Seattle police declare ‘public safety emergency’

The Seattle Police Department declared a ‘public safety emergency’ Wednesday, amid a drastic increase in the number of homicides and violent crimes.

There have been nine homicides to date in 2012, including three in the past two days. It is a significant rise, considering there were three total by this time in 2011. The department has also responded to a number of shootings this year that “could have easily become homicides.”

“For us this is alarming,” said Deputy Chief Nick Metz. “We’ve had numerous people injured; we’ve had numerous people murdered. That’s not the norm for Seattle. We believe that this rises to the level of an emergency.”

The department will reevaluate how they deploy officers, putting emphasis patrols in areas that have seen increased violence in recent weeks. In addition to homicide detectives, Metz said the gang unit and patrol officers have been utilized to assist in murder investigations.

Meanwhile, the department has asked that the public remain vigilant.

“If you see something that you believe is getting ready to go down, rather than waiting for a gun to come out, call 911,” Metz said. “This is about saving lives.”

Gun violence in particular has increased in entertainment districts, said Metz, where many shootings begin as fights inside a club where “somebody disrespected somebody else.”

“(They) bumped into them at a nightclub, or engaged in a drug deal that may have gone bad.”

Metz said the department does not attribute the rise to an increase in gang-related retaliations, as the city has seen in previous years, although police believe some of those involved in recent homicides are gang members.