Come address the safety issues that matter most to you. Discuss crime & nuisance hotspots with neighbors and police officers working in your neighborhood.

Southwest Police Precinct
2300 SW Webster
Seattle, WA

Meeting is held from 7-8:30pm on the 3rd Tues of every month except for July, Aug, & Dec.







Wednesday, January 20, 2010

WSCPC MINUTES JANUARY 19, 2010

The meeting was opened by Dorothy Beard, President, who extended greetings and special welcome to the new people assigned to the SW Precinct. Each person introduced themselves.

Lt Steven Paulsen introduced his replacement, Lt Norman James. Lt James replaces Paulsen as Operations Officer. Officer James is a 41 year veteran of the SPD. Lt Paulsen has been reassigned to the West Precinct.

John McGoodman is replacing Beth Gappert, as the City Attorney's precinct liaison with the SW Precinct. He will be at the SW Precinct two days a week. He may also attend future WSCPC meetings.

Officer Jill Vanskike is a new member of the Community Police Team. She will work in the South Park Area. Officer Vanskike has been with SPD for 14 years.

Officer Davis of the SPD's Traffic Unit spoke to the subject of Red Light Cameras. He explained the procedure followed from the time a picture is taken until a ticket is issued. A complete review of every picture is done before a final decision is made as to issuing a ticket to red light violators. One thousand plus tickets have been issued from each of the two cameras in West Seattle (35th and Thistle and 35th and Avalon). Tickets should arrive in about of a week after you are caught on camera.

Officer Davis answered questions form the audience. A lively discussion about neighborhood problems with speeding in residential areas.

HOTSPOTS REPORT: Officer James, who has worked in this precinct before, presented stats re armed robberies, strong-arm robberies, etc. Aggravated assaults and disturbances on the streets were up in December. Lot more parties going on which leads to drinking and fighting.

The Alaska Junction is one of the current hot spots. Residential Burglaries were up in December. They apprehended three individuals who were responsible for ¼ of these crimes. Sharp-eyed residents were responsible for lots of arrests.

Non residential burglaries were up; thief of autos was up. High Point is a case in point due to the large number of cars parked on the streets. Car prowls were down.

One individual asked if finger prints from residential burglaries are compared. He felt that if the prints found at his home were the same as the ones found in a neighbor's home, then he would be able to identify the culprit. Lt. James said that all prints are entered in the data base even if they cannot be matched at that time. Eventually, they will match in another crime. Shoe prints and other trace evidence are also entered into the data base.

Murder is down in Seattle. Graffiti is down the last couple of weeks. One prolific person was arrested and is now at Western State Hospital. Some increase on 16th from Roxberry south. Lt. James indicated that there is more activity at 4 a.m. between gangs having a face off. We do have an ordinance that requires that graffiti is painted out within 24 hours.

Shelly made a complaint about a 911 operator. Several others also indicated less than good feelings about 911 operators. Larry asked about parking rules in regard to parking the wrong direction at the curb. He has received several tickets.

To determine if crimes are up or down, the statistics are compared month to month and year to year. Crime statistics are available on line, by census tract.


Lt Steve Paulsen thanked the group for the community support . This has really helped them survive a very difficult period when so many of the officers were killed. He also said that he is not sure what his new duties will be in the West Precinct.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS. Richard Miller presented the slate: Dorothy Beard, President; Richard Miller, Vice President; and Betty Wiberg, Secretary-Treasurer. This slate was elected by unanimous vote of the group.

Shane Marr, Shell Marr and Larry Ruda were elected to the Executive Board as members at large.

NEXT MEETING: February 16th, 2010.

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Betty Wiberg, Secretary