[awal2]

I also don't think I witnessed much crime until I moved to Seattle. In the six years I've been here though I've witnessed:

1. Somebody broke into my Aunt's place while nobody was home and took some jewelry and a cell phone. Police came by, handed her a form, said nice things for five minutes then took off. Never heard anything about it again.

2. My car window smashed after being parked on the street overnight. I called the police. They pointed me to a website where I could report it so that they could keep track of statistics, but said they don't investigate individual cases. Never heard anything about it again.

3. I saw someone in a car pulling the key cylinder out and doing a thing that looked like what people do when they hot wire a car in movies (I know I'm surprised this is still a thing, it was an older car). Walked to a safe distance, called the cops. I never heard anything about it again.

4. I saw a person trying to use a screwdriver to pry the lock off a neighbor's garage as I was walking to the bus. Walked a safe distance, called the police. Never heard anything about it again.

5. People broke into the parking garage at my apartment complex and broke into cars several times. Neighbors called the police. Each time, somebody comes by, hands over a form, says there's nothing they can do. Never heard anything about it again.

I hate that this app exists. Seems terrible for all the reasons. I'm also not a hard core law-and-order person, and I don't think the answer is beefing up local law enforcement. But I can also empathize with people who live here and feel unsafe, and are looking for someone who will actually provide some level of security, although I think it's misguided to turn to this kind of app/service.

[wearywanderer]

> and I don't think the answer is beefing up local law enforcement.

Yes, I think the number of police and the funding police receive is definitely not the problem here. It doesn't matter how many cops you have or how many expensive toys those cops have. If the DA refuses to charge the people the police arrest, then the police will stop arresting people because they know it's a waste of their time. The root of the problem is with the priorities of the electorate and the people they choose to elect (DA is elected in Seattle.)

[awal2]

This is a popular take, but (with respect) I don't think a more aggressive DA is the answer for the following reasons:

A. The problem is too big to just arrest and charge everybody. There aren't enough police to track all the petty crime even if you had a DA with an appetite to charge them.

B. Even if you start heavily prosecuting the few people you do have the resources to bring in, this isn't enough of a deterrent to stop other people who are committing small time property crime. People aren't doing it simply because they can get away with it, they're doing it out of desperation.

In my opinion (feel free to disagree) the problem won't go away until there is real upward mobility for the lowest end of the economic spectrum so that people have something better to do than break into people's houses, cars and garages. There's a perverse dynamic where if you have zero money it's probably easier to be in the city of Seattle than pretty much anywhere else nearby (more shelters, more services and more other people already living in tents and vans). At the same time, the city is incredibly expensive, and there aren't a lot of entry-level jobs for people trying to get out of poverty, so making the jump from zero to stable seems like it must be really really hard here. So there's a huge wealth/income gap without any real bridge to get across it which leads to a lot of desperation, and (I think) that has more to do with anything than whatever soft policies in the DA's office.

[ClumsyPilot]

The bottleneck in crime is investigation and detectives, which need to be highly skilled and spend a lot of time.

But most peoppe seem to think police = more grunts on the streets with guns. Or lets give them bigger guns. Or give them more power to harrass random passerbies.

[johncessna]

Those may not actually be crimes in Seattle.

[BigW1lly]

You live in Seattle, there's your main problem. The local government keeps the police department hogtied, cops can't do much outside of their narrow rules of engagement. On top of that, the city's residents don't seem too enthusiastic about the 2nd Amendment either. So who or what is going to protect the flock?? Nothing it seems.

[vgel]

SPD is infamously brutal [1]. They just don't give a f** about actually helping people, just destroying homeless encampments and covering their badges at protests.

Source: Lived here for 5 years and have never seen an SPD officer do anything helpful or solve any crime, but have seen them be brutal at multiple protests. My wife literally saw someone be set on fire at a local park, but I never saw a cop there until they decided to sweep a homeless encampment a year and a half later.

[1]

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/12000-complain...

https://www.king5.com/article/news/what-the-federal-consent-...

[ALittleLight]

What are the police supposed to do in this situation? If you let them protest unconstrained they will vandalize and loot stores, not to mention block traffic. If you tell them to disperse, they won't. If you try to politely move them they will resist. Seems like tear gas and moderate physical force is completely warranted.

I agree with you that the police are useless in terms of stopping or punishing most crime though.

[AlexandrB]

What has "hogtied" the police is 30 years of the war on drugs. The framing of citizens as "the flock" is also needlessly condescending. Police are, first and foremost, public servants - not a domestic security force. Following up on the crimes listed in the parent doesn't require guns, SWAT teams, or no-knock warrants. Just phone calls and paperwork. Unfortunately individuals who think they're "sheep dogs" find that shit boring.

[hef19898]

Vigilantism gets innocent people killed. Cops not showing up, and not investigating, has nothing to do with "rules of engagement," (law enforcement is not working in a war zone), but is just plain incompetence or refusal to do ones job on behalf of the SPD. That being said, the picture non-US residents get from US law enforcement is basically incompetent neglect of duty anyway.