City Hall
City Considers Reinstating Programs Targeting Repeat Offenders on Third Ave.
As part of efforts to improve public safety on Third Avenue downtown, the Seattle Police Department is proposing the reinstatement of two programs that target repeat offenders in downtown Seattle---specifically along Third Ave., where low-level crime and street disorder are perceived to be worse than elsewhere downtown.
The two programs are the High-Impact Offender Program and the Stay Out of Drug Areas program. HIOP targeted so-called "frequent contacts" in Belltown, where 54 offenders were found to be responsible for more than 2,700 contacts with police, including calls for service and arrests.
Under HIOP, SPD developed case files on all those people and either directed them to services or targeted them for prosecution. SODA, meanwhile, allowed SPD to banish drug dealers, or just suspected drug dealers, from areas where drug dealing is common (in this case, Third Ave.) That process would start with a study by George Mason University to gather "baseline information" about just who Third Ave.'s frequent offenders are and what "micro-hot spots" they hang out at.
Bruce Harrell, the city's new public safety chair, seemed less than impressed by SPD's proposals. "What I'm looking for is something incredibly new," he said at yesterday's meeting.
Yesterday afternoon, Harrell told PubliCola, "The point I tried to make during the meeting was that I didn't really hear anything new. They were talking about hot spot policing, and that strategy is not new. The only thing I heard new was the gathering of the baseline information."
As for proposals like improved lighting, better signs for wayfinding, and---no kidding---more flower boxes---Harrell said, "When I heard that, I thought again that that was just sort of the same old same old. Those are good things, I'm very supportive of them, [but] ... we need much more sustainable outreach. Otherwise we're just pushing the problem around."
Harrell's committee will discuss the Third Avenue initiative at its next meeting, on April 18.
The two programs are the High-Impact Offender Program and the Stay Out of Drug Areas program. HIOP targeted so-called "frequent contacts" in Belltown, where 54 offenders were found to be responsible for more than 2,700 contacts with police, including calls for service and arrests.
Under HIOP, SPD developed case files on all those people and either directed them to services or targeted them for prosecution. SODA, meanwhile, allowed SPD to banish drug dealers, or just suspected drug dealers, from areas where drug dealing is common (in this case, Third Ave.) That process would start with a study by George Mason University to gather "baseline information" about just who Third Ave.'s frequent offenders are and what "micro-hot spots" they hang out at.
Bruce Harrell, the city's new public safety chair, seemed less than impressed by SPD's proposals. "What I'm looking for is something incredibly new," he said at yesterday's meeting.
Yesterday afternoon, Harrell told PubliCola, "The point I tried to make during the meeting was that I didn't really hear anything new. They were talking about hot spot policing, and that strategy is not new. The only thing I heard new was the gathering of the baseline information."
As for proposals like improved lighting, better signs for wayfinding, and---no kidding---more flower boxes---Harrell said, "When I heard that, I thought again that that was just sort of the same old same old. Those are good things, I'm very supportive of them, [but] ... we need much more sustainable outreach. Otherwise we're just pushing the problem around."
Harrell's committee will discuss the Third Avenue initiative at its next meeting, on April 18.
