See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or tune into the CHS Scanner page.
- Consulate protest: Seattle Police says it was unable to respond Friday after security at the Capitol Hill-located Consulate of Mexico in Seattle called for assistance as protesters reportedly surrounded employees attempting to leave the Harvard Ave diplomatic facility. According to the SPD brief on the Friday incident, consulate security called for help around 4:15 PM saying 20-25 people were protesting outside the building. “Security staff said when they tried to evacuate the building consulate employees were surrounded and prevented from leaving,” the brief reads. SPD was not able to respond, according to the report, because there were “over 50 911 calls waiting and only a handful of patrol units available throughout the entire city” at the time of the incident. There was no information in the report about why the protest targeted the facility but there have been demonstrations around the world in solidarity with actions in Chiapas protesting Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. CHS reported here on the opening of the consulate in 2018.
.@jseattle just witnessed carjacking of a #Lyft driver at Pine & Broadway. Suspect cut through traffic, last seen going S on 12th. Car is a newer, grey Honda Civic. Pics of suspect through windshield. @SeattlePD pic.twitter.com/0RnBtXoxNQ
— Rob (@RobMunoz88) September 28, 2021
- Pike/Pine car theft: A former Seattle TV news reporter says he captured photographs of a Capitol Hill carjacking in progress Monday night. A Twitter update from Rob Munoz shows images of a grey Honda Civic near Union and 11th just minutes after SPD says a car matching that description was stolen after the driver left the vehicle unlocked with keys in it near 10th and Pike just before 6:30 PM. According to SPD radio updates, the suspect in the theft of the 2017 Civic should have been easy to identify in a colorful yellow, red, and orange sweatshirt he was wearing at the time of the ripoff. There were no reported injuries and no immediate arrests.
- Melrose pedestrian hit by driver: A person hit in the street just north of the Melrose/Olive Pl intersection Tuesday afternoon suffered a probable dislocated knee, according to Seattle Fire radio updates. Police and Seattle Fire were called to the scene around 2:30 PM to the reported collision. According to SFD updates, the driver hit the pedestrian at around 25 MPH, sending the man in his 30s over the hood of the Mitsubishi Outlander. The victim was transported for further care. Seattle Police was with the driver who reportedly remained at the scene.
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What? A “handful of patrol units throughout the city”? WTF!?
We give the Seattle police HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS a year, and there are only 5 or 6 patrol cars available? There are that many in Burien. Don’t give me “we defunded to police”, no we didn’t. We talked about it, there budget is still BIGGER than it was in 2018 (and no one said then we had ‘defunded’ the police). It’s $100 million MORE than 10 years ago. The police have a
MASSIVE budget, and out of that we can only get a “handful” of patrol cars to handle 911 calls? Where is all this money going?
Seattle Police Budget (from http://www.seattle.gov)
2011 $259,255,489 actual
2012 $269,618,085 actual
2013 $295,118,826 actual
2014 $305,690,184 actual
2015 $294,028,062 actual
2016 $322,340,188 actual
2017 $320,568,110 actual
2018 $394,845,358 actual
2019 $398,003,113 actual
2020 $406,979,966 adopted
2021 $359,751,039 proposed
It’s not a money issue. 90% of SPD’s money is spent on salaries. But it takes time to hire cops, and a lot of money to train them. And 300 quit since last summer.
You may notice the expenses there really blew up when the DOJ came to town in 2012. That’s when they forced the city to put together better training, better supervision for officers (a.k.a. more supervisors), etc. Good policing is expensive.
Glad they quit.
Also, there were apparently like six different shootings across the city that day. Seattle is setting new shooting records
https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2021/09/27/significant-incident-reports/
That is sad. But the good point is that Washington has less violent crime and homicides than the nation average (which went up 30% last year, “only” 21% in WA). Not great, but better than average. I heard and interesting stat on NPR yesterday while driving, back in the late 70s NY and LA used to account for 14% of all homicides in the nation (scary, so dangerous), now it’s around 4%. By population NY is less dangerous than ever, but the ‘rest’ of the nation has gotten more dangerous.
Is it just me or is it truly scary that the cops couldn’t come provide crowd control because they didn’t have the manpower available mid day on a random September day?
Just you
I’d love to see the consulate clean up the horrible taggings on the ornate and lovely bench/parklet in front of thei building that is a waiting area for clients needing services there and is generally full of people daily. It is a shameful eyesore and they know it.