By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Crime updates and parking enforcement were the primary topics at last night’s Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Council meeting, facilitated in person and online by chair Melody Sarkies and the precinct’s Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Danner.

(WSB photo, 15th SW homicide scene, Monday)

POLICE UPDATE: Lt. Dorothy Kim, the precinct’s second-in-command, offered the same overview we’ve heard at other recent community meetings – most categories of crime are down, except for auto theft, which remains way up. One other category that’s up, homicides – West Seattle has had four unsolved shooting deaths in the past six months. Lt. Kim said she had checked with homicide detectives about the most recent two. In the case of 20-year-old Ka’Don Brown, found dead a month ago on the Chief Sealth International High School campus, investigators are “waiting on search warrants” and also still hoping to hear from people with tips, information, or security video that might help (206-233-5000 is the tipline).

In this week’s shooting death of 41-year-old Chad Anderson, found dead on 15th SW between Barton and Cambridge, Lt. Kim said the murder was “probably associated with a house we’ve had issues with in the past,” though she didn’t know whether that house was near where the victim was found (there was some question that morning about whether the shooting had happened there or elsewhere).

There also was a question about the unauthorized encampment at Myers/Olson. No new information since the meeting we covered at Arrowhead Gardens on Monday, just a reiteration that “working with (multiple jurisdictions’ bureaucracies) is slow.”

PARKING ENFORCEMENT: Clayton Harrington, who’s been with city for barely a month, is Parking Enforcement Manager. RV remediation “is a big issue for us,” They have rules and laws to follow. Also there was SDOT’s engineering and design manager Matt Beaulieu – “we’re doubling down on Vision Zero” to improve safety. He said various strategies are being emphasized – “no turn on red” is a big one, Home Zones, trying to focus on where the majority of our collisions occur. Safety work is not its own silo, Beaulieu said. What are you going to do to solve the safety problem? asked Sarkies. “If it was easy, we would have already done it,” Beaulieu acknowledged.

Fauntleroy residents were there to ask about concerns regarding the Residential Parking Zone going to “virtual permits,” no more tags hanging in cars, so no simple way to know if someone’s in violation, and they don’t want to call a police officer to come scan a car to see if they’re permitted or not. Over time, people from Vashon and Kitsap may go back to parking on the streets overnight, if they find it’s not being enforced. Another Fauntleroy resident said houses were long unmarketable in that area because the streets were overparked. The RPZ solved that, but now, “It’s being violated every day,” he said.

Another attendee brought up the RV-parking situation and wondered what PEOs can really do. Harrington said he was at the meeting to hear about challenges and concerns like that. Harrington said he couldn’t commit to bringing on personnel in the middle of the night to check for RPZ offenders, though. “Right now we barely have resources to deal with the stuff we need to deal with in the middle of the day.”

And there’s an important point, said Lt. Kim – SPD doesn’t have the technical capability to read whether plates are signed up with the RPZ system; their plate numbers can detect if a car is stolen or not, and that’s it. Harrington said he wasn’t previously familiar with that issue so he doesn’t know yet what’s being done about it. It could run afoul of the city’s surveillance policies – as city attorney liaison Joe Everett noted, another review process might be needed to expand the readers to check something else, such as whether a vehicle is permitted to park in a certain zone. This might require City Council changing the laws. Lt. Kim suggested one problem regarding junk RVs might be that Lincoln Towing‘s yard is out of room to store more.

Next question again from Fauntleroy – the plan for getting speed bumps seems to have changed, with residents having to pay part of the cost, she said. And, she said, SDOT told her the process of getting a speed bump could take four years. “It seemed like a lost cause,” she said. She said another block had paid to get an unauthorized speed bump installed at their own cost and maybe her block would just do the same, “since SDOT never came and took it out.” Beaulieu said that the formerly well-supported Neighborhood Traffic Control Program went away around pandemic time and was largely replaced by the Home Zone program that installed many dozens of traffic control bumps and other things while the West Seattle Bridge was closed. What they’re asking people to do now is to go through Neighborhood Matching Fund – and that’s where the neighborhood covering part of the cost comes in. “We recognize that’s not an ideal process,” Beaulieu acknowledged. But right now “that’s the best tool we have.” The attendee said, “But the more the city puts speed humps on arterials, the more people gravitate toward residential streets.” She mentioned rogue traffic-calming attempts like putting garbage cans in the street to try to slow people down.

An online attendee asked about no-parking signs that have been discussed for Harbor Avenue – “no parking 11 pm to 5 am,” for example, even if it’s not regularly enforced. The Harbor Avenue rep at the in-person session said there are also proposals out to change zoning so that RV parking wouldn’t be legally allowable on the water side of the street. He said that all the residents’ proposals have been turned over to the mayor’s office.

NIGHT OUT: Registration opened this week. Danner said the registration process is a bit different this year – you can opt into a “public-facing map” of street parties if you want to. SPD will also proactively send out important info to registrants, such as how to properly close their street, how to tell whether their street is an arterial, etc. Night Out is Tuesday, August 1st, this year.

NEXT MEETING: Tentatively set for Thursday, June 8, 6 pm, with Jim Fuda of CrimeStoppers as a spotlight guest.

That memorial for 20-year-old murder victim Ka’Don Brown is set up near the spot where he was found dead of gunshot wounds last Saturday morning in the southwest corner of the Chief Sealth International High School campus. Toward the start of the Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Council meeting this past Thursday night, the precinct’s Operations Lt. Dorothy Kim said she had no update yet from homicide detectives on how the investigation into West Seattle’s first murder of the year was going. She did have some stats: Confirmed gunfire incidents in the precinct area (West Seattle/South Park) are down from this time last year – 23 so far in 2023, including this murder, and two injuries. By this time last year, she said, there had been 30. Shots-fired incidents are also down citywide – 207 to date in 2022, 165 this year.

Other crime trends: Major categories are down except for auto thefts, which Lt. Kim noted is a “citywide problem,” in part because of the social-media-fueled Hyundai and Kia theft wave. Aside from some of those thefts, which are more of a joyride/dare situation, “most vehicles are stolen to commit another crime,” she explained. “Chop shops are not super-common here.)

Obviously the recently cleared encampment area near the 1st Avenue South Bridge is an exception to that, she acknowledged. She said that area is the subject of a directive for any attempt at re-occupying to be addressed/cleared quickly.

Also at the SWPCPC meeting, held both in person and online:

CRIME PREVENTION ADVICE: The precinct’s longtime crime-prevention coordinator Jennifer Danner offered some advice for the upcoming warm-weather months. Car prowls, for one, tend to increase, so don’t leave anything in your car, she urged: “Unfortunately our cars aren’t a safe place to store things any more” – even just a sweatshirt or grocery bag, as prowlers might think it’s covering/hiding something, and they’ll break in just to check. Summer is also prime time for “non-force” burglaries, she noted, so remember that leaving doors/windows open leaves you vulnerable.

She also mentioned upcoming precinct events, including the steering-wheel-lock giveaways for Hyundai and Kia owners (one was held Saturday, and another is coming up Thursday, 2-4 pm) and next Saturday’s Drug Take-Back Day (10 am-2 pm). “We take ALL medications, no questions asked – we don’t even look at it, you can just put it in the bag and walk away.”

Her final words: “Remember, we’re data-driven, and we want the stats to be accurate, so (if something happens), REPORT IT. If it’s happening now or just happened, 911 is the best route.

NEEDLE DISPOSAL: Michael Eggers from the Clean City Division of Seattle Public Utilities offered a primer on this city service. His division deals with illegal dumping, graffiti, and more, including “sharps.” If you find a needle/syringe on public property, report it via Find It Fix It, and it should get picked up within 24 hours. (Other debris could take up to a week.) Walking attendees through how the reporting system works, he recommended providing your email address if you’re interested in updates, though you can report completely anonymously, he said. The city also maintains 23 sharps-disposal boxes; the nly one in West Seattle is at the restroom building in Roxhill Park. Citywide, those boxes were used for disposal of 456,000 sharps last year, Eggers said. (Read more about the sharps-disposal program here.)

But since the city won’t pick up needles/syringes on private property, what should you do if you find one? He gave a quick demonstration – wear gloves, use a utensil (such as tongs) to pick up the item – keeping it as far from your body as possible – grab the syringe by the barrel (midsection), have a hard-plastic container ready to drop it in, pointed side down, and then afterward, use bleach to disinfect the utensil/tool you used.

COMMUNITY CONCERNS: One attendee wanted to know how to get advice on dealing with neighborhood concerns; Danner said she’s the person to contact and can for example set up a Block Watch meeting … Danner also offered to help with the RPZ enforcement concerns that Fauntleroy Community Association president Mike Dey brought, following up on the most-recent FCA board meeting – they’re concerned about the discontinuance of visible permit tags, and enforcement challenges without them. Lt. Kim noted that the new system that Parking Enforcement Officers are supposed to use differs from what police officers are equipped with. Danner offered to organize a multidepartmental meeting with SPD and SDOT to discuss the problem.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OFFICERS: Two CSOs were in attendance at the SWPCPC meeting. They’re not assigned to or from precincts, though – they are currently deployed from downtown.

NEXT MEETING: Watch for word of a May meeting.

Questions for local police? Bring them to the next Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Council meeting, now set for 6 pm Thursday, April 6th. Chair Melody Sarkies says that along with local police, two guests are scheduled: The precinct’s Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Danner will talk about home safety/security measures and “personal wellbeing”; Michael Eggers from the city’s Clean City Initiative will bring “information about safe techniques to collect needles found on private and public property and various collection-box locations.” You can attend in person at the precinct – 2300 SW Webster – or online (link to come – it’ll be in our calendar listing when available).