posted 01/28/10 10:40 PM | updated 01/28/10 10:48 PM
Featured Post! | Views: 1345 | Comments : 16 | Crime

EPCPC: Capt Dermody says "Burglaries are driving me nuts"

By scott
Share Recommend (+5 votes) ( report abuse ) ( add your comment )

There was a big crowd for the East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition tonight, with lots of crime updates, a lot of Q&A with our new city attorney, and new information on the Drug Market Initiative. We'll cover the last two as separate stories and focus this on crime updates.

Burglaries: The big news is that East Precinct commander Captain Dermody is acutely aware of the current issue with burglaries. He said that they were "driving me nuts" and that there are clear patterns as far as where they were clustered and the players who are involved, which includes thirteen main offenders and eleven juveniles. He said that many are "registered" at Garfield (i.e. maybe not attending), and that there's a problem with them being caught, released, and then reoffending. SPD is working closely with county prosecutors and their Repeat Burglar Initiative to get control of that part of the problem.

SPD is working to get county youth detention to hold on to any juvenile suspects that they catch doing anything, with a special emphasis on those involved in burglaries of occupied homes.

One citizen in the audience said that the kids are using girls to serve as lookouts while they're inside stealing. And a regular CDNews contributor said that she had a recent experience where a pedestrian saw her leave her house and he then walked through her front gate. 

In positive burglary news, one resident said that the stolen table saw from our story earlier in the week was recovered a few blocks away. Evidently the thieves got worn out by the weight of their score.

Washington Middle School threats: The threat to shoot kids was made from a disposable cell phone that couldn't be connected to a specific person. He seemed very agitated, named the school specifically, thus resulting in the large response. East Precinct officers are heading up the investigation (instead of Homicide), looking into recently suspended, but no arrests have been made yet.

Problem Neighbors: Residents near 27th & King are having problems with a number of rental properties that are occupied by mental health patients. They've been dealing drugs and "cranked it up like i have never seen in my life" according to one neighbor. 

Problem Shrubs: Neighbors on Spring Street near 25th are having problems with a neighbor who refuses to trim the large shrubs in her planting strip, which are used as a shield for various nefarious activity

"Worse than the South Bronx": That's how one young resident near 14th & Remington Ct. describes his area, with "chaos" of drugs, Seattle U parties, urination, problem bars, $10s of $1000s of dollars changing hands in the streets, and a lack of coordination with the art/park property on 14th.

Nightwatch Problems: One neighbor of the homeless program at 14th & Jackson is facing an adversarial relationship with a number of the program's clients. They urinate and defecate on her property, spit on her door, and she can't get any response or help from the program managers. Her attempts to correct the issues often cause the men to up the ante with further retribution.

More on Peter Holmes and DMI soon...

Share this post:
Permalink
Tags: EPCPC + add tags
savecancel
Powered by
Names?
If the police know who's committing the crimes, and not all of them are juveniles, why can't they release the names of the burglars?

I'm sure we'd all like to know where they live, and chat with their parents - or whichever family members "raised" them.
Comment by Cooper
January 28, 2010
RE: Names?
My impression was that the 13 people the cops are watching for the burglaries are *all* juveniles. Another meeting participant was talking to Capt. Dermody after the meeting officially ended, and he said "I have pictures of them right here in this folder but I can't show them to you because they're juveniles."
Comment by JohnS
January 29, 2010
RE: Names?
State law protects the identity and court records of all juvenile offenders
Comment by scott
January 29, 2010
RE: Names?
Okay, can't release the names, fine. What is the city attorney going to be doing DIFFERENTLY to address the issue? I can't help but think this would be a much larger priority for the attorney if he lived on 25th & Alder, or some other place in the area. I'm really hearing alot of the same solutions, how about working on where they live? Pressuring their families? Staking out the school areas? Can juveniles once caught be given ankle bracelets? Other monitoring equipment? This is insane, I know it's not the cop's fault, so I'm looking at you, attorneys, legislators, etc.

It's sad, its really getting to a point where I hope a heavily armed citizen catches them in the act, it shouldn't ever have to come to that.
Comment by sickofthis
January 29, 2010
Problem shrubs
I think I've read city ordinances about the allowable heights of plantings on sidewalk strips, so there might be some help there.
Comment by carolyn
January 29, 2010
Weeds, Debris and Obstructions SMC 10.52
The Weeds and Vegetation Ordinance enforced by the Dept of Planning & Development applies to vegetation that originates on private property and encroaches onto the public right-of-way: sidewalk, street or alley.
Vegetation overgrowth between private properties that does not encroach on the public right-of-way is a civil matter and should be resolved by the property owners. So, it depends on the vegetation encroachment whether or not a complaint will be acted on by DPD. Here is the link the DPD memorandum on the code.
http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/Publications/CAM/cam611.pdf
Comment by PeggySioux
January 29, 2010
easy solution to shrubbery.....
Just get some Round-up at Lowe's and take care of those problem height shrubs yourself.
Comment by Weed Control
January 29, 2010
Shrubs
I wonder if the neighbors have offered to trim the shrubs? Sometime old people cannot do it, so get defensive when you tell them they must. It's just a thought, as I encountered this on my previous block. When I told the old lady next door that, as a punishment I was having my son do yard work, and there was none left to do at my house, she directed him in cutting her shrubs and a problem tree. She saved face and we got to know our neighbor a bit better.
Comment by del
January 30, 2010
Problem plantings
The plantings in question are on a parking strip and not part of somebody's yard. They would be OK except that they block the view from the street of the sidewalk and are quite overgrown. Repeatedly, neighbors have approached the (young) owner with offers to trim--all rejected. The police have visited her home with a request to get the plantings trimmed. So far as we can tell, no ordinance addresses the plantings--they do not obstruct an intersection, there is no trash there, and there is much drug-related loitering on the sidewalk--by the time somebody calls 911 about this the individuals have moved on. The owner is hostile to the repeated requests and offers of help trimming.
Comment by John Sheets
January 31, 2010
RE: Problem plantings
Well, that IS a bummer. Maybe Round Up is in order. People are so weird.
Comment by del
January 31, 2010
RE: Problem plantings
After dark, Roundup the strip until it looks like Chernobyl.
Comment by Dave
February 01, 2010
Juvenile Offenders
This is ridiculous. These kids assault people, have and threaten to use weapons, and are simply released back on the street. Without stable homes, the inclination to work or be educated, or minimal respect for others, what chance do they have at rehabilitation? And yet the rates of recidivism are substantially higher for kids that are sentenced to prison and serve their time with adults. We need a juvenile serious offenders program, where kids like this can be held until they're 21. They need to complete high-school and some job training program, or face the prison terms they would have had, had they been tried as adults. My girlfriend has been followed off the bus and down the street by gangs of kids who tried to grab her purse. My friend was beaten up in the U-District for the ten dollars in his wallet. I've had students who have been assaulted at bus stops for their iPhones. And although I hate to say it, both as a teacher and a liberal, each of these crimes was committed by small groups of black teenagers. I understand that these kids never had a real shot, because of the pervasive economic and social effects of institutionalized racism. I understand that there is a deep sense in which this is not their fault. Even so, people are going to start defending themselves with force, rather than be scared to be out in their own communities. If the SPD and the county fail to keep these kids off the street, some of them are going to wind up dead.
Comment by J.H.
February 01, 2010
RE: Juvenile Offenders
Of course it's not these kids fault...it's their parent's fault. Plenty of kids grow up in bad neighborhoods and turn out fine. I'd wager that most do. The ones who choose to become thugs have only themselves and their parents to blame. By blaming this on poverty you insult all those parents who work hard, stay in committed families and raise productive citizens despite their struggles.
Comment by Daved
February 03, 2010
RE: Juvenile Offenders
Poverty is certainly a factor, but nowhere did I claim is was the only factor, as even a cursory reading of my post makes clear. Further, you claim in you post below that the influx of "rich white liberals" is reducing crime in your neighborhood. So I guess you're blaming this on poverty and race, right? Weird.
Comment by J.H.
February 03, 2010
Juvenile Offenders
I agree with the above comments about needing to stop the revolving door for juvenile offenders. The police aren't the ones who decide how long a detention will last, that is determined by the courts & legislature.

The youth involved in this growing spree are just having fun, they are aware that they will not face any serious consequences even if caught, and are trying to achieve the glamor status promoted by their current gang style music icons.

I hope things don't get so bad that people all arm up and start shooting anyone who comes onto their property without permission. That is too drastic.

My less-drastic idea would be to get the Block Watches better organized - and teach people how to do "Citizen's Arrests" - then we could capture some of the offenders and deal with them in a way that could serve as more of a deterrant (sp?) than the police are able to enact. Maybe post their photos, tar & feather them, put them in a public pillory (maybe on the corner of 23rd & Jackson), enter civil lawsuits against their families to have them pay back the costs of their crimes, make them do community service....etc.
Comment by Elmofudd
February 02, 2010
RE: Juvenile Offenders
Gentrification will be the best and only solution to the CDs crime problems. Rich white liberals moving in have done more to reduce crime on my street than any social program. THanks neighbors.
Comment by Daved
February 03, 2010
Add Your Comment
Name:
Email:
(will not be displayed)
Subject:
Comment: