3 ms·

Plenty of people have an incentive to report higher numbers of crime. Why would they stay silent? Even the news would love a higher crime rate and they the mos

Plenty of people have an incentive to report higher numbers of crime. Why would they stay silent? Even the news would love a higher crime rate and they the most capable to sell the story and extract the profits.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago
Because you report shoplifting or any other property crime for the Nth time without the police even bothering to show up, why keep reporting it? Even an assault on the street isn't worth reporting these days. Unless you have some sort of immediate danger, you'll just be shunted around the phone system and maybe a cop will contact you a few days later at 10PM at night.
- ofjcihen 3y ago
  Why is that any less of an incentive to report than it was, say, 2 decades ago? Doesn’t it make more sense that the numbers are accurate?
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    The cops didn't take that long to take your report 2 decades ago.
    - chaps 3y ago
      LOL. Please back this up with some form of proof.
      - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        It isn't rocket science: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/mayor-bruce-harrell-new-seattle-police-recruitment-plan-staffing-reaches-30-year-low/281-e98429ee-fc88-47f6-8890-b961393e2047 https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/mayor-bruce... We simply have less cops (and more people) in 2023 than we did in 2003.
        chaps 3y ago
        Friend, I asked for proof -- not conjecture. With everything related to policing, these things are never as simple as "simply have less [sic] cops". Reporting requirements change, dispatch systems change, unit composition changes, etc etc.
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        Here: 1. Many less police than 20 years ago 2. Police still have to take reports for these things, not to mention they have other things they have to do. 3. Overworked police have to prioritize what parts of their jobs they get done. There is no conjecture about it, it simply is. And it explains how Seattle reported crime was down 4% in 2022 while homicide was up 24%. > With everything related to policing, these things are never as simple as "simply have less [sic] cops". Reporting requirements change, dispatch systems change, unit composition changes, etc etc. Those things change very slowly, if at all, over 20 years. They still need people to pick up the phone, and online reporting isn't applicable to larger crimes (they'll tell you that you can't file online and must call the non-emergency number).
        chaps 3y ago
        Again, I've asked for proof and you've given me handwaved personal interpretations. So let me ask directly: what is your proof that dispatch time/reporting is less than it was 20 years ago? Mind you, I professionally do reporting work with police/jail data and I have intimate and often granular familiarity with much of this. Like I said, this stuff is never as simple as a couple numbers here and there. I wish it was, since that'd make my job a LOT easier! So as a courtesy to me and yourself, please raise your standard of proof and give me something with actual substance.
  - michaelmrose 3y ago
    2 decades ago we were a bit more heavy handed about actual prosecution rather than announcing that the police had so few resources that they wouldn't be handling any new sexual assault cases in 2022. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/seattle-police-halted-investigating-adult-sexual-assaults-this-year-internal-memo-shows/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/sea...
- Larrikin 3y ago
  It sounds like you're just making it up because you are refusing to cite any evidence and you have been asked multiple times for evidence
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    I've cited plenty of evidence. It looks like some people have a certain reality that they want to believe is true, while the rest of us just suffer from having to live with the actual reality.
  - michaelmrose 3y ago
    I'm not the original poster but I can confirm that in many maybe even most reporting crimes makes little sense. I chased off an ex coworker who was literally throttling another coworker in a Walmart parking lot. The police arrived after and declined to take a statement, or evidence, or pursue the matter even though the attacker had a known name and address. A local yokel tried to burn my apartment building down twice setting a fire in the interior stairwell at the top of the building around midnight endangering 50 some apartments. He lost his phone at the scene of attempt 1 and 30 days later came back to try again but nobody put any serious effort towards this. Locally the perp is throught to be a local drug dealer who.. Assaulted a neighbor in the parking lot on a different occasion before I pepper gelled him. Police actually showed up for that one again after it was over and threatened me with prosecution for pepper spraying the fellow that attacked someone. In Seattle I dealt with multiple dangerous situations with looney tunes that are literally mental patients wandering the streets committing crimes many times by GTFO a few times by standing up to crazies that were threatening me or mine and once with judicious application of pepper spray vs a fellow that had already got physical. In no case would it have been possible to get a cop during the situation nor useful to consult thereafter. They literally announced in 2022 that they had no detectives to handle new sexual assault cases THAT YEAR https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/seattle-police-halted-investigating-adult-sexual-assaults-this-year-internal-memo-shows/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/sea... They sure as fuck aren't assigning any resources to figure at which mental patient tried to punch a citizen. This is the same reason you see property crime unreported unless such a report is specifically required for insurance purposes. No law enforcement nor prosecutorial resources will be tasked if its reported. For instance I witnessed hundreds of cases of attempted or successful shoplifting that certainly exceeded the figure required for it to be a felony but I myself reported zero to the police nor was I allowed to do so and I know for a fact few if any were pursued for the same logical reason. There is no reason to believe that the city or state would carry such an endeavor to completion. Then there was the fellow that broke into our building and pushed my wife down and tried to steal her keys. Had to handle that one myself too and put the fellow on the ground. To their credit the cops did show up again after the fact to actually haul the idiot off and charge him. If you gift wrap an incredibly clear cut case and apprehend the bad buy the cops will after the dangerous situation is over act as a glorified taxi and move the bad guy for you. A whole lot of work to move one addict from a cell to a drug treatment program he hopefully completed. Anecdotally it does feel like its getting worse in the last several years.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

Because you report shoplifting or any other property crime for the Nth time without the police even bothering to show up, why keep reporting it? Even an assault on the street isn't worth reporting these days. Unless you have some sort of immediate danger, you'll just be shunted around the phone system and maybe a cop will contact you a few days later at 10PM at night.

ofjcihen 3y ago
Why is that any less of an incentive to report than it was, say, 2 decades ago? Doesn’t it make more sense that the numbers are accurate?
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  The cops didn't take that long to take your report 2 decades ago.
  - chaps 3y ago
    LOL. Please back this up with some form of proof.
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      It isn't rocket science: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/mayor-bruce-harrell-new-seattle-police-recruitment-plan-staffing-reaches-30-year-low/281-e98429ee-fc88-47f6-8890-b961393e2047 https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/mayor-bruce... We simply have less cops (and more people) in 2023 than we did in 2003.
      - chaps 3y ago
        Friend, I asked for proof -- not conjecture. With everything related to policing, these things are never as simple as "simply have less [sic] cops". Reporting requirements change, dispatch systems change, unit composition changes, etc etc.
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        Here: 1. Many less police than 20 years ago 2. Police still have to take reports for these things, not to mention they have other things they have to do. 3. Overworked police have to prioritize what parts of their jobs they get done. There is no conjecture about it, it simply is. And it explains how Seattle reported crime was down 4% in 2022 while homicide was up 24%. > With everything related to policing, these things are never as simple as "simply have less [sic] cops". Reporting requirements change, dispatch systems change, unit composition changes, etc etc. Those things change very slowly, if at all, over 20 years. They still need people to pick up the phone, and online reporting isn't applicable to larger crimes (they'll tell you that you can't file online and must call the non-emergency number).
        chaps 3y ago
        Again, I've asked for proof and you've given me handwaved personal interpretations. So let me ask directly: what is your proof that dispatch time/reporting is less than it was 20 years ago? Mind you, I professionally do reporting work with police/jail data and I have intimate and often granular familiarity with much of this. Like I said, this stuff is never as simple as a couple numbers here and there. I wish it was, since that'd make my job a LOT easier! So as a courtesy to me and yourself, please raise your standard of proof and give me something with actual substance.
- michaelmrose 3y ago
  2 decades ago we were a bit more heavy handed about actual prosecution rather than announcing that the police had so few resources that they wouldn't be handling any new sexual assault cases in 2022. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/seattle-police-halted-investigating-adult-sexual-assaults-this-year-internal-memo-shows/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/sea...
Larrikin 3y ago
It sounds like you're just making it up because you are refusing to cite any evidence and you have been asked multiple times for evidence
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  I've cited plenty of evidence. It looks like some people have a certain reality that they want to believe is true, while the rest of us just suffer from having to live with the actual reality.
- michaelmrose 3y ago
  I'm not the original poster but I can confirm that in many maybe even most reporting crimes makes little sense. I chased off an ex coworker who was literally throttling another coworker in a Walmart parking lot. The police arrived after and declined to take a statement, or evidence, or pursue the matter even though the attacker had a known name and address. A local yokel tried to burn my apartment building down twice setting a fire in the interior stairwell at the top of the building around midnight endangering 50 some apartments. He lost his phone at the scene of attempt 1 and 30 days later came back to try again but nobody put any serious effort towards this. Locally the perp is throught to be a local drug dealer who.. Assaulted a neighbor in the parking lot on a different occasion before I pepper gelled him. Police actually showed up for that one again after it was over and threatened me with prosecution for pepper spraying the fellow that attacked someone. In Seattle I dealt with multiple dangerous situations with looney tunes that are literally mental patients wandering the streets committing crimes many times by GTFO a few times by standing up to crazies that were threatening me or mine and once with judicious application of pepper spray vs a fellow that had already got physical. In no case would it have been possible to get a cop during the situation nor useful to consult thereafter. They literally announced in 2022 that they had no detectives to handle new sexual assault cases THAT YEAR https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/seattle-police-halted-investigating-adult-sexual-assaults-this-year-internal-memo-shows/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/sea... They sure as fuck aren't assigning any resources to figure at which mental patient tried to punch a citizen. This is the same reason you see property crime unreported unless such a report is specifically required for insurance purposes. No law enforcement nor prosecutorial resources will be tasked if its reported. For instance I witnessed hundreds of cases of attempted or successful shoplifting that certainly exceeded the figure required for it to be a felony but I myself reported zero to the police nor was I allowed to do so and I know for a fact few if any were pursued for the same logical reason. There is no reason to believe that the city or state would carry such an endeavor to completion. Then there was the fellow that broke into our building and pushed my wife down and tried to steal her keys. Had to handle that one myself too and put the fellow on the ground. To their credit the cops did show up again after the fact to actually haul the idiot off and charge him. If you gift wrap an incredibly clear cut case and apprehend the bad buy the cops will after the dangerous situation is over act as a glorified taxi and move the bad guy for you. A whole lot of work to move one addict from a cell to a drug treatment program he hopefully completed. Anecdotally it does feel like its getting worse in the last several years.