Tag Archives: statistics

Making due with the officers he has, Seattle Police chief rolls out new scheduling strategy for city’s cops — Also: 2022 crime stats for Capitol Hill and the Central District

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Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz says he believes the city’s approach to emphasis policing and better management of the reduced number of officers on the city’s streets helped slow rising crime trends late last year even as 2022 marked the city’s highest violent crime rate in 15 years.

Statistics for the East Precinct, below, also mirror the citywide peak in violent crime totals as reports across the Central District and Capitol Hill climbed 8% vs 2021 — but the numbers here also back up Diaz’s contention that late 2022 showed signs of improvement.

(Image: CHS)

With no signs that the department’s challenges with hiring and retaining more officers will end soon, the chief has announced a new scheduling strategy he says will allow SPD to have more officers active during “peak hours” and make sure officer staffing totals are at “safe numbers” while also allowing officers to have an extra day off “for their own level of wellness.” Continue reading →

As more Seattle Police officers are moved onto streets, 2020 crime stats show citywide dip — even near the ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’

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The COVID-19 crisis and restrictions have had a chilling effect on one key factor to quality of life across Capitol Hill, the Central District, and Seattle — crime in the city has dropped, according to the Seattle Police Department’s own statistics.

Interim Chief Adrian Diaz’s first action in his new job was announcing a move of more officers to patrol to speed up 911 response across the city after a summer of complaints over slow arrivals and unavailability of officers due to staffing issues related to the summer’s ongoing protests and demonstrations. Starting today, some 100 officers were slated to be reassigned from speciality units to bolster the city’s 911 patrols.

They’ll likely be welcomed by residents and business owners frustrated by slow 911 wait times. But the numbers don’t match the complaints. Crime across all categories tracked by SPD was down nearly 12% across the city through August in comparison to the last two years of data. Continue reading →

Census 2020 social distancing: Why you should spend 5 minutes now to avoid a knock on your door later

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(Image: CHS)

It might seem like a well-thought-out contingency plan on the part of the federal government, if it weren’t for a mountain of evidence showing that there is no such thing.

This year, for the first time in history, the U.S. census has moved online, hopefully minimizing personal contact at a time when a once per decade government tally runs up against a once per century (let’s hope) viral pandemic.

For anyone who doesn’t remember from government classes, 2020 is a census year. The due date for this assignment? April 1st.

The U.S. constitution mandates that every 10 years, the government take a count of everyone who lives here. While there had been a bit of a dust up over a Trump administration plan to add in a question about respondent’s citizenship status, that question is not included.

If you haven’t yet, you’ll soon receive a mailer from the government with a 12-digit alphanumeric code on it. Go to my2020census.gov, click start and type in the code. You will then be asked a series of questions, and can choose one of 13 languages. Questions include how many people live in your household, their name, age, gender (only male or female options) and race (a lot of options, including the option for multi-racial people to check more than one box). There’s also a question about if you own your home (with or without a mortgage) or rent. The questions are based on your living arrangements as of April 1, so take that into account. Continue reading →