Captain Landy Black is moving on. Literally. The commander of the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct on Capitol Hill has chosen to accept an offer to become the chief of police of the Davis, Calif., force. His upcoming move accomplishes a long-held career goal to lead a municipal police department.
In addition to leaving the East Precinct, Black's departure ends a 24-year career with the Seattle Police Department. He worked as a patrol officer for 11 years, as a training supervisor after becoming sergeant, in the internal investigations and in the sexual assault and child abuse unit, among many positions within the department. Black's last day at the East Precinct will be Friday, March 30. On April 9, he begins his new job in California.
Black's 21-month tenure as East Precinct commander is actually the longest one person has stayed in the position since Assistant Chief John Diaz, then a captain, filled that role for several years in the mid-'90s. What has become a kind of musical chairs has raised eyebrows among those who feel the continuity and stability of having someone occupy the position longer would serve the community better.
Black acknowledges the point, remembering that it took him a period of time to really get to know the community, its organizations and the concerns of those who live within the East Precinct. But he thinks the idea that concern over changes in precinct leadership can be overstated.
"It's not that any new person comes in out of the blue," he said. "We've all been in the department for years in a wide variety of different jobs. There is also a great deal of institutional consistency, and many initiatives begin within the department and are city-based."
Black said that precinct continuity and institutional memory is also preserved from the community police teams and the officers who have been at the precinct for a long period of time.
"There are a lot of great officers at the East Precinct, and any commander draws from this wealth of personal resources," he said.
Among the issues that stand out during his tenure on the Hill, Black said one challenge was administrative in nature. Like all precinct commanders, he would have welcomed having had more officers at his disposal. Staffing levels are actually slightly lower than when he took the helm. He said he welcomed Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' initiative to increase the number of Seattle police officers. Four or five officers would be added to each precinct each year for the next five years if - and it's a big if - the city can find the money to pay for them.
Added staffing would allow for increasing the number of officers devoted to foot and bicycle patrols. Such patrols are highly favored by the community, and Black supported them as precinct commander. Currently there are two foot officers and a bike squad of four officers. The patrols operate from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Beyond arrests they make (and arrests can take officers off the street for several hours) such patrols put a personal face on the police work.
"One of my regrets was that I wasn't able to beef up the bike squad and foot patrols. Those officers can really get to know the community; they act as ambassadors. I really wanted to expand them but the funding simply wasn't there," he said.
On the street, drugs loom largest when Black describes the notable issues he faced at the East Precinct.
"So often if there was a problem area, drugs were involved in some capacity," Black said. "Not just typical drug possession or sales. Car thefts, burglary, loitering, aggressive panhandling - drugs are commonly at the root of most of these crimes. Of course we enforce drug laws, but the drug issue is so much larger than a criminal problem. It is also a social service issue and one larger than a police department can solve."
He leaves pleased that recent statistics indicate crime is down. At the East Precinct, he said, auto theft is down roughly 50 percent in the last three months. It had become a major problem and remains a serious concern. Black suggested that increased patrol emphasis was partly responsible for the reduction, as well as community education, including encouraging more people to call 911 when a crime is or might be taking place.
As for Broadway, Black sees the street and business district's chronic issues as having a cyclical element, with increased problems tracking to the summer months when the Hill's youth homeless population increases. But, with the recent passage of the Alcohol Impact Area, which prohibits the sale of certain high-alcohol products, Black said the police have seen fewer chronic public inebriates.
"There tends to be a sense that people aren't safe on Broadway, and I understand that some transient behavior can be pretty disturbing sometimes. But we don't see to many of these incidents in reality, although the perception is still there," he said. "Broadway is the heart of Capitol Hill, and we simply can't let it go to pot."
He feels the team he led at the precinct works well together, shares information and has the community's best interests at heart.
"There are many individual officer successes. There is just so much good work that goes on up here," Black said.
He added that he felt appreciated within the community and hopes that his successor, Captain Paul McDonagh, will be at least as well accepted.
"I was well received and felt I had allies in the community even when people were disturbed about a specific issue or disagreed with me or the police in general," he said.
Black leaves with great anticipation of new professional challenges, as well as a sense of melancholy that comes from leaving his longtime professional home.
"Of course I'm sad to leave," said Black. "But being a police chief had always been a career goal for me, and I'm pretty thrilled I'm able to achieve it."
Doug Schwartz is the editor of the Capitol Hill Times. He can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com or 461-1308.
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