Burglary Trends: Thoughts?

[Tom]

I just spoke with a neighbor a little bit ago who had his house broken into last week. Right or wrong, I’ve gotten the impression that there has been a general rise in the number of burglaries in the West Seattle area over the past month, which is depressing to see. Obviously, no one wants to have this happen to them and no one wants to see it happening to their neighbors.

I’d be interested in hearing a discussion about ideas for the community to work together to be more vigilant and help reduce the number of break-ins. There has to be something to be gained from the fact that the number of folks interested in preventing these crimes far exceeds the number of people committing these crimes.

At a minimum, it might be nice to see a better crime watch page developed on this site, or perhaps a seperate West Seattle crime watch website that not only focuses on reporting, but provides resources for area residends (such as tips on securing your home, car, etc). There’s a lot of information out there that would be great to pull together in one central location.

Beyond that, there must be something else we can do as a community on top of forming our neighbhorhood block watches. I talked recently with another block captain about creating a communication network among block captains in West Seattle to help eachother work together rather than just have dozens upon dozens of separate, smaller block watches.

Any other thoughts?

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[JanS]

great idea, forming a network with other block watch groups. Communication is a good thing.

I recently thought about this “trend”…and I wondered…is there really a trend? or are we just hearing about them more? Discuss?

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[Lindsey]

I wonder the same thing, JanS. Certainly more information is never a bad thing in this situation. Everyone could use some reminders on how to prevent these crimes, but let’s not assume there has been a jump in the number of burglaries without the facts. I’m sure our intrepid local reporters could tell us when this information is typically released.

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[transplantella]

Residential burglaries here are terrible.

I moved to west Seattle from a city overseas with a population of about 12 million and never saw so much property crime.

I’m just glad that I live in a secure building off the ground.

I would never rent a house on the ground here.

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[WSB]

Tom – what are you not getting here that you are looking for? I ask sincerely, because I can tell you whether what you are looking for is available. And if there’s something you’re looking for that IS available, we can do our damnedest to try to provide it.

The central thing we do is share the reports that come in from those who provide them. Police reports are NOT publicly available online – aside from the select few incidents citywide written up daily on SPDBlotter (and those are not police reports per se, they are blog-style entries written by the SPD Media Unit). Processing the actual police reports requires manual downloading from discs that are delivered to the local precinct with PDFs from the entire city, several days’ lag.

That’s why we have cultivated the concept of “send us your crime reports too” – because they can be shared in a more timely manner than they can be procured from the police department, at this point. There are some block watches around West Seattle that share reports amongst themselves, but the one thing they don’t have that this site has is a mass “audience” (hate that word but nothing else is coming to mind), 25,000 homes/businesses checking in here at least once a week, so that if somebody in Seaview shares word they were broken into, folks in Arbor Heights will hear about it too. This site has lots of room for improvement but the value of a place where thousands gather cannot be underestimated, in terms of information-sharing, so if anyone has ideas on how to make things better here and better yet, the ability to execute those ideas, we would be more than thrilled to hear from you. We plow a sizable portion of our monthly revenue back into resources to make the content here better – freelance reporting, photography, technical help – but as the saying goes, ‘we don’t have all the ideas’ – if you do, love to hear ’em, maybe somehow we can find ways to make it happen.

Regarding a network of block watches, many have yearned for that kind of communication, but there’s one big challenge: The police department will not share that information with anyone. About all you can do is put out a call someplace a fair amount of people will see it (hi!) and hope that the word gets around, if you really want to try to coordinate something like that. They are very guarded about putting out any kind of mass information – when it’s National Night Out time in August, we can’t even get a list of all the “Night Out” parties around West Seattle, we have to put out a public call for “tell us if you’re having one.” Of course I don’t believe in taking “no” for an answer so I invite you to initiate the inquiry and escalate it as far as you can; maybe somehow the status quo can be broken through.

But what I recommend more than anything, is what I evangelize OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER again: There is a West Seattle Crime Prevention Council. It is a monthly meeting attended by the #2 cop in the precinct and the entire Community Police Team, and usually the deputy city attorney who handles cases in this area. These guys/gals are there to hear your concerns and to answer questions. It is an INCREDIBLE opportunity. Plus, some of those positions are in flux right now and the folks taking them over – who have been with the precinct for years, just not in these roles – are sincerely interested in figuring out how to serve you.

But we bang the drum for the meetings, and then the same old 20 people (GOD BLESS ‘EM) show up, maybe with a couple new faces. Third Tuesday, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct. I cannot stress strongly enough how much that would serve as a first step. If you are in southern West Seattle, go to the South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting on the fourth Thursday, 6 pm, DSHS office on 15th SW. If people are REALLY concerned about crime, those meeting rooms should be jammed to the seams each month. Comments and discussions here are read by SPD and city leaders but that’s nowhere near as effective as showing up IN PERSON to speak your mind.

One more note. Regarding resources – they’re at the bottom of the Crime Watch page. Burglary prevention, mail theft prevention, car prowl prevention, linking to what’s on SPD’s site. When appropriate, we also include those links in stories.

And if you want to check actual crime rates, SPD does put a lot of info on its website. Go to this page:

http://seattle.gov/police/Crime/2009_PrecinctCrime.htm

Choose the November stats, PDF, “precinct data by beat.” You will see that for example, the entire SW Precinct (which includes West Seattle and South Park) had 72 burglaries for all of November, the most recent month for which stats have been compiled. So an average of a little over two a day.

There is also a neighborhood-level tool to check crime trends, although to be honest, I have not had much luck playing around with this – maybe you will.

http://web1.seattle.gov/mnm/?tabId=3

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[Tom]

JanS, Lindsey, you raise good points. Regardless, one of two things is happening: either there is a general increase or this stuff is happening more that a lot of people realize. Either which way, it is disturbing. There have been a seemingly unusual number of break-ins in our few blocks over the past week or two, which makes it seem more important to us right now, even if there has not been a general rise. Any which way, more communication and information can only help.

WSB, I certainly have no appreciation for the Blog’s efforts to tackle this issue. I’m a big fan of the Blog and agree with your points about its value and such. The information you provided was great.

My initial reaction is that perhaps the crime watch page layout could be improved. The list-style layout makes it a little more difficult for readers to find what they need (although it is fine for just listing crime reports). I noticed the list of entries about reports, scrolled down and just assumed the entries made up the rest of that page. I probably would have never gotten to the bottom of the page to discover those resources. Moving them to the top might make more sense.

Also, maybe having a table/box over to one of the sides with updates about the meetings you mentioned, which are great to hear about…I did not know about them.

Another thought is to see if the SW Precinct Block Watch Coordinator might be interested in posting a couple paragraphs once or twice a month (sort of a mini-column) addressing west seattle crime issues, providing tips, etc. I know that I got a lot of great information from our block watch meeting…even if he just did a monthly question and answer, that would be great.

Finally, I’d be interested in exploring ways to create a network among block watch captains. I hear what you’re saying and am not sure how we tackle this, but perhaps there is a way the Blog can serve as a center for that network.

Again, these are just my humble recommendations. I’m not sure what you’ve tried in the past and I realize I’m probably overestimating the ease with which this can be done.

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[inactive]

Hey Tom & Neighbors –

As TR pointed out, there are others out here (I happen to be in Highland Park) who have pitched the idea of 1) a Blockwatch Captains network via a concurrent active affiliation with neighborhood associations and 2) revitalization/expansion of the long dormant WS BW program to the members of the Crime Prevention Council, with city Blockwatch guru Benjamin in attendance.   TR has summarized the challenges and obstacles from SPD’s POV very well and describes the need for new energy in the Crime Council very diplomatically.  There is tremendous potential for that group to be far more dynamic, creative and effective in fulfilling a gap in citizen engagement.   

What I concluded was that IF such a network were going to happen, it MIGHT happen under the following scenarios, with a MAJOR organizational effort starting WITHIN each neighborhood area defined by associations and councils.  Each council, once committed to the value of expanding BW within its boundaries, might have a”BW revitalization coordinator” overseeing and procuring volunteers and ultimately more BW participants and captains; to conduct a BW Census, if you will.  

  It would require lots of time and basic footwork to get out and find the folks out there in WS who WANT to be in such a group.  Folks who do not object to having some basic info name, address, email, phone? on a database to coordinate and promote and NETWORK and educate the ‘hood, block by block, on what is happenning.  I think it needs to be done on foot, as well as digitally.

I wasn’t totally shot down at the WSCPC when I tried to see if this would fly. I will say that Benjamin and the Crime Prevention Council DID respond productively to my shaking their cage a bit (and I say God bless ’em, too).  Benjamin committed to hand-delivering BW promotional material to immediate neighbors when a crime (burglaries, in particular, as I recall) had occured in the area.  I thank him for making that effort and assuming he is still doing that.  But, he is only one man trying to fill a HUGE gap.

I am not enough of a Pollyanna to think pursuing the revitalization of active West Seattle participation in BWs will stop all crime, but I think it is probably productive for a multitude of reasons beyond crime prevention and  the time to have this discussion is looooong overdue, from where I sit.  WSB has a pivotal role, in our awesome communities, but we cannot expect our beloved Blog or SPD to do EVERYthing for us.

Ok.  Getting down from my soapbox.  Thanks for reading all of that neighbs.

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[homedk]

As a Blockwatch captain, I like the idea of having an online network of other block captains & I’d be glad to be part of it. I already have a small scale network with several block captains for our neighboring blocks & it works pretty well.

To be clear, I would want any network of block captains to be additional to, not instead of, the Crime Watch page. I would envision a network more as a resource where block captains could discuss tactics, trends, or specific issues & get the word out quickly about incidents…but I wouldn’t want to lose the broad visibility to the incidents that we currently have with WSB or the cumulative info about crime that allows people to get a sense of the scope of what’s going on here.

Westseattledood: I like the idea of the Blockwatch effort being revitalized, but am not in favor of doing it on foot. (I passionately hate all forms of door-to-door soliciting…) Would rather see this accomplished in other ways, such as events where people who are interested can attend; off the top of my head I’m thinking of events like Gathering of Neighbors or Sustainable WS.

With regard to making individual Blockwatch efforts successful, my opinion is that it really helps to have a neighborhood where people have gotten to know each other & some trust has been established. Our Blockwatch effort is more than 5 years old & predates when I moved to the neighborhood. It took awhile for some people in the neighborhood to feel comfortable being on the Blockwatch map or providing their contact info; we forged ahead with those who did want to participate & over time others have wanted to be included. I think it helps that most people in our neighborhood have welcomed new neighbors to our area & haven’t behaved in a judgmental fashion.

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[JoB]

i would love to see a map similar to the one produced during the storm last year with WSB reader reported burglaries on it… with the ability to link to the report when you moved your cursor over the image…

i don’t want much.. do i?

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[inactive]

I am going to open a new thread with a more specific title for comments regarding a BW revitalization effort and BW Captains Network, etc. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and ideas thus far expressed, but I want to daylight the topic a bit more. The new thread will be: Growing WS Block Watch & Captains’ Network. I hope this very worthy and timely conversation will continue….

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[ws4ever]

A neighbor informed me she didn’t think we needed a blockwatch because we were in “such a good neighborhood” but she would take over the duties from me. She didn’t inform neighbors of reported incidents but double-parked vehicles in her own driveway so her own home wouldn’t be targeted. Sad but true!!

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[Author]

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