Sneaking a meeting in before the snow began to fall, the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council met on Jan. 17 and heard from Southwest Precinct Lt. Pierre Davis and Officer William Witt of the Aggressive Driving and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Teams.

West Seattle crime trends
Lt. Davis, in his monthly crime report, said, “Here in the West Seattle corridor we had just been getting hit with a lot of burglaries … and it was a trend we had never seen before up here,” referring to a significant rise in year-end burglaries and car thefts.

Lt. Davis said the upsurge was due to a “huge nexus” of coordinated thieves hitting not only much of Puget Sound, but even as far south as Portland. In response, he said the Southwest Precinct has started working with other precincts and counties, sharing information on a linked network.

“It is starting to pay off,” he said, citing the identification of up to 50 suspects and the arrest of 17 related to West Seattle property crime. Davis used the week of January 8th as evidence of the shift: There were five burglaries reported for that week versus 25 in the first week of December in addition to a drop in auto thefts.

Lt. Davis said the investigation of this “nexus” of connected criminals includes looking into where the stolen items end up – be it a pawn shop in Tacoma, Craigslist or somebody’s garage. Understanding the movement of stolen goods after the theft will help identify the breadth and structure of that nexus, he said.

He also added some of the thieves recently arrested have gang ties, but not all.

Officer William Witt on aggressive drivers, commercial vehicle enforcement and DUIs
A West Seattle resident and 17-year veteran with the Seattle Police Department, Officer William Witt visited the Crime Prevention Council to answer questions on any and all topics traffic-related. Witt recently left the SPD Aggressive Driving Squad to join the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Team.

Much of the conversation steered towards self-reporting of aggressive driving – civilian or commercial. From isolated incidents (a semi or civilian vehicle flying by well above the speed limit) to habitually bad behavior (that teenager down the street that goes 50 on a residential street on his way to work), Witt encouraged everyone to call the Traffic Section Administration line at (208) 684-8722 to file an official complaint.

“Even if we don’t catch that individual (proof of speeding is required to issue a citation), we can increase patrol in that area,” he said.

With those reports, according to Witt, Seattle Police traffic officers do their best to set up a traffic sting, although he admitted increasingly decreasing staff levels due to budget cuts make it harder and harder to cover all the issues.

Witt said “aggressive driving” is not a crime, but the term covers the gamut from speeding to tailgating to erratic lane changes, which are citation-worthy offenses.

Witt said aggressive driving units generally focus on major arterials proven to be problem areas (the West Seattle Bridge, 35th Ave. and other spots in West Seattle are consistently a problem), but the broader traffic department (60 officers) occasionally move into residential areas.

The commercial enforcement squad, comprised of four officers including Witt, is cracking down on truck drivers with faulty equipment and poor driving habits, mostly works in the downtown and industrial districts, including Harbor Island, he said.

“You will be hearing about us a lot more and seeing us a lot more,” Witt said, taking a “new sheriff in town” approach to commercial enforcement.

Witt said aggressive driving patrols at the 4th Ave exit along the West Seattle Bridge have decreases significantly since Viaduct construction began. The changes have made it difficult to safely post up, he said.

When asked if speeders and aggressive drivers fit into a particular mold, Witt said he has pulled people over from every age group and socioeconomic background imaginable.

In his career Witt has spent time as a DUI officer (under Lt. Davis before he moved to the Southwest Precinct from Traffic), and after making hundreds of alcohol-related arrests he was given the nod to become a Drug Recognition Expert.

DRE’s, as they are known, specialize in determining exactly what drugs someone is under the influence when alcohol is not the culprit, yet the individual is acting strangely.

He is trained in spotting the warning signs of every drug from depressants to stimulants to narcotic analgesics. Constricted pupils, elevated pulse, cold skin to the touch – they are all signs of different drugs that may be in someone’s system. Depending on the circumstances (say a hit-and-run), and after an extensive (and voluntary) drug evaluation in the field, suspects may be asked to submit to a blood test at Harborview. If the suspect refuses, police occasionally obtain a search warrant for that blood, Witt said.

The blood is sent to a crime lab and the results are submitted to prosecutors if charges are to be filed.

The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets on the third Tuesday of the month at the Southwest Precinct (2300 S.W. Webster St.). Their next meeting is on February 21st and information on the Violent Crime Task Force will be presented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Otake.