The mayor is taking live calls on the Seattle Channel (21) on Wednesday night at 7:00pm. Maybe one of those involved could phone in and ask about the response they received from the police.

Even if this isn't surprising, we need to force ourselves to be surprised. If we take it for granted that there isn't an appropriate response from a $200 Million police department, we've lost.

Didn't the SPD recently put a lot of cops on the street in Pioneer Square? And sure enough, crime there went down. Which to me says we should be talking about how few cops per capita Seattle has. Shouldn't you expect below average public safety if you have a smaller than average force?

I recently spoke to an officer from the 12th St Precinct following an attempted mugging of a neighbor on Federal and Republican. I asked him if they had anyone walking the Broadway beat
these days, and he said that NO they do not have anyone on Broadway
anymore. They used to have a couple patrolmen last year that walked the neighborhood, but now there is no one
working the area. He said they simply don't have funding right now
to provide for patrolmen (hmmm… so what is it our taxes exactly go
towards? Guess they goes towards the shiny new trolley car on South
Lake Union). I then sarcastically inquired if it takes a critical
mass of crime before they suddenly come up with the necessary money.

..but with the east precinct headquarters being 3 blocks away from the shell station i think that understaffing ain't the problem in this case. and with supposedly extra patrols added because of the last week's murder on 15th and howell there is no excuse or reason for a slow/non response from the police except gay bashing on saturday night is acceptable behavior in this neighborhood.

Why is it when I hear the police say "we don't have funding" as an excuse for misconduct and selective enforcement that it sounds like one of those old 'protection money' type of blackmail schemes to me?

I was already hesitant to attend this forum (despite my interest in this tragedy - my wife and I live 2 blocks away), fearing it would simply become an all-encompassing bitch-fest. Dan's post confirms this fear. The meeting has yet to begin, and already it is off-topic.

While I admire Dan's optimism, I don't think complaining to the bottom at a police forum will accomplish much lasting results.

I think the pressure has to start at the top of the chain, directed at the mayor and council, before any real results occur.

I think we need a new Chief of Police.

Why?

Because you don't live in million dollar condos.

Isn't it obvious?

Watch The Wire, everyone, and ye shall learn.

Lots of luck with that car plate ID.

I had a similar situation happen to me a little over a year ago, when I was rear-ended by a driver with no insurance, who then fled the scene.

Luckily, I managed to slip my Palm out of my pocket and take a very clear shot of his front bumper, including the license plate, which I subsequently showed to the officer who took my incident report. When I requested a copy of the IR several days later to submit to my insurance company, I noticed the officer had incorrectly entered the wrong plate number. I immediately called to ask him to correct the mistake, but never received a response from him.

A couple of weeks later, when riding home on the bus, we actually passed the vehicle parked on a street only a few blocks away from where the incident occured. I immediately called and left a message with the officer to inform him that I had seen the vehicle, left information as to its location, but again, no response.

After the big rain storm last winter, I actually saw the vehicle again in a newspaper photo taken of another car crushed by a falling tree, again just a few blocks from where the accident occured, and again called it in to the officer.

To this date, so far as I'm aware, there was never any action taken by SPD, despite the fact that I had, on three separate occasions, correctly identified the vehicle that hit me. I think it was abandoned by the time I made the third citing (the rear windows had been smashed in, and one of the tires was flat), so I'm guessing it was eventually towed away.

Lesson To This Story: SPD will rarely lift a finger to solve a non-violent incident, even if the victim literally hands them the perp/vehicle on a silver platter.

Dude, a friend and I got assaulted and when the cops arrived we could still see the attackers running. They were less than three blocks away, and they could have been caught. Instead, the cops made sure the assault wasn't still going on, took a report, and I never heard from them again. They're lazy as hell. And don't forget, this is the second assault within a year where the victim had the fucking license plate number that's been reported on Slog.

Solution: Post the fucking license plate number and let the people become the police, if the police won't do their job. I'm sure that sloggers could discover the identity of this guy, post his name, phone number, address, and enact some non-violent justice.

I just wrote Kery Murakami of the PI, and he said that they will have a reporter to cover the community meeting (http://millerparkseattle.blogspot.com/2008/01/neighborhood-safety-forum.html) tomorrow night to discuss the recent spike in crime. Getting some more attention on this issue is the first step in improving things

@14

Good job Courtney, that might help a bit!

Next summer at Alki, when the weather's good and all the sportbikes are out, you can bet the place will be crawling with SPD. They will be writing nonsense tickets for parking *even an inch* past the white zone, riding with one's visor cracked open *even a quarter-inch*, and other bullshit.

Way to go, SPD.

I understand that Alki gets noisy and crowded and people misbehave and break laws there. But the shocking unfairness between catching real crooks versus petty harassment of citizens is just getting to be too much.

@4 --
Cops aren't firemen. They don't hang out at the Precinct HQ waiting for calls to come in.

Most police officers won't respond to an assault alone. Two or more units need to be cleared before they'll engage.

Likewise, a police officer wouldn't know why the person was being assaulted when she makes the decision to respond.

To say the police responded slowly because they don't care about gay bashing implies they knew or were likely to know the assaulter's motivation before choosing to respond.

@16

If the weather is good why would anybody want to putt along Alki at 5 mph? I'm going to be at Pacific Raceways going as fast as I dare and my bike can handle, not as fast as the pedestrian traffic will allow. There is a time and a place for everything, and that's why the neighbors complain.

It's not that I want you to think I'm calling you guys poseurs -- oh wait, yes I am. Fucking poseurs.

Great stories COMTE & Gitai. I've had an experience that was a mix of the two.

On a Saturday night around last call in Belltown on 1st ave (yeah, stupid/time place to be) a passing car threw a bottle out the window at me. I saw the plate and chased after it, but stopped when I saw a police car. I told the officer in the car the plate and pointed to the car just ahead, about 4 cars up. He said "alright, I'll take care of it," so I got back onto the sidewalk and waited for him to flip the lights on and go after 'em.

Nope. He just sat there and waited for the light to change and the proceeded leisurely. I was too in shock at his lack of a response to remember the squad car's number.

I was totally sober, but perhaps my exasperated voice from the foot chase and stress made me sound drunk? Next time 911 for public record accountability!

@13. I have a password to the DoL site. I can look up someone's name and address from a license plate.

Of course, criminals aren't known for necessarily staying in the same place or keeping their addresses up to date. But I could get a name.

Tizzle @ 20. Do you work for Diamond Parking?

The lack of serious police response to real or perceived gay hate crimes is easily explained by this glittering generality:

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.

I love house music.
And you?

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President Roger Pomerantz said in an examine.