North Precinct Advisory Council

The speaker for this month’s NPAC meeting wasn’t able to attend, so we had more time to talk about common issues in the north end.  Here are some crime trends we learned, along with tips for preventing crime:

• There have been some dumpster fires in the north end recently. If you see suspicious activity around dumpsters, get a good description  and call 911 right away.
• There’s been a bit of an increase in burglaries at night while people are in their homes. Commonly taken goods are electronics and keys – the keys are sometimes used to steal a car. Interestingly, most of these burglaries did not involve forced entry, so entry was probably through unlocked doors.  Please remember to lock your doors!  Don’t leave house keys hidden under mats or plant pots because thieves know to look there.  Though by law homeowners have the right to defend themselves from home intruders with reasonable force if they fear for their lives, the safest thing to do is escape from the home and call the police. And remember that burglars can file civil suits against homeowners who injure them during a burglary.
• 2009 crime statistics are now available at http://www.seattle.gov/police/crime/
• Obama stimulus money allowed Seattle to have two proseutors dedicated to gangs. Gangs continue to move into Seattle, often with quite young members, like 15-19 years old.  The gang emphasis has been successful, but that funding ends in July.  If you want to encourage continued gang focus, write the King County Executive Dow Constantine and the City Councilmembers, especially Tim Burgess, asking for continued funding of the gang initiative in the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
• Due to budget constraints, we no longer have a detective dedicated to grafitti.  When we did, cases reported to the Prosecutor’s Office were reduced by half.  Without the detective, grafitti is no longer a priority.  But the city is getting better at cleaning grafitti.
• There have been some cases in the north end of suspicious solicitors.  There are very few organizations that have the proper permits to go door-to-door.  Most of the permits solicitors show are fake.  If you don’t want solicitors, put up a ‘No soliciting’ sign.  If a solicitor ignores it, they are trespassing and you may call the police.