Seattle Police Southwest Precinct leadership and Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendant Christopher Williams swung by the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting on April 17 to talk safety in our parks and general crime trends for the area.

Safety in our parks
Seattle is known for its ample green space, and along with those open spaces comes hiding spots naturally provided by plants and trees. Our parks are also home to crime, from the nuisance behavior of teenagers drinking beer at night in Lincoln Park to serious criminal acts including the still-unsolved murder of Greggette Guy at Me-Kwa-Mooks Park in March of this year.

Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Christopher Williams, an ’82 Chief Sealth alumni who grew up in West Seattle, discussed how his department works with SPD to increase park safety.

He said it is a multipronged approach, including:
1) CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) and landscaping to ensure hiding spots are kept to a minimum and clear lines of sight are available for visitors.

2) Park activation. By encouraging activities and vibrant user numbers, crime inevitably goes down, Williams said. The biggest red flag for his department that a park may need some work? A lack of mothers and their children using the space.

3) Public safety, which includes police response to complaints in the parks and communication between SPD and Parks to identify problem areas – whether it be drug use, prostitution, etc.

4) Public involvement. Williams said the public’s willingness to call 911 if they see suspicious behavior in the parks is a critical piece in maintaining park safety. Additionally, he said volunteers who help the financially strapped maintenance teams clean up and hack away at those hiding spots are crucial.

Williams opened the meeting up to questions at that point and a number of facts arose from the discussion.

-Over the last three to four budget cycles, Williams said the parks dept. has endured $17 million in budget cuts.

-Lincoln Park, for its large size, has a very low crime rate relative to other parks in the city, Williams said. SW Precinct Cpt. Steve Paulsen said the primary problem at Lincoln is teenagers drinking alcohol at night, especially during the warmer months. “It’s like herding cats,” Paulsen said. He said this falls under nuisance crime and SPD usually shows up when nearby residents call to complain about noise. The kids, he said, often have predetermined escape routes and park their cars in inconspicuous locations for an incognito escape when the police do show up.

-There has been a recent effort to clear brush in the Longfellow Creek area in hopes of reducing drug and potential prostitution activity.

-It is illegal to drink alcohol or smoke marijuana (even if you have a medical marijuana card) in Seattle parks. Tobacco use must be done 25 feet away from other park patrons and nowhere near play areas, beaches or playgrounds.

-Williams said Seattle Parks prefers volunteer labor to using jail or inmate labor, because of kids in parks. He said they are looking into a vetting process that would allow non-violent and low-level offenders to help clean parks.

-Paulsen recommended always walking with someone else in our parks, especially in the evenings, and applying common sense to avoid areas if your danger senses are going off.

- How dangerous are coyotes? Williams said coyotes in our parks are known to kill cats and small dogs, but there are no documented cases of them being aggressive towards or attacking humans.

-The question was raised, “Why is there so little lighting in our parks?” Williams said, “Lighting is a tough thing,” especially in light of continual budget cuts. It doesn’t sound like more lights are coming anytime soon.

-When 4th of July comes around some residents travel to our city parks in droves to light off illegal fireworks. Williams said his department has tried out a number of solutions over the years – from closing parks down completely to locking up the bathrooms (someone inevitably tries to blow up a toilet) – but “there are no good answers – closing the park unfairly penalizes the majority.”

-WSCPC President Richard Miller asked if the Parks Dept. was aware of the new RapidRide Metro station going in at Roxhill park and whether they were concerned about increased illegal activity as a result. Williams said his department will reach out to King County Metro to discuss future plans to possibly alter the park design and reduce areas of cover.

General crime notes for West Seattle
SW Precinct Operations Lt. Pierre Davis provided the monthly crime recap, and said while property crimes have been trending down since the beginning of the new year, warmer weather tends to bring criminals out, especially when they can operate comfortably during the nighttime hours. This will likely lead to an increase in car prowls and thefts, and Davis urged citizens to take necessary safety precautions (please do not leave your laptop on the passenger-side seat) and continue to call 911 at any inkling of suspicious activity in your neighborhood.

He said SW Precinct officers will be making more park and neighborhood patrols as the weather warms up.

Regarding two recent high-profile crimes, Davis said detectives have a handful of people of interest in the April 15 Highland Park sexual assault and robbery of a woman walking home from a bus stop, although an arrest has not been made. SPD continues to be closely guarded in releasing information on the Greggette Guy murder investigation, but Davis did say, “Detectives are working on specific leads.”

The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets on the third Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m., at the Southwest Precinct. The following Tuesday (April 24 this month), the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains' Network will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the same location. Southwest Precinct Officer Jonathan Kiehn will discuss CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) principles for the home and yard.