I felt privileged one recent Friday night when I went on a "ride along" with the evening lieutenant of the South Precinct.
I came to the ride with some bias and misinformation, for we seem to only hear about police if there was a problem. If we go a little to fast or run a yellow light, we may get to meet an officer, but rarely do we see them as they work. I don't know what I expected, but it certainly was not what I observed.
We traveled all over Southeast Seattle from the city's southern boundary, to the industrial area, to Seward Park and along Lake Washington, all part of the South Precinct.
What did I see? First we went to the site of a club a little north of Spokane Street in the industrial area. Around 1,000 tickets had been sold to a rock concert. The seating capacity of the club was about 300. The fire department had seen the crowd, called the police, and 700 people either did not get in or were required to leave the event.
They had already paid for their tickets and were not very happy. This was a tattoo-and-piercing crowd, a little outside of regular society, and the scene could have turned ugly. However, the police kept the lid on a possible riot.
The officers were a peaceful show of force, but they were very respectful toward those who were upset because of the ticket scam. It became a non-event because of the officers' skills.
The lieutenant greeted his officers by name. He stayed in his van, except to check with his supervising sergeants. He did not want his men to think he was looking over their shoulder.
"They are doing a good job," he said while watching the officers work the crowd. "I do not want them worrying about how I would do it. What they are doing is right. I would not want them to change that because I was there."
That was one very effective supervisor.
Next, was a call about an elderly lady known to carry a small handgun who had not been seen for a few days. The lieutenant and I drove to the scene to back up the single officer who would be checking on her welfare. As it turned out, the woman was out of town.
A few minutes later there was a call about a stolen car. One of the single officer patrol cars had checked a license plate through his computer and discovered it was stolen. The car was stopped and several other patrol cars arrived to help take the four suspects in the car into custody. The lieutenant watched from half a block away.
His officers were doing a good job, no reason to get in their way, but he was there should there been an issue.
That is how the evening went. Gang members were interviewed. A drunk driver was stopped. Eight young men were hanging out in a parking lot, and the lieutenant noticed them while driving past.
He drove into the lot and simply parked with his headlights illuminating their "meeting." I guess it must not be fun to hang out with a police cruiser shining its headlight on your group. We sat there for 10 minutes before the young men decided it was time to go home.
Lets not make them criminals unless they are doing something illegal. Lets encourage the kids to not get into trouble.
I was impressed with the officers' training: no muscle, good use of persuasion and psychology. It is better to prevent an event than to have to contain something after it blows up.
And the lieutenant is the sort of supervisor you always wanted. He let his men do their jobs (there were no women officers on that night). He clearly trusted them and their skills. He knew their strengths and weaknesses. He was not there to interfere or second-guess them.
I can see why his officers showed so much professionalism. The skills of each officer reflected the lieutenant's example of quality leadership.
In five hours of observing I can say we are very lucky to have such fine people protecting us.
Fred Quarnstrom may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.[[In-content Ad]]