Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Pierre Davis covered the continuing drop in West Seattle crime and an upcoming campaign to educate citizens on car theft prevention while Pete Rogerson explained the role of the Seattle Police Domestic Violence Victim Support Team at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at the Southwest Precinct on March 15.

“For the month we’ve had a significant drop in the type of activities I just spoke about … we at pretty much an eight month to a year low since this time last year and significant reductions in a lot of those crimes, especially our burglaries, we’ve made some significant arrests there,” Lt. Davis said.

He went on to say the prosecutor’s office has done a good job of handing out extended sentences for serial offenders arrested in West Seattle.

“They’re going bye-bye for a long time, which we enjoy seeing,” he said.

Lt. Davis also commended the vocal community of West Seattle for the high volume of tips the precinct receives and asked that the trend continue.

“If you see something out there let us know,” he said. “Keep spilling the beans, we like catching the bad guys.”

A member of the audience asked Lt. Davis about what is being done to combat car thefts in West Seattle and he said the SW Precinct Community Police Team officers are currently putting together a campaign to educate citizens on steps to reduce the risks of having a vehicle stolen.

He said older model Japanese vehicles (Toyotas, Hondas, etc) have been the most common cars stolen in recent history, the location of thefts have been random throughout the peninsula and detectives are actively trying to identify serial offenders.

Pete Rogerson, a nine year volunteer veteran of the program, spoke to the council about the SPD’s Domestic Violence Victim Support Team (VST). Essentially, the VST is a “unique partnership between community members and police to address and prevent domestic violence,” according to their website at http://www.seattle.gov/police/involved/volunteer/default.htm.

Rogerson said the program is made up of 90 citizen volunteers, mostly women and some who have experience domestic violence in their past, who work weekend shifts in pairs, responding to officer requests to come to the aid of domestic violence victims. Their help comes in many forms, from driving victims away from a dangerous situation to being there to talk to explaining support functions provided by the city and state.

“When an officer is at a domestic violence scene they will offer our services, they’ll mention to the victim that we have available some trained volunteers who are willing to help and if the victim says yes, they do want our help, then we come to the scene if it is safe and do our best to help,” he said.

“One of the empowering things that we do for domestic violence victims is sometimes we give them, for the first time in a long time, a choice,” Rogerson said. “We give them the choice of what kind of help they want if they want any help at all.”

While on shift, volunteers drive around the city in an unmarked city vehicle with a police radio, ready to go wherever they are needed.

Although full on volunteers now, Rogerson said anyone interested in getting on the waiting list can contact Dana Lockhart, program manager of the Victim Support Team, at dana.lockhart@seattle.gov or 206-615-0890.

Rogerson said potential volunteers go through an extensive background check, 50 hours of training and agree to a one-year commitment to volunteer a shift at least one weekend a month.

“It’s very rewarding and I tell people I can go home and somehow I can go to sleep that night after the shift so I continue to do it because I know that not everyone else can do that – it’s not suited for everyone,” he said, adding that there is a pretty high attrition rate for people who go through the training but find coming face-to-face with domestic violence difficult.

Lt. Davis, who has worked with VST volunteers since the program began in 1997, said, “I have worked with the Victim Support Team since they came on board and … they are an extraordinary resource for our officers out there … job well done.”

In other announcements, Karen Berge with the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains’ Network said their next meeting will be Tuesday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Southwest Precinct Community Room. Berge said safety through environmental design will be the main topic.

Richard Miller, president of the crime prevention council, reminded everyone of the next council meeting on April 19 where a representative from Seattle Department of Transportation will speak about safety issues involving traffic in West Seattle.

For more information on the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, visit http://wscpc.blogspot.com/.