"It's difficult to verify exactly how run-ins like these go down, since police reports are rarely filed."

Whaaat?!

Daily timing and youth contact logs (w/at least half hour blocks of time) are a standard part of required documentation and accountability for adults who work with vulnerable teen and youth populations. This includes teachers, para-educators, non-profit orgs, and social service workers-Seattle's gang unit certainly seems to qualify as a group that should require this basic documentation of its officers.
It is surprising and highly unacceptable if officers are not required to keep accountability records of their daily activities, including contacts with youth-not only for liability and verification reasons, but also to improve their ability to effectively gather information on gang activities and network with other Seattle organizations working on gang intervention and prevention.

Would be interesting to see a follow up on this. It's nearly 10 years since this was written and I wonder how much if anything has changed...

There won't be any follow up because WA state has no real gangs. You want to see a real gang, come on over to Crenshaw & Slauson.

The Russians are active in Seattle though, but they're not a gang. They're the mob.

Maybe we dont have gangs, but we got plenty of hispanic macho aholes, and aggressive black panhandlers and muggers. Oh yeah, and lets not forget all the racist white yokels that come into the city and barf on the streets. The police may suck at times, but I'll take the SPD over the uneducated lowlifes most days of the week.

Gangs thrive only because of public fear and apathy...

Not enough cops like him. Cops are afraid to do the job because of the fear of being sued or charged by their departments. The best is the trouble making child or young adult that comes into contact with the law suddenly has a parent show up at the police department trying to find out what happened to their child. When the parent was never in the childs life prior to the run in with the law?