Someone Violated Us

John Hayes nailed it in the Leschi community forum last week: "Someone violated us."

Someone from outside our neighborhood, from outside Seattle, drove here on Halloween night and murdered one of our cops with a military assault rifle. Not a gangster, not a drug dealer, but an educated man with access to too much firepower and a detailed plan for murder.

The fact is that violent crime is way down around here. There were 29 homicides in Seattle in 2008. Five of those were in the East Precinct, which is less than our per-capita share. With just seven weeks left in 2009, there's been 17 homicides across the city (a 30% decrease), and the murder of Officer Brenton was only the third in this part of town. Compare any of those numbers to other large cities across the nation, and it's clear that Seattle, the East Precinct, and the Central District are very safe places to live.

And the improvement goes beyond violent crime. For example, last year you could drive past 21st & Union or 28th & Jackson any time of the day or night and see gang members hanging out, selling drugs, and generally causing trouble. That is no longer the case. Also, 23rd & Union had been a non-stop open air drug market for years. But since the Drug Market Initiative started, 23rd & Union is now a quiet place where people go to get a haircut, mail their letters, and wait for the bus.

So thanks to the East Precinct officers that have done some excellent police work in the last year to make this part of Seattle a better and safer place to live. Thanks to all of the community members who have organized block watches, gone on neighborhood litter patrols, and kept an eye out for their neighbors.

There's definitely still work to do. There are murderers walking the streets of Seattle. They are the people who killed Tyrone Love, who killed Quincy Coleman, who have grievously wounded others in the neighborhood, and they need to be brought to justice. There's still far too many burglaries and thefts that have a real impact on people's lives. And there is still not enough funding for programs like GOTS that help people get off the streets, off drugs, and into a positive life.

Let's use this latest tragedy as a reason to continue to work together and make even more progress in 2010.