In a city hardwired to the proverbial motherboard of the technology movement, it's ironic to hear complaints about scarcity of information.
But it appears the circuits and switches have somehow failed to penetrate all sectors of the region, at least according to residents in Madison Park who say insufficient communication between them, their neighbors and police is hampering efforts to solve what they believe is an increase in crime.
Burglary, theft, stalking, sex crimes, drug use and pedestrian issues are among the issues concerning them, and while the role of police is paramount to any solution, residents also acknowledge the need for the community to become actively involved. Information, they say, is the key to crime prevention, and so they're pushing to improve the expediency of knowledge that flows between police and the community.
"What we're trying to get across to the police and the city is that we need a better means of communication," said neighborhood activist and longtime resident Dick Clark. "We're sitting here in the shadow of Bill Gates and all this technology and we can't find a way to keep apprised of what's going on in our own neighborhoods. We know the police want to help, and we want to help them, but first we need to know where the problems are before we can define, resource and solve them."
But as Clark pointed out, part of the difficulty is defining the problem. Madison Park residents say they are witnessing more crimes and recent meetings between police and the community support that claim. But statistics drawn from Seattle Police Department Crime Capsule Reports indicate otherwise.
Of 12 recorded crime categories in Madison Park, only non-aggravated assault saw an increase of more than one incident from 2004 to 2005. In fact, the report, which shows crime statistics between January and October over the last five years, shows decreases in several categories.
"Crime rates are running a bit lower than usual for the year," said Capt. Landy Black of the SPD East Precinct. "The end of the year tends to be a bit more active but I'm not overly alarmed, statistically, by anything I've seen recently."
Black added that there was recently a small spike due to a burglary ring in Madison Valley, but several juveniles were apprehended and things have since calmed.
Alice Lanczos, president of the Madison Park Community Council, is among those worried. She said she knows of several incidents that occurred in her neighborhood in recent months, including a man fleeing police and hiding in her garage and yard.
"The difficult part is that I never really found out what happened," she said of the intruder. "I called police the next day to ask about it and no one could tell me."
Lanczos also said she knew of one person whose television had been stolen on five separate occasions.
Others were concerned about a Level 2 sex offender. Clark said the man had been in and out of jail several times and was a continual presence in the area.
"He's kind of become our poster child with respect to the crime problem," Clark said.
Lalie Scandiuzzi, who said her daughter endured five separate incidents of stalking over a three-year period, was worried about the possibility of more sex crimes.
"I definitely think people should be more concerned," she said. "We need to create better communication systems so people know there are potential problems in the area."
Black said sex offender compliance was the responsibility of a sex-offender detail officer, but that patrol officers could not pay them extraordinary attention.
"We do not monitor sex offenders," Black said. "There would be an issue of civil liberties involved with something like that."
Overall, Lanczos lauded police efforts but felt more needed to be done, specifically in allowing the community more instantaneous access to crime statistics.
"There's been a wonderful cooperation between the police department and the community council," she said. "But one of the things [police Chief Gil] Kerlikowske has emphasized is transparency in policing. The way technology is today, we should have access to information about crimes that happened 10 minutes ago."
Currently, visitors to the SPD Web site can browse crime statistics by census tract, but the most recent numbers available for viewing are often several weeks old. Residents like Clark and Lanczos say that by the time statistics are available, the problems have moved on. In addition to increasing overall awareness, they believe residents could better assist police if they knew more quickly where crimes were occurring.
Are crimes going unreported?
Still, the question remains as to why the perception of increased crime isn't reflected statistically.
Black said part of the discrepancy between statistics and reality is attributable to people not reporting crimes when they see or experience them.
"Sometimes people don't want to bother calling the police with what they consider to be minor problems, such as change stolen from their cars or theft of lawn equipment," Black said. "Also, they can be misinformed about what police can and can't do. We have great capabilities at our disposal to solve crimes, especially as technology continually improves, but in order to do so we need to know about them."
At the Madison Park Community Council meeting on Nov. 21, some residents believed slow response times to non-emergency calls to police were at least partially responsible for a general reluctance to report crimes. Sgt. Darryl Williams acknowledged the problem, but urged people to still report crimes they witness.
"All 9-1-1 calls are prioritized," said Williams. "Of course we'd like to be able to respond faster, but sometimes an officer can't make it to [the scene of] a theft until the next day. It's unfortunate, but because our resources are limited, that's the reality of the situation."
Residents understand the inherent difficulty of the situation facing police, but reiterated the need to come together for the sake of the community.
"We understand there are limited resources, but we're looking for help," said resident Paul Stom. "As taxpayers we're entitled to protection. If we can participate, if we can be of any help to police, then that's what we need to do."
Williams said the most important thing people can do to help, even in a non-emergency situation, is to report crimes and to make sure to request a case number so that the incident is entered into the database. Without that, Williams said, it's difficult for police to know how to adjust patrolling patterns.
"Reporting a crime actually turns the lights on and helps us to determine if we're dealing with a serial model and if there's likely to be repeated cases or not."
In addition to that, Black said police are constantly working to update and improve crime analysis methods.
"We're refining the computerized model for patrol deployment and staffing," he said. "We meet weekly in the precinct and monthly departmentwide to discuss crime patterns. Realistically, staff sergeants are assessing crime trends within their given patrol areas on a daily basis."
Block watches and emails
One popular suggestion has been to form more organized block watch programs and to better utilize technology to improve communication between neighboring communities as well as police.
Facing similar situations, many Seattle neighborhoods created email sites that people can join to post and read messages about what's going on in the community.
Andrew Taylor, president of the Miller Park Neighborhood Association, knows of several such programs. He said one such group, the Madison and Denny Community Action Program (MADCAP), was formed when several neighbors living on a particularly rough block on Madison Street banded together in an effort to reduce crime.
They organized street cleanups and block watches in addition to creating an email site, which has grown to a few hundred members. Taylor said community walks are also a tool that has been utilized in the past.
Results of such efforts, however, are difficult to assess.
"It's ultimately impossible to tell how well it's working," Taylor said. "Unfortunately the problems persist because the drug dealers and criminals have greater staying power than we do. If we stopped being proactive the problem may or may not get worse, but we don't want to find that out."
Support for creating a program similar to MADCAP in Madison Park is growing, but some remain leery of the potential difficulties that might arise.
"The problem with email sites is that anybody can post anything," said Lanczos. "There's no way of knowing the difference between what's true and what's false, so there is the potential to incite unnecessary fear."
Still, Taylor said the sites are one way for neighbors to communicate what's happening near their homes.
"There's no formal networking going on between the different neighborhoods, but a sort of informal connection has grown organically," he said. "I'm a member of several email groups and I know of others who are as well. If I see something of concern happening in a neighboring community, I pass it along to another group."
Black encouraged residents to continue to develop more organized communication channels.
"I'm encouraged by the number of organizations that have been established to fight crime on a community level," he said. "The neighborhood groups often best represent what's going on in the community and can give the best information to the precinct."
Clark, Lanczos, Stom, Scandiuzzi and Taylor all agree that combating apathy and encouraging participation is vital to reaching a solution.
"I think the way the world is today, there's a problem with compassion fatigue," Scandiuzzi said. "There's so much attention being paid to what's going on abroad that often people don't have the patience or energy to deal with problems in their own communities. They come home at night and just want to go to sleep, but what we really need to do is wake up."
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