Beginning April 1st, the Seattle Police Department will increase foot patrols in Belltown, Pioneer Square, and the international district, Mayor Mike McGinn’s office and Interim Police Chief John Diaz announced today. The pilot effort responds to City Council Member Tim Burgess’s five-point, grandiosely-worded plan, “Addressing Street Disorder to Preserve Jobs and Improve Our Quality of Life.” (.pdf here)

Point one is increased foot patrols in specific areas. Burgess’s controversial Aggressive Solicitation Ordinance (which Dominic wrote about here), is point three of this five-point plan. The ordinance is the focus of this morning’s public safety committee meeting at City Hall, which Dom will report back on later.

The foot patrol pilot effort will be launched within the city’s existing budget by redeploying some if SPDs bike patrols to foot beats. In a letter to the city council, Police Chief Diaz explains that the foot patrol will increase police visibility and make officers more accessible, which will hopefully combat the “…street disorder in our downtown core,” as Burgess describes.

In addition, the mayor will be touring the International District and Pioneer Square this Thursday, March 18 at 4 p.m., beginning at the Wing Luke Asian Museum, 719 S. King St. The tour is an opportunity for the mayor and the public to see some of the public safety challenges in those neighborhoods.

Former Stranger news writer Cienna Madrid has been a writer in residence for Richard Hugo House, a local literary nonprofit. There, she taught fiction classes and wrote 4/5 of a book about a death-row...

13 replies on “How SPD Will Address Street Disorder to Preserve Jobs and Improve Our Quality of Life”

  3. Devoid? I see cruisers every single day. Of course, cops sitting in their cars at stoplights isn’t exactly a “police presence.” Also, I live in the CD.

  4. Maybe Mike could score some heroin in Hing Hay park. The ID and Pioneer Square are rife with open drug dealing.

    This is what we should focus on- not making it illegal to ask for money, but actual crime.

  6. How about the fact that we have 1/5th the number of cops/10k residents of NYC?
    How about the fact that we have 1/3rd the number of cops that we’re supposed to have even in a low crime city?
    No wonder the crime rate is going up here while it’s going down everywhere else in the country.

  7. Waitaminute! They’re going to increase foot patrols by taking the cops off bikes?
    Why can’t we increase foot patrols by taking some cops off of desks?

  9. @6: Depends on the type of crime you’re talking about.

    According to the City’s own statistics, homicides, rapes and vehicle thefts were all down significantly last year as compared to 2008 (-27%, -19% & -11% respectively), while robbery, aggravated assault and larceny were all up (11%, 16% & 11%), and burglaries showed a slight uptick (3%).

    Which would lead one to conclude those limited police resources you mention would be put to much better use in those areas, and NOT on negligible result, feel-good things like targeting aggressive panhandling.

  10. Maybe we should hire a police chief and let him decide how to run the police force.

    Maybe we should elect a mayor who can get something done.

  11. Technically, with the budget cuts we’re looking at, we should expect to see a force reduction of 8 uniformed officers.

    Why are they exempt?

  12. If you’re talking about McNevermind’s 200 consultant positions, Will, you’re not talking about uniformed officers.

    If you’re just making stuff up, why stop at 8. We could get rid of the entire Southwest Precinct and save all kinds of money.

  13. Foot patrol is great. Time to get to know the neighbor and show a friendlier side of policing. However, please be aware that City council members are receiving incentive to support the guild and increasing the task force. I think it is time for the community to retake their neighborhood. Block patrol, block party, and allow the community to solve their own problem is a longer term solution. On average the County book 10,000 booking every 3 months. A lot of these folks are first time offenders. When we are putting an increase level of people with criminal history and making it harder for them to find jobs we will have more crime. May we have free clinic to expunge criminal records?

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