911 call counting may hurt South Seattle
Apr 7, 2016, 10:49 AM | Updated: 10:55 am
In general, the Seattle Police Department allocates resources based on numbers of 911 calls, but that may hurt places like Rainier Beach, where many won't call 911. (KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
KIRO 7 walked with the president of the South Seattle Crime Prevention council past the sidewalk memorial for the victim of last Saturday’s homicide in Rainier Beach.
We asked Pat Murakami if she believes there are enough police resources here. “No, there aren’t enough even city-wide,” she responded.
Pat Murakami says police tell her the south precinct has 68 percent of the reported gunshots, but only 20 percent of the city’s population.
“Who wants to live like that. Are we in a war torn country or are we in Seattle?” she said,
In general, the Seattle Police Department allocates resources based on the number of 911 calls, but Murakami says that hurts places like Rainier Beach, where many just won’t call 911.
“There are people that are deathly afraid of the police based on their experience with the police in their home country and they will not call.”
We talked with Seattle police and they told us they don’t always go strictly by the 911 call counts when deciding where to allocate police resources. They told us they do respond to trends they say that may not be showing up in those numbers.
Police point to seven arrests in the last few days in their effort to focus on gun crimes in South Seattle neighborhoods.
Elias Bullock heard the shots last Saturday and wants to police to be more visible.
“I would love to see them in the community, building relationships, and not just having to be here when there is something that goes wrong,” he said.
