SPD emphasis patrols to continue through June

Meghan Walker Ballard

The emphasis patrols that Seattle Police started in early May will continue through June, with additional emphasis to begin at Golden Gardens for the summer months.

The emphasis patrols were spanned out over seven neighborhoods — Ballard; downtown, near the Third Avenue corridor around Pike and Pine; SoDo; South Park; Georgetown; Pioneer Square; and Fremont.

The summer police patrols at Golden Gardens is now a yearly occurrence — police will also step up their presence at Alki and Capitol Hill for the summer months.

SPD reports that during the first three weeks of the increased neighborhood patrols, initial data showed a decrease in calls for services while proactive community policing increased substantially.

“We will continue to address criminal behavior in these target neighborhoods and monitor needs in other areas. Regular operations and criminal investigations will continue throughout the city,” Chief of Police Carmen Best said during a walk-through of Capitol Hill yesterday. “We hope that added police resources, partnered with enhanced services from other City departments, will make a positive impact for our businesses and residents.”

In addition to the patrols, over the past month, several City departments — including SPD, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, SDOT, Department of Neighborhoods, the Department of Parks & Recreation, the Office of Economic Development, and the Human Services Department — have formed multi-disciplinary teams that have been working with each neighborhood to identify and address maintenance needs. Specifically, tree and landscape maintenance on City-owned properties; replacing streetlights; removing graffiti; improving sign and pavement markings; and removing debris from illegal dumping.


23 thoughts to “SPD emphasis patrols to continue through June”

  1. wow all the way through June? what a gift from the city…(eyeroll)

    why not just always “emphasize” enforcing the law without giving yourself a pat on the back about it?

    1. Exactly. Just enforce existing laws already on the books. Fairly simple stuff. Yet the prosecutors are the problem here. Too many breaks and 3rd chances. Too many pacifists. Remember, Durkan says “Seattle is a tough place to live”. Yeah, thanks for that nugget.

      1. Ah you “tough on crime” types are always good for a laugh or two. Your “tough on crime” arguments fall apart pretty quick when asked how to handle throwing everyone in prison when:

        (1) the US prison system is basically a recidivism factory,
        (2) it costs $50,000+ per year to jail someone,
        (3) prisons are overcapacity,
        (4) the cost of a new prison can be upwards of $100 million.

        The problem is not “pacifists” and “prosecutors”. It’s our current ineffective justice and prison system that is kept in place by you “tough on crime” types. The for-profit prison corporations has profited nicely with taxpayer money thanks to you though!

        1. What’s the going rate spent on each homeless person (many of whom have criminal records) per year? Aren’t the figures tossed around something like 100K? You’re inadvertently making a valid argument for locking them up for long periods of time (and admittedly, some of them probably should be locked up.)
          So, 50K jail vs 100K homeless services…wouldn’t that save the taxpayers some money?

          1. Combined King County spending for homeless support was $192 million in 2017. Number of homeless in King County in 2017 was around 12,000.

            192,000,000/12,000 = $16,000

            Not sure where you get $100,000, that would mean we’re spending $1.2 billion/year on homeless support in King County, which is an order of magnitude above the actual amount.

            I recall something in the area of $400 million/year or something like $30-35,000 per homeless person to “solve” the crisis in King County, assuming the number of homeless doesn’t increase. That’s double what we currently spend, but a far cry from $50,000 to imprison the homeless or your made up $100,000.

            Why is it that the anti-homeless crowd feel the need to blatantly lie? All it does is detract from the actual costs and solutions to solve the crisis.

          2. Why do those who complain the most about seeing the homeless and theft increase their whining upon hearing there are extra police on the beat?

          3. Sorry ‘truth’ I didn’t blatantly ‘lie’. I said “aren’t the figures tossed around something like…”. I didn’t say MY figures. I didn’t say QUOTE ME in stone. But clearly, you need to make your point (which, I don’t see links provided for YOUR figures there either) by calling others liars, so you know what? Eat it.

          4. So in an attempt to justify locking up the homeless, you throw out some sensationalist number that you’ve neither heard first hand nor verified?

            Throwing out “facts” you haven’t even given 5 seconds to verify is just as bad as blatantly lying…if not worse. So yeah…

          5. And where are your ‘facts’ did you provide a link to them? No? …so yeah…but, you know, you do you booboo. But keep fighting that woke, so SJW fight! Truth…LOL.

          6. Ah yes, the death throes of your typical “Safe” Seattle commenter! When backed into a corner, they revert to bad punctuation, intelligible babbling and calling everyone SJWs that doesn’t agree with them!

            My facts were based on widely covered stories by local and national news outlets across the political spectrum. They are also easily searchable:

            “king county homeless spending per year” = $192,000,000
            “king county number of homeless” = 12,000
            “cost to solve homelessness in king county” = $400,000,000

            Your “fact” does not turn up with any search attempt or on any news site. So I’ll sit here and wait for you to tell the source of your sensationalist number, or where it’s “tossed around”.

            Narrator: Truth did not in fact sit there and wait, knowing that Ballard By Boat was just another sensationalist troll and unlikely to be able to provide a source.

          7. You’re right, Truth! Everything Seattle has done about the homeless crime problem has been a stunning success. Seattle has a nationwide reputation as being a well run, clean, affordable city run by ethical, competent leadership!

            You win!

          8. Seattle has a nationwide reputation as being a well run, clean, affordable city run by ethical, competent leadership!

            Well, it’s one of the fastest growing cities and most desirable places to live according to many sources, so I would concur with your opinion!

            You win!

            Aww shucks!

        1. Silly Freja inadvertently shows everyone why Durkan is an elitist serving areas not affected by the junkie hobos the progressives claim to love. Like O’Brien and the rest of the Libtard Heroes, they live in gated or exclusive enclaves far away from the junkies and the naive, tatted blue haired proles who vote them in office. They also have personal security, unlike the rest of us savages who are shamed for owning firearms.

  6. I’m really appreciating the increased police presence. I think it does make a difference. From my perspective it in more in line with a “normal” city (I’m from an east coast city which has none of the problems of Seattle).

    1. The cops in most normal cities don’t make popularizing gay sex a priority over actual law enforcement. Identity sexual politics is a very narrow issue and any attention given to it detracts from the mission of law enforcement.

  7. Ah good. More woke cops who can’t/won’t arrest, and if they do, the perps will be back terrorizing the neighborhoods in a couple days.

  8. Whelp. the mayor finally got around to admitting that crime is up, while also claiming it is down.

    I believe this is called a “nonbinary” statement.

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