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January 11, 2015 at 9:27 pm #816498
mark47nParticipantTo be brief, my wife’s ex husband came over for a meeting the other day. Things starting sliding sideways, he was asked to leave and refused. I told him that that if he didn’t leave I would be forced to call the police, he sat down on the floor. I called the police.
It took the police 30 minutes to arrive. Admittedly, no one was in any danger, and that was communicated to the police in the initial phone call. 30 minutes. I’ve lived in several other cities and I’ve never seen the police response so slow. This is a major metropolitan area and I live only a few miles from the police station (a few blocks from the Alaska Jct). 30 minutes? Perhaps my expectations are a bit high, but I’d expect a resonse to be a bit faster than that.
January 11, 2015 at 9:55 pm #820775
JanSParticipantI’m sure that if he had been doing more than just sitting on the floor (how mature is that?), they would have been there quicker. It also depends on what other calls they have at the time.
January 12, 2015 at 6:14 pm #820776
JTBParticipantSeems reasonable to me given what was communicated—a domestic dispute with no indication of physical danger or threat.
Probably a good idea to have any subsequent meetings in public places precisely because you never know how far “sideways” can go.
January 12, 2015 at 6:16 pm #820777
JoBParticipantmeeting with the ex in a public space is generally a good idea.
January 12, 2015 at 6:42 pm #820778
mark47nParticipantSo, if someone was in your home, uninvited, refused to leave, and was nonviolent, you would be ok with them remaining for an indefinite time until the police came? How about an hour?
So rely on the police to come, allow trespassers to occupy my property as long as that can take, and rely on the state to protect me. I’m sort of surprised. My first reaction is to remove him myself, but I don’t believe that the laws here would allow that, I’d find myself arrested. Shall we extend that indefinite waiting period and indifference to other crimes? Auto theft, car prowls, destruction of private property? Oh, wait, those crimes are already not being addressed by the police and if they accidentally catch someone then they are processed and released.
When I’ve lived in other metropolitan areas a DD call, especially one involving an ex, merited quick response, usually within 10 minutes and it didn’t require violence at the time of the call. The 911 operator did invite me to call back if things changed, but by then it’s too late isn’t it?
But here in Seattle, “no harm, no foul” is the name of the game. Passive aggression, and blaming the victim (you should have these meeting elsewhere, no one mentioned that he was in the wrong). Seattle can suck it.
January 12, 2015 at 6:57 pm #820779
wakefloodParticipantI can see 20 mins or so, given that ANY domestic situation can turn on a dime. What might a higher priority be? Burglary in process? Sure. Gun violence? Yup. Not much else in my mind is more volatile than a domestic disturbance.
I feel you, mark47. Maybe the police are encouraging everyone to diffuse things like this with a weapon. Cuz, you know, nothing says deescalation of tense domestic issues than someone brandishing a gun.
January 12, 2015 at 6:59 pm #820780
JanSParticipanthe was in the wrong..but maybe you could calm down and take a little advice, too…from, just maybe, someone who has been there, done that. I’m sorry that they didn’t get to you in a more timely fashion. A question, though. When they did get there, was he willing to leave? Put up an argument? Arrested?. I still can’t get over the “he sat down on the floor”…how old is this guy, and do we rename him “Opie”? Childish behavior on his part.How do you take someone like that seriously?
January 12, 2015 at 8:07 pm #820781
JTBParticipantmark47n, Your initial commented said he came over for a meeting. I understand that to mean he was invited but at some point you decided to change his status to uninvited. Fine, but it’s an important distinction. If you felt endangered, you should have communicated that on your call to the police. Otherwise, I suspect you’re directing your anger over being caught up in an uncomfortable situation of your own doing at the police. I know, that’s an armchair notion of projection. Perhaps I’m wrong. But I do think we should reserve complaints about the police to more substantive matters.
January 12, 2015 at 8:41 pm #820782
mark47nParticipantSo, what’s your point about the invitation? Does an invitation end my right to eject him? My point is that I’m not permitted, by my understanding, to physically eject someone from my domicile without there being a explicit threat, under King County law. while I may be mistaken, that’s what I’m given to understand. So, I require the police to accomplish this task, when they get to it. What if the situation changed? I call 911, but it’s not to late, the violence has occurred. From my talks with police officers that I’ve known in the past DD’s are some of the more volatile calls that they handle but they were comfortable just leaving a situation in play for 30 minutes. Yes, nothing happened, but that had nothing to do with the police. But they operated on the situation that the situatin was static when it could’ve gone either way. So you’ll have to excuse me while I reserve the right to complain about the police as I see fit.
More substantive matters? Ok, how about when they didn’t bother investigating a vehicular assault on my wife? Granted, she wasn’t bleeding and suffered no real injuries. However, it was a teenager she was dressing down for speeding down our street and willful. That didn’t merit investigation. How about the numerous times her car was broken into? I could go on, but why bother? The list of things the SPD isn’t intersted in is long and well documented.
For the record, Wake, I didn’t mention anything about a gun.
January 12, 2015 at 9:40 pm #820783
LindseyParticipantMark, I feel your pain. Once, when I was a VERY new mother I thought I heard gunshots outside my house. I called them in as such, to 911, and it was never followed up on.
The next morning we found fireworks right outside our fence. So it wasn’t gunshots. But I have not felt confident about my neighborhood ever since.
Your anger is justified. Domestic disturbance calls can get violent very quickly. I’d be disappointed with that response time as well.
January 12, 2015 at 9:50 pm #820784
kgdlgParticipant30 minutes seems really reasonable to me. In fact, I am impressed it wasn’t longer. I don’t think that it is a matter of whether your situation was deemed “important enough” to the SPD. I think, sadly, it is more a reflection of its importance *relative* to everything else that was happening in the City or SW Precinct at the time. Given the reality of where we live, just thinking off the top of my head for recently reported stories, that could be a stabbing, a suicide with a firearm, a dead body floating off shore, a myriad of burglaries, an auto accident (where someone was hurt), etc. etc. All of these things, because they involve bodily harm and/or a felony property crime, rank higher than your emergency. It is just the sad reality of living in a big(ger) city these days. You are totally allowed to be pissed about it. Next time, if you are really worried it is going to go sideways, I would communicate this to the police – that you feel bodily harm might ensue – and then I bet they would come quicker. Basically, if you call and tell them “no one was in any danger” so many other things will be ranked ahead of you.
I would be curious to hear from any public safety experts whether 30 minutes is a decent response time for a non-violent offense like trespassing (what was communicated to them when you called).
January 13, 2015 at 12:08 am #820785
wakefloodParticipantmark, for the record, I wasn’t trying to imply you HAD mentioned a gun. :-)
It was a poor attempt at insinuating that since many police unions now support both non-background checked private gun ownership and “stand your ground laws” at rates that boggle the mind, I’m assuming they want the general populace to act in their stead whenever possible?
There, hopefully my snark is now quite obvious.
January 13, 2015 at 3:32 am #820786
JoBParticipantmark47n
we have two choices as a society
we can pay to have a more than adequate police presence..
in which case expecting an officer to respond pretty much immediately is a valid expectation
or we can pay for less and they will prioritize our calls.
we chose option 2
sorry that’s not working out for you
January 13, 2015 at 4:08 am #820787
mom2boysParticipantNot surprised. Now evicted neighbor was elderly lady with verbally/ physically abusive daughter. Several APS reports. Called police numerous times when I could hear screaming and hitting.30 to 45 min response time. Police would pull up. Daughter would turn out lights and not answer door, police would leave.
January 13, 2015 at 1:18 pm #820788
sacatoshParticipantMark, I’m sorry this happened. I agree that 30 min for a domestic issue, ESPECIALLY an ex refusing to leave, is too long. Refusal to leave is generally an indicator of potential escalation. I hope there isn’t a next time, but if there is, you may want to let them know that you are not certain everyone is going to remain safe without escalating unless you have some help. From what I read above in your clarification, that’s a true statement. Domestic situations are indeed volatile and can change on a dime. I’d be hoping for a faster response time on that as well, or at minimum a “hey we have an armed burglary in progress so it may be a half hour. Are you going to be ok that long?” Transparency helps a lot – knowing what to expect around timing makes all the difference.
We had a burglary once in 17* weather. We didn’t know whether the burglars were still inside and our apartment had been absolutely, completely, violently ransacked – furniture destroyed, bookshelves torn off walls and stomped apart, generally very very violent. We were told by dispatch NOT to go inside. We stood outside in 17* for three hours before it got dark, at which point we gave up and went in, figuring we were on our own. When the officers arrived, they were horrified at the level of destruction, and indicated that dispatch had relayed it as a simple burglary, no mention of the extent of violence or possibility of a hate crime (which it did turn out to be.)
My point is that sometimes it’s a failure by dispatch to convey the level of threat. It’s worth calling a second time if needed, to talk to a different dispatcher and let them know whether you are afraid for your safety. If so, it should be a faster response. If you truly feel safe (but understandably angry!) then yes it unfortunately comes after the more immediate threats to public safety.
Again, I’m very sympathetic, and your feelings are valid and justified. I’m sorry you had to go through that.
January 13, 2015 at 2:58 pm #820789
JoBParticipanti really hate to be the neighborhood curmudgeon here.. but did no-one get the memo when our local police station stopped being a place where the community could drop in to talk to their local police?
you have to make an appointment now..and they discourage those.
want to file a theft report? there’s an online app for that.. and in return you will get a number and a copy of the report that you can dutifully submit to your insurance company.
we get what we pay for… and we aren’t willing to pay for the kind of community policing that places an officer in your home within minutes of making what is prioritized as a nuisance call.
if you want better you have to be willing to pay more for public services.
it really is that simple :(
January 13, 2015 at 5:00 pm #820790
dmkParticipantFWIW 30 minutes seems too long to me too. Glad it worked out ok.
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