The Central Ballard Residents Association hosted Seattle Police Chief, Kathleen O’Toole, last night at Swedish Hospital in Ballard.

CBRA held the meeting to discuss crime issues in Ballard and the growing demand for police presence on the North end.

About 50 North Seattle residents came out to meet Chief O’Toole. They filled the conference room at Swedish and eagerly awaited the 7 p.m. arrival of the chief. The meeting was the fourth public meeting Chief O’Toole has attended in Ballard in the last month.

“This is a very important time to be here because I know many of you have concerns about a lot of the challenges you’ve been facing lately, and this is a wonderful neighborhood; every time I’ve been here there is a real sense of community that’s a great thing,” said O’Toole. “But I know you’ve faced some significant challenges recently.”

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole.

Chief O’Toole named property crime, car theft, burglaries and challenges with homelessness as the major issues in Ballard.

She reported that Mayor Ed Murray has asked SPD to focus on property crime, and so SPD has formed a Property Crime Task Force, where additional officers will be working exclusively with the North Precinct until property crime is reduced. The official announcement for the task force will be made in the coming weeks.

Another major issue Chief O’Toole discussed was response times to Priority II and III (PI, PII, PIII) reports.

“Everybody knows we are facing challenges in SPD with staffing. We are really good at getting to Priority I usually – there are exceptions – but we are really good at getting to Priority I calls when there are emergency situations, when somebody’s life is in danger.”

Chief O’Toole noted SPD being better than the national average for response times to PI emergencies. However, she said SPD is struggling with PII and PIII calls.

“I know that’s been frustrating for many of you, and I share that frustration. … But because of the large geography they (officers) are covering…it makes it even more difficult for them to traverse the North Precinct.”

Chief O’Toole reported crime report calls have gone up by 60 percent on the North end in the last five years. The Mayor has responded to this and other staffing challenges by making a commitment to add 200 more officers in the next few years.

One immediate action Chief O’Toole said SPD has done to remedy the growing need on the North end is bring in more units from around the city. She noted that since November SPD has:

• Caught a burglar responsible for 23 burglaries and linked to stolen firearm distribution
• Recovered a $4,000 industrial generator
• Apprehended an unregistered sex offender camping by the Ballard Locks
• Made over 100 arrests in Ballard from November through January

“Hopefully people will continue to get the message and continue to see the crime trend move in the right direction.”

Also, Chief O’Toole discussed SPD looking into implementing handheld devices and smart phones to expedite writing reports. She also reported SPD will be assigning locations where officers could file reports so they do not need to go back to the North Precinct between incidences.

Also, SPD has implemented a Micro-Community Police Plan to address the nuances of problems in each community. So far O’Toole reported 60 policy plans and that SPD is working with Seattle University to gather not only quantitative statistical data but also qualitative in order to understand crime trends and solutions.

“How are people feeling? It’s quality of life issues in the neighborhood. Fear of crime is as bad as crime itself. So we need to address that as well.”

In addition, the audience had about 45 minutes to ask questions.

CBRA founder, Michael Kahrs (right) and concerned Ballardite at the meeting last Feb. 17.

One major issue brought up was if police are enforcing laws on the homeless with “one arm tied around their backs.” On Ballard man asked if officers have been instructed to “stand down” when enforcing parking laws on the homeless, yet maintain strict enforcement on citizens who are not camping.

Chief O’Toole mentioned the 72-hour limit for RVs camping in industrial areas and how campers are not allowed to park on residential streets. However, she said that even that can be problematic.

“Some of these people are very sophisticated though. Some people say just before the 72 hours ‘Oh I can move to another location.’ So we are also working with the Mayor's Office, with the Council to develop strategies to deal with some of these challenges – these legal barriers that we have, too.”

To homeless in general, Chief O’Toole said, “Homelessness…itself is not a crime, it’s a tragedy. Substance abuse is a tragedy, and we want to give people who have crisis, mental health issues…services as well, but we need to hold people accountable for criminal activity.”

Chief O’Toole contended that State, County and City agencies would need to work together to address the problems discussed.