‘Shocking’ number of arrests for ‘serious’ Seattle drug dealers

MyNorthwest commenter yadda1’s response to a major Seattle drug bust is filled with sarcasm, but maybe some truth, too.

After news broke that the Seattle Police Department busted eight dealers in the University District that have each been arrested at least 25 times, our own yadda1 made an interesting point.

“Oh, it’s 30 strikes, not 3 strikes, my bad,” yadda1 wrote.

The dealers’ records give some insight into the revolving door of the justice system. Just take a look at how the city handled those 95 arrests made in downtown earlier this year.

Rather than sending suspected dealers to prison, the plan was to enroll at least some in a diversion program. That some ended up being only 11, as many weren’t eligible for the program; oh, and let’s not forget that 10-15 others who were eligible were not located since the arrests.

But the most recent arrests for suspected drug dealing, of which there were 20 total, is not surprising, as KIRO Radio’s John Curley and Tom Tangney point out.

John Curley: Shocking news that people are actually doing drugs in the University District.

Tom Tangney: Eight out of 20 had 25 convictions on their records. It is amazing. What I was wondering when I heard this, and how they arrested so many people, I wondered if they were taking advantage of the fact that marijuana is legal and they were selling it illegally. But these are not grass sellers.

JC: No, they’ve got everything.

TT: These guys are serious dealers. There is a question of if they have been arrested so many times, are we not being hard enough? Right now, there is a movement that we’ve been too hard on drug crimes. The problem is, if you can be arrested 25 times and be out on the street…

JC: If there’s a marketplace for it, and a demand, there will be someone selling it.

TT: Now officials are eliminating access to alleyways and alcoves, which is what they did near my bus stop. They went after dealers by clearing out the alleyways.

But by eliminating access to the nooks and crannies of the University District, will that just push dealers to other areas of the city?