Neighborhood Viewpoint Project and Neighborhood Policing Plan

Unfortunately this month was one of the rare months where I didn’t go to the North Precinct Advisory Council meeting. But here are notes the secretary took:

Special Presentation Speaker: Mimi Walsh, Strategic Advisor, Policy and Planning, Seattle Police Dept. with Mary McGuire data and survey specialist.

The Neighborhood Viewpoint Project and Neighborhood Policing Plan are aimed at reducing fear of crime and developing proactive communities. Police officers are being scheduled to have time to interact with the communities and talk with the business and home owners to see what their concerns really are. If there is a fear of crime or an area conducive to crime, they want to know before the crime actually happens. Often modified behavior changes effects of neighborhoods.

There is a need to go beyond the crime statistics and talk with the neighbors to see what has happened and perhaps not reported or a similar crime happened some time ago and is now being repeated. They have surveyed several neighborhoods and are going over the statistics as well as the one-on-one interviews to form a clearer picture of each area. Attack the problems before they are critical. Many communities perceive a problem before the crime occurs.

In the over-all survey the North Precinct people are the stars. Two pilot programs: Licton Springs and Greenlake have been completed and other neighborhoods will follow. People in the North End are 16 year residents on average where other parts of Seattle they average 12 years. Crime importance varies between residents such as traffic, arson, robbery. Less than half of the crimes committed caused fearfulness. Primary information sources are neighbors or friends. New communication methods include blogs, twitter, Facebook and local newspapers, plus block watches.

Many think more police officers would improve the neighborhood, whereas others think it is just fine.

CPTED – Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design – is a concept where changes in lighting, traffic patterns, clearing of shrubbery and more open space have cut crimes. Fear of crime is different by age groups. Older people can perceive changes faster than younger groups. Old time residents “sentinels” and businesspeople have seen similar changes and can relate to possible crimes.

Overall…people appreciate the police officers and the way they do their job.