Operations Lt. Pierre Davis with the Southwest Precinct discussed West Seattle crime rates and recent big arrests that put a dent in those numbers while Anti-crime Team Lt. Darin Chinn gave an lesson on youth drug use in Seattle – from the streets to medicine cabinets – at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at the SW Precinct on Feb. 15.

According to Lt. Davis, West Seattle saw a spike in burglaries and car prowls in early February.

“To curtail a lot of that activity we mobilized strategically a lot of our patrol forces out into some of these (problem) areas and to date, we have had a 39 percent significant drop in property crimes that we’ve had,” he said.

Lt. Davis cited excellent police work, with the help of community tips, in identifying specific criminals who commit serial property crime in West Seattle.

“Right now we are in the process of linking a lot of these individuals to not one, but many crimes and because of an initiative that is coming from the prosecutor’s office, if we can successfully do that it means enhanced sentences for a lot of these individuals,” he said.

Instead of spending a few days in jail for a car prowl or burglary, if police can link suspects to multiple crimes, Lt. Davis said enhanced sentences could reach months in jail – up to 25 to 50 months on the high end.

For example, SW Precinct police recently arrested a prolific catalytic converter thief according to Lt. Davis. Police caught the suspect in the act, with a stolen converter in hand (thanks to a community tipster), and hope to link him to other converter thefts.

To read more on catalytic converter theft in West Seattle, check out the Herald article, Catalytic converter thefts may be on the rise in West Seattle

Lt. Davis also previewed a new information system Seattle police are developing that will send out real-time crime warnings to blockwatch captains who can then spread the information to their neighbors. He said the program is in its infancy at this time and no release date was given.

Lt. Darin Chinn, a member of the SW Precinct Anti-Crime Team, took the podium next.

“Each of the precincts has an anti-crime team,” he said, explaining his position. “We are not subject to 911 calls so we are able to focus on special projects in crime.”

Those special projects include propositioning prostitutes, buying drugs on the streets, stakeouts, and watching for robbery, burglary and car prowl activity, he said.

Lt. Chinn, a Seattle native, spent six of his 21 years on the force as a detective in the City’s narcotics division, and used that experience as the base for his presentation on youth drug use in the Seattle area.

“As a narcotics detective I bought and sold drugs, I worked with confidential informants, I wrote search warrants … and investigated and dismantled marijuana grow operations and meth labs,” he said.

Lt. Chinn said busting drug dealers as an undercover officer in the 1990s was much easier as Seattle had more of an “open air” drug market. He could walk into many parks throughout the city and find a dealer within minutes. Today, he said, dealers and buyers are more incognito – using technology and knowledge on how police operate to communicate with stealth and make deals behind closed doors more often than in the past.

He said West Seattle has very few open-air drug sales.

Lt. Chinn listed boredom, seeking euphoria, peer pressure, weight loss and staying awake to study or party longer as the most common reasons young people use drugs.

He gave the crime prevention council information on how to identify drugs including cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin (black tar is the most common form found in Seattle), meth, MDMA (or ecstasy), marijuana, PCP, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, GHB (liquid ecstasy) and prescription drugs.

He cited a 2009 Center of Disease Control and Prevention study that found 20% of American teens had taken prescription drugs without doctor’s direction. He warned of the common perception amongst youth that they are safer than street drugs and said they are just as dangerous and habit forming.

The conversation between lieutenants and council members then shifted to a growing youth dependence on energy drinks that are loaded with caffeine and other stimulants.

“Kids, and this is something they have gotten into big time, Red Bull, Monster, you name it. It’s like soda pop and it’s highly addictive to these young people,” Lt. Davis said.

According to Lt. Davis, grocery stores in West Seattle have had a problem with teenagers stealing energy drinks from their shelves because they are expensive for a teenage budget and the kids want them.

“I would expect here very shortly … stores will start taking them off the shelves,” he said.

Lt. Davis ended the meeting by urging council members and their neighbors to contact the SW Precinct (206-733-9800) if they see potential drug dealing activity on their streets on a regular basis (or call 911 if you see a deal in progress).

“We make house calls,” he said.

For more information on the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, including future meetings at the Southwest Precinct, visit www.wscpc.org.