Tag Archives: police

Mid-Beacon residents to discuss crime prevention

Neighbor Deirdre writes to share:

A crime prevention specialist from Seattle City Police will be meeting with residents of mid-Beacon Hill at Maple Elementary, 4925 Corson Ave. S. on Wednesday, November 20, 6:30 – 7:45 p.m.

We will be learning about:

  1. Recent crimes in the neighborhood
  2. The new marijuana laws – what’s legal, what’s not legal, and who to call if you have concerns.
  3. How to recognize and report suspicious activity
  4. Basic crime prevention techniques, and more.

Refreshments will be served. All are welcome!

SPD Outreach Conversations come to Jefferson Community Center

Safe CommunitiesJefferson Community Center will be hosting two small group “Outreach Conversations” on January 9 and 17, led by the Seattle Police Department as part of SPD’s Safe Communities initiative. This is Phase II of the outreach project; in Phase I, large precinct-based community meetings were held. The South Precinct meeting, at South Shore K-8 School on October 29, resulted in this community feedback.

Phase III will be a precinct-based “summit” meeting in March 2013, with delegates chosen from attendees at the Phase II meeting. Phase IV, in May, will conclude the process with a report to the community based on the earlier discussions, and identification of the next steps in creating safer neighborhoods by engaging with the community.

The small group meetings will be held at Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.) on Wednesday, January 9 and Thursday, January 17 at 7 p.m. Space is limited for both meetings and sign up is required. To sign up, call Jefferson Community Center at 206-684-7481.

SPD officers tour greenbelt investigating recent gunfire

On Monday, about 40 officers from the Seattle Police Department and the Department of Corrections searched the “Jungle,” the greenbelt on northwest Beacon Hill, looking for possible weapons and shooting victims after nearby neighbors reported the sounds of gunfire within the greenbelt. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee (formerly with The Stranger, Seattle Crime, and Publicola, now with the SPD) wrote an interesting post (with photos) on the search at the SPD Blotter blog:

After a day of crisscrossing overgrown, muddy pathways along the west side of Beacon Hill Monday, three South Precinct officers stand on a leaf-covered hillside just below Holgate Street, digging up a patch of dirt.

They’re looking for a body.

The officers, along with dogs trained to find weapons or human remains, spent seven hours trekking through the woods and interviewing more than 150 people living in and around the greenbelt. No weapons were found, and the only remains found turned out to belong to an animal.

The Community Police Team will revisit the greenbelt with social workers and representatives of the Department of Neighborhoods over the next week to assist those living in the “Jungle” in connecting with needed social services.

You’re invited to a virtual “ride along”

Next Tuesday, November 15, everyone is invited to “ride along” with Seattle Police officer Nate Shopay to get a taste of life for a patrol officer on Beacon Hill. That’s right, everyone. There’s room for the whole neighborhood, since it’s a virtual ride along — a Tweetalong! Shopay will use Twitter to post his experiences on a typical day patrolling Beacon Hill between South Orcas Street and South Othello Street, during the second watch shift from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Seattle Police Twitter account is @SeattlePD. On the day of the Tweetalong, search for #tweetalong on that account to follow the tweets.

Responses wanted for public safety survey

The City of Seattle is currently conducting an online survey on the topics of public safety and the Seattle Police Department, with the help of graduate students from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs. The project will gather Seattleites’ views about public safety concerns in their own neighborhoods and on public transportation. The resulting data will be used to help police and city officials improve police services.

The survey is anonymous and takes about 15 minutes to complete. You can access it here.

You can read more about the survey here.

Beacon Bits: Police, playground, and planting

Click this to see a larger version of the event poster.
This Saturday you can meet your local police officers, tour the precinct building, and enjoy music, dancing, and free food at this year’s Picnic at the Precinct. All South Precinct residents are invited to this free community event, which will be held from 1:00 – 4:00 pm in the South Precinct parking lot, 3001 South Myrtle Street.

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Nearby in the South Beacon Hill area, Seattle Parks and Recreation will host a meeting for the Othello Playground Safety and Lighting Improvement project on Monday, September 20 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm at the Van Asselt Community Center, 2820 South Myrtle Street.

At this meeting, the design team will present schematic designs for the project, based on information gathered at the first meeting in May and at the August Othello Park International Music and Art Festival.

For more information, please contact Rick Nishi, Parks and Green Spaces Levy Manager at 206-733-9319 or at rick.nishi@seattle.gov, or visit the project website.

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The Beacon Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library will host a special story time for children on Saturday, October 2 at 3:30 pm featuring an actor in costume as the television character Kai-lan from Ni Hao, Kai-lan. The story time is free and registration is not required. Kai-lan will read from one of her Mandarin Chinese/English bilingual books, and giveaways and photo opportunities will be available. The story time is presented in partnership with the Seattle Theatre Group in promotion of the upcoming stage show Storytime Live! at the Paramount Theatre.

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Neighbor Julie writes, “This very friendly cat appeared at our door last night (9/8/10). It is a small, black and white, with an interesting tail. We live in the 19th Ave S. and Horton neighborhood. Please call Julie at 206-999-9231 to claim it.”

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You still have time to submit an application with the Seattle Releaf “Trees for Neighborhoods” program. The application deadline has been extended to October 4 for the program, in which participants receive free trees, training, and some supplies to get started caring for their trees. Trees may be planted along the street or in your yard. To find out more and to get your application, check out the website.

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Another way to help green-up your neighborhood is coming on October 10, with a Maple School Natural Area Invasive Species Removal and Native Planting work party. The work party is from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, followed by a social party until 6:00 pm. All you need to bring is yourself—refreshments, tools, and gloves will be provided.

The Maple School Natural Area is located at 20th Avenue South and South Lucile Street, near Cleveland High School. You can find out more about the event and RSVP at the website.

Parkland shooting suspect reported captured, dead in Othello area

According to scanner reports, the suspect in the Lakewood police shootings, Maurice Clemmons, was captured earlier this morning in the 4400 block of South Kenyon Street, and KIRO 7, KIRO 97.3, CBS Radio News, and several other local media outlets have just now reported that he is dead.

The location on South Kenyon is east of Beacon Hill, in the Brighton/Othello neighborhood on the other side of Martin Luther King Way South. On Monday, police swarmed North Beacon Hill on 17th Avenue, and near the Jungle and Jose Rizal Bridge in pursuit of Clemmons.

On Twitter, @rahnerseatimes (Mark Rahner of the Seattle Times) reports that there was a shooting at the South Kenyon location at around 2:39 am, and that “Clemmons (is) said to have challenged police who approached him and was shot.”

Movement was seen inside the house near which Clemmons was captured, and SWAT teams have moved in and a perimeter has been set up around the house.


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Home invasion robbery by men posing as police

SeattleCrime.com has details of a home invasion robbery at an apartment near 13th and Beacon in the early morning of November 1st. A couple was robbed of several thousand dollars by six men dressed as police officers.

From the story, the couple seems to think they were targeted after having gone to a taco stand earlier in the evening. I wonder what could have happened at a taco stand to make these criminals interested in tracking down and robbing these victims.

Update: KOMO has more details.

South Precinct: Adiós Capt. Liggins, hello Capt. Emerick

Captain Dave Emerick, new commander of the SPD South Precinct. Photo courtesy SPD.
Captain Dave Emerick, new commander of the SPD South Precinct. Photo courtesy SPD.
A big shake up in the command-level of the Seattle Police Department was announced this morning. Of relevance to Beacon Hill and other areas in the South Precinct:

Captain Dave Emerick, a 25-year veteran of the police force, is leaving the Violent Crimes Section to become the new South Precinct commander. Captain Emerick will lead approximately 83 officers assigned to Patrol Operations, including a Community Police Team and a plain-clothes Anti-Crime Team. Captain Emerick has previously served in the Gang Unit, Narcotics Section, Homicide Unit and Harbor Patrol. This will be Captain Emerick’s first precinct command.

Captain Les Liggins, a 24-year veteran, is departing the South Precinct to assume command of the Narcotics Section, where he will oversee three squads of detectives and the Drug Court Liaison. Captain Liggins brings to the assignment experience leading the Metropolitan Section (SWAT, Mounted Patrol, and K9 Patrol), Fraud, Forgery and Financial Exploitation, Auto Theft, and Audit Accreditation and Policy.

For more details on other changes in the SPD command structure, see the this article on the SPDBlotter.