Leschi Community meeting

May 4, 2016—Meeting began with the Leschi Star Awards to residents who have made a difference.

Our speaker was Grant Ballingham, acting East Precinct Captain while Capt. Paul McDonagh is away. He covered the new reporting mechanism for the Seattle Police department: SeaStat. One can view the statistics online, but internally they capture a picture of the most prevalent crimes, what is up and what is down compared to last month and the year before, and the Captain decides what is to be done about it.

He spoke about the prevalence of car break-ins as seen on NextDoor Leschi. Even when nothing of value is in sight, folks are finding their windows smashed and things of little value (except to the owner) taken, like workout clothes in a gym bag in the trunk. Grant felt that these crimes are driven by addiction, even though the gains can be small. Again, he encouraged folks not to leave valuables in their cars, but this is a hard one for the police to deal with unless they hear about a robbery in progress. Most folks discover it the next morning or even a few days later. He urged reporting it even if you have not seen anything suspicious.

He had been asked about the coming long hot summer, when we often have gunfire near our favorite parks. The Chief is planning for increased staff to be visible near the hot spots and the East Precinct is planning to hold their summer picnic at Powell Barnett Park this year: July 16.

Grant answered some audience questions and we had a short discussion about what is “suspicious activity.” He agreed that it was situational and one person’s suspicious activity might not be the same for someone in a high traffic area.