just after police had cuffed a suspect (iPhone photo above). Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James confirms the original call was about a shoplifter at the liquor store who was suspected of having a gun – that’s why police were in the area looking for him with their guns drawn – Lt. James says the suspect turned out not to be armed. Onlookers lined the sidewalk when we arrived in the area – business staffers as well as shoppers – and one bystander called out to this officer, who was putting away his rifle as he returned to his car, “Good work!”
ADDED 8:14 PM: A few more details from Lt. Ron Smith: “Officer responded to a call of a subject in the liquor store … placing a bottle in his pants pocket. Store employee confronted the subject and advised him that the police were called. The subject denied taking the bottle and was observed removing the bottle and returning the bottle to the shelf. The employee observed what she thought was a handgun in the front of his pants. The subject left the store and was contacted by patrol officers a short distance away. The subject was positively identified by store employees. No weapon was found on the subject, who appeared to be a transient with mental issues. He was transported downtown.”
Seattle Interim Police Chief John Diaz is the only local candidate among the 3 finalists for the permanent job, as chosen tonight by the search committee (whose members include Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Joe Kessler). In addition to Chief Diaz, the police chiefs of Sacramento and East Palo Alto are on the short list. Read on for the announcement from the mayor’s office:Read More
Thanks to everybody who called, e-mailed and sent Facebook messages about the big police response at Admiral and California. Police at the scene confirm the Bank of America on Admiral at 44th has been robbed. No description at this point and no word of any arrest. The bank is closed because of the robbery. 6:34 PM UPDATE: Still no arrest, but Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James has a few more details: “No weapon seen, just a displayed note. The suspect was described as a white male, 35 years old. Witness stated he fled on foot to a waiting bluish/green Honda, driven by a female. Witness got a plate on it that turned out to be stolen plates.”
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli, substituted 2:16 pm for previous cameraphone photos) ORIGINAL REPORT @ 12:33 PM: The Elliott Bay Pipe Band is among the participants at Dignity Memorial/Forest Lawn right now during the annual Seattle Police Memorial ceremony.
Speakers included Mayor McGinn and Southwest Precinct Captain Joe Kessler.
With Capt. Kessler (in black dress uniform) and the mayor in that photo are, from left, Dave Salove of Forest Lawn, East Precinct commander Capt. James Dermody and South Precinct commander Capt. Dave Emerick. Southwest Precinct officers were out in full force:
Video to come.
ADDED 7:30 PM: Here’s Christopher Boffoli’s video of highlights from the ceremony:
(WSB photo from May 2009)
At noon tomorrow, you are invited to Dignity Memorial/Forest Lawn, just east of High Point, for the annual Seattle Police Officers’ Memorial ceremony. Here’s our coverage from last year; since then, SPD has lost an officer in the line of duty – one with West Seattle ties – WSHS graduate Officer Tim Brenton, murdered on Halloween night. He and others who’ve given their lives will be remembered during tomorrow’s event. 2:22 PM NOTE:Mayor McGinn is expected to attend the memorial tomorrow.
The mayor’s office announced this morning that three women and eight men are in the running for Seattle Police Chief, including 3 candidates from SPD – here’s the list:
Judy Bradshaw, Chief of Police — Des Moines (IA) Police Department
Rick Braziel, Chief of Police — Sacramento (CA) Police Department
Adam Burden II, Former Assistant Chief of Police — Miami (FL) Police Department
Ronald Davis, Chief of Police — East Palo Alto (CA) Police Department
John Diaz, Interim Chief of Police — Seattle (WA) Police Department
Rick Gregory, Chief Administrative Officer/Acting Public Safety Director — New Castle County (DE)
Clark Kimerer, Assistant Chief of Police — Seattle (WA) Police Department
Anne Kirkpatrick, Chief of Police — Spokane (WA) Police Department
Jim Pugel, Assistant Chief of Police — Seattle (WA) Police Department
John Romero, Chief of Police — Lawrence (MA) Police Department
Lisa Womack, Former Chief of Police Elgin (IL) Police Department
Here’s the full announcement. Southwest Precinct Captain Joe Kessler is among those on the search committee; video of its meetings, including the most recent one last Wednesday, are archived here.
If you scroll almost all the way down to the bottom of this update just published at SPD Blotter, you’ll see where the rubber meets the road – and the ticket meets the mailbox – for West Seattle drivers: Seattle Police are deploying their “photo speed van” on 35th SW, and while it’s a “warning period” right now, starting next month, you’ll get tickets WITHOUT warning. The speed van’s already been used in a pilot project in local school zones – here’s our story from October 2008, when it was shown off outside Gatewood Elementary(photo above is from that event).
(L-R, Jason McKissack, Lt. Ron Smith, Capt. Joe Kessler, Dep. Chief Nick Metz, Asst. Chief Mike Sanford) By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Twenty-two months after we all first learned of the attack on Southwest Precinct Officer Jason McKissack – the attack that cost him his career but spurred passage of a new state law – his long road to recovery paused for celebration: More than 70 people, mostly former Seattle Police Department colleagues, crowded into the precinct community room for a retirement party tonight.
Before and after SPD leaders including precinct commander Captain Joe Kessler, Deputy Chief Nick Metz and Assistant Chief Mike Sanford took to the podium, law enforcers in and out of uniform mingled, applauded, and honored McKissack’s achievements.
Those achievements included fighting for the passage of legislation that was described as his legacy – the legislation we went to Olympia twice this year to cover, then to Lakewood to watch the governor sign: HB 1679 will make sure no catastrophically injured public-safety worker ever faces what he faced, the potential loss of medical benefits.
The tributes, his words, and the retirement gifts he received tonight are part of the story ahead, along with a look back:
(L-R, Lt. Norm James, WSCPC president Dot Beard, secretary Betty Wiberg, VP Richard Miller)
There was so (relatively) little crime to talk about at tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, it didn’t even last an hour. In his meeting-opening update, Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Norm James began, “Everything’s been reasonably quiet.” And he said that is particularly good news for one neighborhood, Highland Park, where burglaries have “dropped off the charts” – recent arrests seem to have ended the latest series (described in this April 1st report). More of his toplines on current West Seattle crime trends, plus a surprise presentation at the meeting, and more, ahead:Read More
Two 
and that could mean the job will be cut. Benjamin Kinlow is 
The mayor is making the announcement now (live at 
If you scroll almost all the way down to 
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