Just where does Mayor Greg Nickels live? In a recent email sent to city council members and the general press, the mayor states that, according to a recent Gallup Poll of only 16 major United States cities, "Seattle ranked as the safest major city to live in or visit. In fact, Seattle's 80 percent rating was the highest recorded by any city since the poll was first taken in 1990. Minneapolis was second with a 73 percent rating."
Using this poll, Nickels is trying to sway the city council members to not hire new police officers, which are desperately needed here in Seattle. With more than 500,000 people, Seattle currently has the same number of officers it did in 1981, despite the enormous influx of new residents and the eruption of major crimes. Why then is the mayor relying on one popular opinion when it comes to officer levels?
The Gallup Poll gives the impression of safety in a very unsafe city. According to Morgan Quitno, the author of Morgan Quitno Press 13th Annual Safest Metro Area Award, Seattle has slipped even farther down their list of the most dangerous cities in America.
The Quitno Press comes from the organization's City Crime Rankings publication, which provides updated statistics about crime in more than 350 of America's metropolitan areas and 380 cities of 75,000 or more in population. It compares crime numbers, crime rates and percent changes in crime rates over one and five years for all major crime categories reported to the FBI. In addition, complete counts and rates of police patrolling the nation's largest cities are provided.
Seattle now ranks 275 out of 344 metropolitan areas in the Quitno report. New York City and Washington D.C. were 135 and 271, respectively. Minneapolis ranked 27 on the list of most dangerous cities.
Does the mayor truly think that by using statistics gathered from the Gallup Poll's random telephone calls is going to help him deter the outcry for new officers? Nickels has been pushing the fact that he has hired seven new officers to help regain the ones cut from the budget a couple of years ago. However, this obvious token reply to a very real need has done nothing to sway the tsunami of emails and phone calls from concerned residents urging the city council to hire more officers than the mayor is willing to do.
Nickels prefers to waste valuable taxpayer money on a tunnel that will never work as Seattle's population swells to record numbers instead of using the taxpayers' funds to help bring our police force up to at least national average. Seattle is 1,400 to 1,600 officers short of the national average for police staffing for a city our size. The city council has heard the citizens' plea for help and voted to hire 30 new officers for the 2007-2008 budget year.
Is hiring 30 new officers in 2007-2008 going to help? Not really, but it is a very good start. It's vastly better than the original seven Nickels proposed.
The 30 officers would be split among five precincts, that's only six officers per precinct, all of which are desperate for patrol officers. What happened to Nickel's inaugural speech promises to "keep our neighborhoods safe" and "foster a renewed commitment to our neighborhoods. That means paying attention to the needs of each community and responding to those needs in a meaningful way"? Nickels staunch position of believing Seattle to be safe shows a lack of knowledge of his own city.
Nickels also said that "if we are going to continue to succeed, we must shatter the complacency of 'good enough,' I pledge to you today that we will confront the challenges that stand before us in our homes, in our schools and on our streets." It is tough to stand before Nickels' challenges with anything but a "good enough" attitude when you're hiding in your house from gang violence, drive-by shootings and aggravated assaults. Is Nickels really looking "forward to working with the council to add more officers and improve public safety in our city"? It doesn't appear to that way as Nickels has fought every attempt to make Seattle safer.
Mayor Nickels, are you attempting to create the illusion of giving the communities what they sorely need by hiring 30 new officers next year? 30 new officers is a wonderful beginning, now prove to the communities of Seattle that you really are listening. Prove to them that you really want to make communities safer and that you are willing to take the first step in making the Gallup Poll a reality.
For now, however Nickels needs a reality check. It is obvious he doesn't live in the same Seattle as the rest of us. As for the city council, I send out a deep, heartfelt thank you for your insight into our very real need within all our communities. With this type of leadership, Seattle might just join the 21st century.
Rainier Beach writer Dawn Trybjorn may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com or by calling 461-1311.
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