Please come to next Thursday’s (August 22nd) East Precinct Advisory Council Community meeting! We are meeting at 6:30 PM at Seattle University’s Chardin Hall, at 1020 East Jefferson.
Several of you have had questions and concerns about if, when and what to say when calling 911.To address your concerns, we have invited Rob Montague, a 911 call center trainer, who will be able to address any issues and questions you may have.
In other news, we’d like to thank and bid farewell to our operations Lt. Matt Allen, who’ll be leaving us to join the SWAT Unit. Lt. Allen has been a dedicated presence, always taking the time to understand and care about the needs of our community! Thank you, Lt Allen and best to you in your new assignment!
Our new Operations person is Lt. Bryan Grenon. Also just assigned to the East Precinct is Lt. Ron Rasmussen, the new 2nd watch commander. Welcome to the East Precinct Lt. Grenon and Lt Rasmussen! Both Lt. Grenon and Lt. Rasmussen will be at next Thursday’s meeting, so here’s your chance to welcome them in person!
EastPAC meetings are the perfect opportunity to meet face to face with police, city attorney precinct liaison and your fellow community members. Mark your calendar for next Thursday!
EastPAC Community Meeting
Thursday, August 22nd, 6:30 to 8:00 PM
Chardin Hall, Room 142, Seattle University
1020 East Jefferson
(Enter campus at 11th and East Jefferson, park free in the lot, enter the building and head to the right down the hall)
Thank you, Seattle University, for your partnership!
Plan to attend.
This is a good idea, and I’m glad you’re paying attention to what kinds of questions and concerns people are actually raising. Great!
Unfortunately, I cannot make tonight’s meeting. I hope the community can get some answers about the recent arsons and SPD’s progress on this case.
So they want to tell us when not to call? I’ll decide that. They can respond when we ask them to or we handle it ourselves. Would rather it be loke that anyway.
They told us to keep making those calls a lot, though they’d kind of like us to call the non-emergency number, the one with the long list of voicemail options. What was not-so-clear is what to expect — anything???—-after the call goes in.
Did they share that calls made to the non emergency number do not count in the allocation of police resources, i.e. more calls to the non emergency number results in fewer police assigned to the precinct over time.
They assured us that those calls do count for police resource allocation.
I’m going to keep calling 911 anyway — I hate eight-deep voicemail trees.
Unless — as Pinebeetle said — I did something really dumb. (I’d report it anyway if I’d left my wallet on a picnic table and it was gone when I got back — but probably on-line, so I didn’t have to talk to anyone!)
It is really quite simple.
If a crime is being committed that warrants authority greater than my own to address, then, it is an emergency and I call 911.
If a situation seems really creepy like a guy clearly following a woman and scoping out her house, or, fidgetty crack head lurking in front of the house, or, ongoing drug sales – then I call 911. The alternative would be to directly intervene and risk a shoot out.
If a significant crime has occured in the past several days such as rape or burglary or other felony – then 911.
If a misdomenor has occured in the past and the value or impact is small, then, call non-emergency or report online, or just forget about it and be more vigilant next time. These things are often your own fault like leaving strollers or bikes on the porch. That is not an emergency, it’s just really dumb. For these things report yourself to the police for negligence or go see a psychologist.
If police cannot respond to 911 calls in a timely manner (less than 10 minutes) then it is our obliglation to assure that the community is secured and justice serviced quickly.