Leadership Changes and Opportunities at WSBWCN!

Hi Everyone,

We hope all of you are enjoying these long summer days, and have come up with creative ways to celebrate Night Out despite the ongoing need for physical, social distancing.

We are writing to ask if any of you – ideally, several of you (who may not know each other yet) – would be interested in volunteering to take over the WSBWCN organization and move it forward? The two of us have decided that we’d like to move on to pursue other interests.

At our final monthly meeting in October 2019, we announced that we planned to take a hiatus over the winter to restructure the organization to meet changing needs. After 10 years, we wanted to develop a different meeting structure, focus on hosting special events, and implement some other fresh ideas.

Then COVID-19 happened, lengthening that hiatus. Although COVID is still with us, we believe this is a good time to hand the organization over to an independent community-minded group of folks who would like to continue and build on our work of educating and organizing a network of Block Watch Captains in the SW Precinct.

So, please give it some thought! Reach out via the email below if you are interested, have questions, or think you might be able to get involved or help in any way.

We hope to find several of you who are interested, or potentially interested, in becoming part of a leadership group for WSBWCN. We’ll set up a time to meet and discuss — either virtually or in-person.

It’s important to note that this is, and always has been, an independent volunteer organization. We do not work for, nor were we organized by, the Seattle Police Department. We do strive to foster good relationships between the community and SPD, and have worked to keep lines of communication open, and provide opportunities for discussions about areas of concern.

We hope that some of you who’ve participated in our meetings and supported our efforts, or new people who are somewhat like-minded, will come together to take WSBWCN forward. We would provide additional information, materials and support to you before we step away.

In any case, thanks for considering! We’ve appreciated your support for our organization over the years!

Deb & Karen

West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network

Deborah Greer & Karen Berge

wsblockwatchnet@gmail.com

Share your perspectives on crime and safety!

Hi! Hope all of you and your neighborhoods are safe and well!

We received the following information today about Seattle University’s annual focus groups — which inform SPD’s local Micro-Community Policing Plans — from Taylor Lowrey at SPU:

Dear Deb and Karen and members of the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network,

Seattle University is partnering with the Seattle Police Department to conduct ongoing research on community crime concerns. Qualitative concerns allow SU researchers to collaborate with SPD leadership to improve the city’s community policing initiative. As part of the Seattle Police Department’s Micro-Community Policing Plans, Seattle University’s Micro-Community Policing Plans Research Analysts invite those who live and/or work in Seattle to respond to focus group questions citywide in each of the city’s 58 micro-communities regarding community perceptions of crime, safety, and police legitimacy, as well as knowledge of and satisfaction with the MCPP. The focus group questions offer an opportunity to provide feedback to the Seattle Police Department on crime and public safety in Seattle, as a check-in between the administration of the Seattle Public Safety Survey every Fall. The questionnaire is accessible here from May through August 2020.

Information obtained from the focus group will help inform your neighborhood’s MCPP, so please come share your concerns and suggestions! Thank you in advance for taking the time to offer your perspective on crime and public safety in Seattle via the online focus group questions. Please feel free to email me directly any questions that you have regarding the focus group.

COVID-19 Update

As a result of the COVID-19 situation, this year the focus group questions will only be distributed online via a short open-ended survey and we have added a question on perceptions on the impact of COVID-19 on crime and public safety.

Sincerely,

Taylor Lowery | Seattle University MACJ Candidate | 2020

Seattle Police Department Research Analyst | Southwest Precinct

Click to email Taylor Lowery

Stay-at-Home 2020: An update from the SW Precinct

We received the following from Crime Prevention Coordinator, Jennifer Danner late last week.

Stay-at-Home 2020: You’ve Checked on Your Friends – Have You Checked on Your Car?

Please see the following Seattle Police Department Blotter post: https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2020/04/15/stay-at-home-2020-youve-checked-on-your-friends-have-you-checked-on-your-car/

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An arrest of a prolific auto thief in West Seattle last week threw a spotlight on an emerging crime of opportunity in a time of stay-at-home orders and significantly reduced vehicle traffic in Seattle.

On April 9^th, SPD Major Crimes Task Force (MCTF) detectives were conducting an operation, targeting a prolific auto thief they’d learned was in possession of a stolen white Honda Civic and was keeping it at a West Seattle home.

Police later found the man sitting in the driver’s seat of the Honda outside the home, but when they ran the vehicle’s license plate, they discovered the Honda hadn’t been reported stolen.

Detectives tracked down a phone number for the Honda’s registered owner and called the man, who told police that, as far as he knew, his vehicle was still at his Ballard home. When detectives asked the man to go out and check on his car, he found it had been stolen. Detectives, Southwest Precinct Anti-Crime Team and patrol officers quickly arrested the thief and booked him into the King County Jail for possession of a stolen vehicle.

This isn’t the first instance, during our current quarantine era, that thieves have taken advantage of reduced vehicle travel in our region.

“We’ve been seeing a spike in auto theft,” says SPD Auto Theft Unit Lieutenant Tom Yoon. “With the stay home order, people aren’t driving their cars and don’t realize they’ve been stolen.”

Over the last month, police have received 300 auto thefts, a 24-percent uptick for the 258 reports made over the same time last year.

Under normal circumstances, once someone calls into 911 to report their vehicle’s been stolen, police enter the car’s license plate into a nationwide stolen vehicle database. Then, officers out on patrol, police and parking enforcement vehicles outfitted with license plate readers can check against that database and immediately alert officers if a stolen car rolls past so they can arrest a thief and recover the car. But police are only able to look for, and recover, cars, trucks and motorcycles that have been reported stolen.

Now, with hundreds of thousands of Seattle residents sitting tight under the state’s stay-at-home orders and (keep up the good work, everybody!) and with the City suspending 72-hour parking restrictions in many residential areas, it may be days before a vehicle owner realizes their car’s gone missing.

Despite the increase in auto thefts, many stolen cars in our region are recovered and returned. Thieves often only drive a car for a few days before dumping the vehicle and stealing another, and chop shops are exceedingly rare in our area.

So, right now, if you’re able, Lt. Yoon has a request: go check on your car. If it’s not where you left it, call 911. If it’s still there, great. Be sure to check on it again soon.

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Please share this important message with your Block Watches, community groups and neighbors!

As always, let us know if you have any questions.

Burglary Prevention during the COVID-19 crisis, an update from the SW Precinct

Sharing this new newsletter from Jennifer Danner, our Crime Prevention Coordinator at the SW Precinct.

Burglary Prevention – during the COVID-19 crisis

Good afternoon,

Even though many Seattle area residents are Staying Home to Stay Healthy, we still see residential burglaries occurring throughout Seattle. There are some trends worth noting. In some instances, suspects peered through windows, saw something close by that they wanted, then smashed the window and grabbed the item without entering the home. In other instances, burglars may be watching to see when people leave the house, (maybe going to the store for a short while), make entry, then leave quickly.

We wanted to offer these tips to help reduce burglaries in your neighborhood:

Lock your doors, even when home

Lock your windows or at least limit how far they can be opened

Don’t leave valuables in close proximity of a window

Answer the door; let people know you are home. “Answering” the door does not mean “opening” the door. Always know who is on the other side of your door before you open it, even if you are expecting someone

While home, take moments to go outside and put eyes on the street; check out what’s happening on the street

When you see neighbors out and about, wave and say hi. When you see people you don’t know out and about on your street, wave and say hi. Send the message that you are a neighborhood that cares and that you are paying attention

Do not call 911 to report people being outside; remember that Police are focused on criminal behavior, not people who want to get out of the house for a bit (Please contact us directly if you have questions about how to report anyone violating the ‘Stay-At-Home’ order)

Stay connected with your Block Watch neighbors and help keep an eye on your neighbors’ place and ask they do the same for you

If you live in an apartment or condo make sure to check on your car daily to ensure it is secure.

It’s a good time to also use your Block Watch connections to see if any neighbors need help or could use a few items from the grocery store

As always, let us know if you have any questions.

Stay safe and healthy 🙂

Please feel free to share this email and/or attached flyer with your neighbors, Block Watches, community groups and family!

Below is a .pdf version of the newsletter that you can print or email to your neighbors!
Covid 19- Burglary Prevention

More local COVID-19 resources

Hope all of you are safe and healthy!

By now, I’m sure you’re aware of many local resources that can help our community, and are finding new ways to help your neighborhoods.

I wanted to share an update about what West Seattle Be Prepared volunteers and others are doing to help our community recover — it includes three new resources that some of you may not yet be aware of.

Coronavirus resources to share

Hope all of you are staying well, and doing whatever you can to try to “Flatten the Curve” and slow the spread of this pandemic.

Wanted to pass along some information that Public Health – Seattle and King County has shared with the emergency communication hubs leaders and volunteers with West Seattle Be Prepared.

Included are specific guidelines for sanitizing and disinfecting, as well as guidance for helping neighbors,

I want to encourage you to share relevant information with each other and your neighborhoods — and remind you that you are welcome do that in our WSBWCN Facebook group or in the West Seattle Be Prepared group. Deb and I moderate both of these Facebook groups, and see them as a wonderful way to stay in touch while practicing social distancing.

Reminder: No Monthly WSBWCN Meeting today!

Hello Everyone!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday season and have a great start on the new year!

We want to announce or remind you that we no longer plan to conduct 4^th Tuesday monthly meetings in 2020. For those of you who were not at our most recent meeting in October, we will elaborate on this change shortly.

Coverage of our October meeting; change is in the air!

WSBWCN-giant-logocurrent

Thanks to those of you who joined us last Tuesday for our last scheduled meeting of 2019. We had some great discussion!

We wrapped up this year differently than most, leaving all of us with lots to consider over the coming months.

We typically take a winter hiatus in November and December, as 4th Tuesdays fall too close to holidays. We usually resume monthly meetings each January — but have decided to shake things up in the coming year and NOT do that.

West Seattle Blog has coverage of our meeting with more details.

Feel free to send us your thoughts! How would you like to see this effort evolve? You can reach us at wsblockwatchnet@gmail.com or post a comment to our Facebook group.

Thanks for your support and participation!

Coverage of our September meeting; our next one will be October 22nd!

WSBWCN-giant-logocurrent If you missed our September meeting or would like to share highlights with your neighbors, the West Seattle Blog has posted coverage.

Our next meeting — and the final one we’ll have this year — will be on Tuesday, October 22nd, from 6:30 to 8 PM in the community meeting room at the SW Precinct. We’ll post the agenda as that day draws closer.

We hope you can join us!

Join us on Tuesday, September 24th at 6:30 PM for our monthly meeting!

WSBWCN-giant-logocurrent Our special guest will be Brian Smith, 9-1-1 Administrative Manager at the Seattle Police Department’s 9-1-1 Center!

He will briefly explain how the 911 Center operates, then offer his insights on how we can more effectively communicate to get the best possible results. Bring your questions!

We’ve posed several “what if” questions already, which arose from recent weather-related situations in the news. What would be the best way to provide location information if you are in an unfamiliar area, or a flood or some other emergency has made the familiar unrecognizable? Can they find you with your cell or mobile phone? What could we do if our mobile device is rapidly losing power?

We’ll begin the meeting with a few announcements; introductions; and an update from SW Precinct leadership, Captain Pierre Davis on recent and current crime/safety issues. This is our first fall meeting following our annual summer hiatus (and one of only two before the end of this calendar year).

Here’s the detailed agenda.

Meeting Agenda

Tuesday, September 24th, 2019, 6:30-8 PM

At the SW Police Precinct, 2300 SW Webster Street (at Delridge Ave SW, next to Home Depot)

6:00-6:30 Arrive early for coffee and light snacks. Talk to each other while we set up!

6:30-6:45 Announcements, introductions.

6:45-7:00 Update from SW Precinct leadership.

7:00-8:00 Brian Smith, 9-1-1 Administrative Manager for SPD’s 9-1-1 Center.

8:00-8:30 Feel free to stay after the meeting to continue your discussions.

Everyone is welcome, even if you aren’t a Block Watch Captain! RSVP is appreciated, but not necessary to attend. You can contact us at wsblockwatchnet@gmail.com.