Sun. April 27th Safety and Self Defense Workshop

If you are worried about safety on Capitol Hill, you should check out this upcoming Self Defence Workshop.

Sunday, April 27th from 9:30am-3:00pm, Miller Community Center, 330 19th Avenue East.

This is a free workshop

Text A Tip To Crime Stoppers

Crime Stoppers has unveiled their new Text A Tip Service.
Here is how to do it

Instructions to submit a secure tip:

1. Select text “Messaging” or “SMS” (short messaging service) on your phone’s main menu.

2. Create (compose) a new message, beginning with the keyword Tip486 (not case sensitive) in the body of the message.

3. Send the message to the short code of 274637 (Crimes)

4. Your initial submission will trigger an auto response from the secure transaction server. You will receive brief notes and a unique code number to that response. You must remember this code number, as it cannot be retrieved later. You and the Crime Stoppers coordinator may elect to engage in secure and encrypted two-way dialog at the time with no additional keywords being required to communicate with the system.

5. You can text STOP to the short code 274637 (CRIMES) at any time to rest the system where you cannot be replied to by Crime Stoppers. If you do not send stop any further text messages from the same phone do not get a reply but are received. Any new text messages would require the TIP486 keyword again and would be assigned a new code number by the system

Standard text messaging rates may apply.

Crime in Seattle hits 40 year low

Seattle Press Release: Mayor Greg Nickels and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske announced today Seattle’s crime rate hit a 40 year low in 2007 with major crimes down by 14 percent compared to 2006. The crime rate per 1,000 people for 2007 was 64, the lowest it has been since 1968 when it was 62 crimes per 1,000.

All major crimes have decreased as follows:

• Murder down 20 percent
• Rape down 28 percent
• Robbery down 9 percent
• Aggravated Assault down 12 percent
• Burglary down 20 percent
• Larceny/theft down 7 percent
• Vehicle theft down 29 percent

Read the 2007 City of Seattle Crime Statistics Overview - Acrobat PDF

Seattle 2007 State of the City Address

Seattle Press Release
SEATTLE – Calling it the most significant improvement in more than 30 years in how Seattle polices its neighborhoods, Mayor Greg Nickels today rolled out his Neighborhood Policing plan, which adds 154 new patrol officers to Seattle's ranks. Nickels outlined the initiative in his 2007 State of the City address, delivered before a crowd of 500 people as a free presentation of the Rotary Club of Seattle.

The state of the city is “strong and growing stronger,” Nickels declared in his annual address, which focused on making Seattle a leader in the effort to combat climate change. The mayor said addressing challenges such as education, housing and public safety are critical elements of creating the kind of vibrant city that will absorb growth and reduce emissions-producing sprawl.

“Neighborhood policing is a faster, stronger and smarter approach to protecting our neighborhoods,” Nickels said. “Under this plan, we will expand our patrol force to the tune of 154 officers over eight years. But it's not just about adding more officers; it's about putting police officers where they're needed, when they're needed. The result is faster and stronger responses, and smarter use of our resources.”

The plan fixes three problems:

* While the Seattle Police Department meets the commonly accepted response time goal for larger cities, averaging seven minutes for high-priority emergency calls, the average is just that – an average. Response times are faster when the workload is low but exceed seven minutes during the busiest times of the week when 9-1-1 call volume is high.

* There is an imbalance between where patrol officers are deployed and workload, which means officers are not always available when and where they are needed.
* Because of the need to respond to emergency 9-1-1 calls during peak workload periods, patrol officers do not have enough time to work on proactive and specific problem-solving activities.

The plan will:

* Add 154 new patrol officers – 49 have already been added since mid-2005 and another 105 will be added between 2008 and 2012.
* Revise work shifts for patrol officers to match the workload, making officers available at the times and on the days when they are most needed. Since 1997 police officers have worked nine-hour days with rotating schedules of four days on and two days off. The shift start and end times have been basically unchanged for more than 30 years. The city and the Seattle Police Officers Guild are currently discussing alternatives.
* Redraw patrol “beats” throughout the city. The last time beats were redrawn was in the 1970s. The new plan will allow for more balanced, flexible and effective deployment of patrol officers, and will enhance officers' sense of ownership of the neighborhoods they serve.

Calling on the “Seattle Spirit” – a sense of what is possible and a determination to achieve it – Nickels also talked about accomplishments and the challenges facing Seattle.

Global warming pollution
With 418 mayors from across the nation signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to date, Seattle does not stand alone in its goal of reducing emissions by 680,000 tons by 2012. Citing Bridging the Gap and Metro's Transit Now for making it easier to get around the city, and the prevalence of efficient green buildings in Seattle, Nickels said more efforts are on the way, with a public education campaign set to kick off this fall to show people how to reduce their global warming pollution at home, at work and on the road.

“To truly turn the tides on climate change, we will need to commit to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions even more – 80 percent by 2050,” Nickels said.

Education

In 2004, Seattle voters approved the $117 million Families and Education Levy. After one full school year of levy programs, 1,500 children started school ready to learn, stayed in school or improved their grades. Another 4,900 were helped by school-based health centers, and nearly 5,000 children were immunized. Almost all of the levy programs met or exceeded the goals set for the first year. Nickels noted, while it is something to be proud of, it also means that goals must be adjusted for the years ahead.

“Our schools have reached a state of disarray that goes beyond finances – it has become a crisis of confidence. What we need most right now is a new direction – one that provides a vision for how to move forward to create the best education system in the country,” Nickels said.

Housing

New homes and new investments are sprouting up in neighborhoods throughout Seattle – in Ballard, Northgate, Southeast Seattle, and the Center City, where more than 2,000 units are already under construction. The multi-family tax credit has created 800 affordable homes throughout the city. And, Nickels said, the city's housing levy is helping in the fight to end homelessness and to create home-owning opportunities for teachers and other working people.

“People should be able to afford decent housing near where they work. The vision is clear: if you work in Seattle, you should be able to afford to live in Seattle. We have the determination to get there,” Nickels said.

For a full copy of the speech, go to: http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/speeches/stateofcity2007.htm

Identity Theft Alert! Seattle City Light customers need to be warned

Seattle Press Release
SEATTLE - Seattle City Light is issuing a warning about the possibility a thief or thieves are calling customers to obtain credit card information. The thief indicates that the customer must give them their credit card number immediately to avoid shut-off of electricity that day. In this case, the thief indicated a customer hadn’t signed their personal check for payment of their bill and to avoid a shut-off, they needed to make a credit card payment immediately.

"That simply isn’t the way the utility contacts customers,” states Carol Dickinson, Account Services Director. “Seattle City Light does not make calls to customers asking for credit card information. If a customer hadn’t signed their personal check for payment, we would take them at their word that they intended to, process the check and forward it to their bank to be funded." Dickinson adds that City Light has a prescribed method of notifying a customer if their power is going to be shut off and that includes at least two written warnings, asking customers to contact the utility directly to make a payment. "Our goal is provide our customers with power – not shut them off," says Dickinson. "The way this customer was approached and dealt with isn’t the way we do business."

All City Light customers are advised to take down the name and telephone number of anyone who calls and represents themselves as a City Light employee. Also, before a customer provides anyone with credit information, they should call City Light at 684-3000 to verify that the request is legitimate.

City Light warns customers that they could see more scams such as this shut-off threat as we get closer to the holidays. Customer service representatives are available Monday – Friday from 7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. to receive customer inquiries at 684.3000. Also, customers can e-mail City Light at respond.scl@seattle.gov

For more information, please call Peter Clarke at (206) 684-3602.

Seattle Considered Safest Major City in America

Seattle Press Release

SEATTLE - People across America view Seattle as the country’s safest major city, according to a new survey released yesterday by The Gallup Organization.

In the poll, 80 percent of those surveyed, said they considered Seattle “a safe place to live in or visit,” an increase of 5 percent from 2004 results. It is the highest rating any city has received since Gallup began the periodic poll in 1990.

“This shows that the outstanding work of the Seattle Police Department is recognized not just at home, but across the country” said Mayor Greg Nickels. “While Seattle is certainly not free of crime and violence, this ranking is something everyone can take pride in. I want to thank the men and women of the department for their tremendous service to the city.”

The poll compared the public’s perceptions of safety in 16 major cities across the country. Minneapolis was second with 73 percent. The phone survey of 500 people was conducted Oct. 9-12.

The full results of the poll are available at www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=25240

View Crime Stats by Neighborhood on a Map

Seattle Press Release on the new online mapping service

Mayor Announces Police Crime Stats Now Mapped on Seattle.gov
Award-winning Web site scores again with new ‘My Neighborhood’ feature

SEATTLE - Mayor Greg Nickels announced today that police crime data sorted by neighborhood is now available on the city’s Web site at www.seattle.gov/MyNeighborhood. Statistics on vehicle thefts, property crimes, residential burglaries, violent crimes, plus an overview of major crimes citywide, are mapped on “My Neighborhood” by census tract.

“Keeping our neighborhoods safe includes giving people the tools they need to understand how the Police Department responds to crime,” said Nickels. “Seattle is ahead of other U.S. cities in providing critical information in such an easy-to-use format, and we will be adding even more neighborhood-based statistics in the months ahead.”

The “My Neighborhood” mapping project, created by the city’s Department of Information Technology, received the 2006 Excellence Award in Strategic Innovation for Large Population Groups by the National Association of Government Webmasters (NAGW) this past week in Reno, Nevada. NAGW is the first organization for local and regional government Web professionals. The award follows on the heels of Seattle.gov being named the best city Web portal in the country in August.

“My Neighborhood” was launched in March 2006 and now has 30 city services residents and visitors can view on neighborhood-based maps. The site offers a way for the public to locate the closest public facilities, such as tennis courts, libraries, farmers markets, and fire hydrants; and to see how close they are to their home or business. Future additions to “My Neighborhood” include details on local master use permit applications and neighborhood public art. The site is used more than 8,000 times a week.