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| Police volunteer Patty Hale and Assistant City Manager Debbie Tarry stand in front of the notes from the break-out groups at the forum Photo by Steven H. Robinson |
Over 45 people from Shoreline block watches and reps from the Council of Neighborhoods met with city staff and police on November 27 to discuss the results of the citizen survey on livability, crime and safety (large document for download) and share ideas about how to prevent crime in Shoreline.
As reported by Assistant City Manager Debbie Tarry, the results of the feedback have been compiled for next steps.
As we shared at the Forum, we wanted to use your feedback as we formulated our 2013 Crime Prevention Work Plan and determined next steps. I want to take this opportunity to share with you some of the recommendations we are making as a result of your input.
Police Neighborhood Centers (Storefronts)
Based on the feedback we have received to date there are improvements we can make to enhance the effectiveness of neighborhood centers, including promoting the location of those centers and enhancing our communication and training with the police volunteers. Our Police Chief and Storefront Officer are currently developing a 2013 work plan to address these issues.
We have also decided to not move forward with the consolidation of the neighborhood centers to City Hall at this time. In 2013 our budget includes a police facility feasibility study. Based on the feedback from volunteers and the community, it makes a lot of sense to co-locate our police volunteers with our police department, so we would like to include this in our review of potential police facility sites and facility options.
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| Attendees broke into groups to consider selected topics Photo by Steven H. Robinson |
2013 Crime Prevention Work Plan
We are in the process of establishing a cross-department crime prevention work team to implement our 2013 Crime Prevention Work Plan. A few of the items that have been identified to include on the work plan include:
- Review and coordination of the City’s traffic complaint process.
- Improving the communication and training for police storefront volunteers.
- Improving public safety and crime trend communication to the Shoreline community.
- Increasing the number of active Block Watches.
- Enhancing our community policing efforts by connecting neighborhoods with specific police officers.
- Initiating a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) review of City parks.
- Continued work with the City’s Police and Code Enforcement program to address community concerns.
This one worries me a lot...
ReplyDelete"6. Initiating a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) review of City parks."
What does this mean cutting more trees? Clearing all the understory? Paving over more parks? Destroying habitat for some elusive "public safety" goal?
"Environmental Design" term is perversely co-opting the term "environment." It is NOT environmental to destroy more habitat in order to satisfy some social engineering goal. Many of our parks are miraculous places of "wildlife habitat", by natures "environmental design" and benign neglect.
How much mindless clearing of understory will we have to do to make us feel "safe." What has happened at Twin Ponds Parks for instance, is not "environmental", it was just "designed" for drive-by cop surveillance. It is "anti-environmental." Let's be clear!
The best environmental design for parks is one that encourages people to walk through frequently. The more people walking through, the less crime. It is the only proven solution.
Fear of trees and parks is not the solution.
Is there even a problem with crime in the parks that will be addressed by CPTED? Nearly all crime in the parks occurs in the parking lot from smash & grabs, and the perpetrators do not hide in the bushes. These perpetrators sit in their vehicles, wait for someone to leave their vehicle in broad daylight, then break out a window.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Anonymous! What is this "problem" being put forward by staff and law and order advocates about parks? I would like to hear a report on the actual facts about crimes. I'm guessing that there are smash and grabs in neighborhoods, and cars and assumptions are being made blaming parks and open space as "scary" because teenagers and other mysterious people may walk through.
ReplyDeleteBut again, the more people using the parks, the better. That is the best crime prevention. And if you see something that concerns you, call! It does not require wholesale cutting of understory or tree removal. That is a myth.
Parks for ALL!
What are the statistics on the effectiveness of CPTED? Before you sterilize the parks and natural areas it would be best to have some idea of just how much crime CPTED will actually prevent. Training and jobs programs for young adults might be your best innocculation.
ReplyDeleteThe only other problem in parks that I have regularly witnessed is graffiti and vandalism of park equipment, such as signs and bathrooms. These activities occur after the parks have closed or during the day, but cutting of the understory will not solve it. I did witness young adults (or even younger persons) vandalizing a picnic shelter once, but they were not hiding, they were right out in the open destroying the property.
ReplyDeleteI've also seen tagging of street signs in front of our house, but the city doesn't maintain the trail by our street nor do they propose to either by this new safety initiative.
Dick Deal as parks director cut back the understory extensively in Twin Ponds for sight lines for the purposes of crime prevention along the trail, but there is no crime problem in this area. Dick Deal also cut back the understory around the Hamlin Park ball fields telling Earthcorps that there were flashers bothering the children in that area, once again that is a problem only he appeared to be aware of -- no parents I know have ever had a problem with flashers at the ball field in Hamlin. Only Shoreline has this approach to cutting back understory, Seattle has more acreage in Parks and they don't follow this practice -- just go and look at their large parks to see understory: Discovery, Long, Lincoln, Carkeek, etc.
I've spend a lot of time in Shoreline parks over the many years I've lived in the area. As a youth, a female, and as a person with a child, I've NEVER been fearful of crime around here, and LEAST of all in the parks.
ReplyDeleteI was once fearful of police, though. As a teen, a cop came to shine bright lights on me an my friends in our car while he checked our absent criminal record for over 15 minutes. We learned that way that we were not to be in park after dark. Sorry police for chatting in a car after dusk in a park. The scary experience sure made me feel like a criminal, though, and to not like police so much.
What we do need is extensive amount of community building to where we know ALL of our neighbors well and can police ourselves well. Police exist where community fails. I'm glad I don't live in the big city limits of Seattle where only my white privilege would keep police from bullying me on a regular basis.
Are we planning to fail as a community with blaming plants/trees for our failings or would we rather be an even better caring and loving community than we already are??? I plan to help build a better community despite the fact that I can be quite the introvert.
BTW, yes, where is all the evidence that points to plant life being a priority crime creator than the society which destroys its life giving plants? I need to see that list before another crime against plants is committed by the government who is there to serve US.
I agree with many of the previous comments. I'm not too keen on the whole creating site-lines thing, for which many a tree has been butchered. I prefer that trees, shrubs, and other vegegation have a more natural growth habit and habitat for birds and other animals. I haveen't seen any evidence that criminals lurking in the bushes in our parks is a big problem, so let's not "fix" it. The other crime prevention ideas may be fine to look into, but let's have common sense and not fear prevail, so skip this idea please.
ReplyDeleteThe last flasher I heard about in Hamlin Park was 10 feet up in a tree at 7 am in the morning. The person who saw him filed a police report. The next thing that happened to her was someone wrote on her car that "we are watching you." So she went to East community service station to file another report and express her concern - the officer told her to leave - she had no problem at all. She doesn't walk in Hamlin Park anymore. Not a sightline problem and no kids involved. But I would bet the city leadership team would say, "we didn't know."
ReplyDeleteI knew two women who were attacked by a large man and his dog where there were excellent sightlines, I saw a police officer later in the week writing a report in her car so I went over to tell her about it. She didn't even want to hear about it, she cut me off and told me they needed to file a report.
Then a few years ago a friend of mine was walking his dog at 6:30 am on Sunday during the summer. He saw a car on the trail, called the police. Saw the car still there 30 minutes later just before he left and no police, so he called the police - excellent sightlines all around. Ten minutes into his drive home, the police called him -- the car thief returned, took the car, hit another car, took out a utility pole and ran. Now they were interested. He told them he already reported. Then he got into his house -- a detective called, wanted to know what he say, my friend said it was all preventable but patrol was too busy on a Sunday morning to check out a car abandoned illegally on the trail. The city leadership team yaks all day about proactive policing, but all of what I told you is not.