Over the years I’ve found that one thing that really hacks off Seattleites is when they call the cops and no one shows up.
I’ve written about it periodically. There was the time a man crashed a truck into a row of parked cars in Maple Leaf, then abandoned it. Police didn’t respond to repeated 911 calls, even when the perpetrator came back later to retrieve the truck. (He got away.)
There was another time a thief took some laptops and cellphones from backpacks at a soccer practice. After a citizen tracked the devices, he couldn’t get the cops to respond — even after he ended up squared off against the perpetrator on a crowded Metro bus.
Then there was that episode involving me calling for help, after my then 14-year-old daughter had tracked our stolen phone and wallet from a smash and grab. Those thieves turned out to be “Washington’s most wanted” car prowlers. Seattle police did apologize for not showing up on that one, though it was the tiny Sammamish police force that eventually caught the perps and got them jailed.
It turns out the big dogs in town get the same cold shoulder.
This past week, 35 big business execs, from Microsoft, Costco, Alaska Airlines and others, called on the city to get its act together on public safety. They asked for an action plan to boost police patrols in certain neighborhoods and to get tougher on drug markets, such as in beleaguered Little Saigon.
In the letter, Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom revealed an astonishing figure. The letter said that when Nordstrom employees at the flagship downtown Seattle store call police, “only 29% of their 911 calls yield a police officer response.”
At the company’s Southcenter mall location — which also has some history of retail theft and other crime problems — 911 calls get a 100% police response, Nordstrom said.
I followed up with the company and it said this represents 70 calls to 911 from the downtown store between January and July of this year. Most of the problems involved shoplifting and disruptive customers, though a search of the city’s 911 database for that block also includes crimes like check fraud, assault and public drug use, as well as noncriminal matters such as “person down” reports. According to Nordstrom, police came just 20 times.
At the Southcenter store, police came 47 out of 47 times, according to Nordstrom.
The Tukwila police have a budget of around $22 million. Seattle police have a budget of $488 million.
Now one could argue that a fancy company like Nordstrom should primarily take care of its own security. Some also argue the police have more urgent work to do than helping stores with retail theft or disruptive people.
The police have also expressed frustration that when they do book someone for crimes like these, the suspect is back out the next day and often not prosecuted.
But criminologists say police response does matter. It won’t typically prevent or stop crime. But research suggests more crimes do get solved, as suspects are more likely to be identified by victims or witnesses the faster the cops get there.
This just happened on Thursday down the block from the downtown Seattle Nordstrom store. Police were called around 6:45 a.m. about two men fighting in Westlake Park. They showed up within minutes — quick enough to detain a suspect who was still on the scene after what is an alleged homicide.
That’s the good side of police response. But recently a crime data analyst compiled police response times in 14 U.S. cities, and Seattle finished last.
New York City police get there in half the time, on average, as they do in Seattle, according to Jeff Asher of AH Datalytics.
Seattle’s goal for the most serious 911 calls, involving life-threatening incidents like the one in Westlake Park, is seven minutes or less. For Priority 2 calls — where there’s a threat of violence or damage to property — the goal is 15 minutes.
So far this year, they’re averaging 9.6 minutes for the Priority 1 calls, with a median of seven minutes, meaning half the calls met the goal but half did not. Priority 2 calls are averaging 56 minutes. Both are improvements over a few years ago, when police staffing was so low the department announced it wouldn’t be able to answer some lower-priority calls at all.
“There’s clear evidence that longer response times lead to fewer incidents being successfully reported,” Asher noted. Less reporting means fewer criminals caught, as well as services for crime victims going undelivered.
The business leaders asked the city to “recommit to the current standard priority 7-minute 911 response times.” And to “redirect spending and resources to meet it.”
That’s a big ask. Despite a boost in police hiring, the department is 25% smaller than it was six years ago — before so many officers left during the “defund the police” protest era.
There were 694 patrol officers in 2020, but only 489 today. Overall the department is down about 350 positions total, from 1,339 in 2020 to 985 today, according to a report to the City Council in June.
At the same time, the police budget is about 20% higher — from $409 million in 2020 to $488 million now. This reflects higher pay for cops and other escalating costs. It’s the story across local governments. (See Seattle schools, which have record revenues but are also said to be “broke.”)
Fortunately crime has been dropping anyway, statistically, both citywide and downtown (though not in every neighborhood). Serious crimes are down year to year, even with all the high-profile shootings in the past few months.
So some argue it’s OK that the cops won’t always come when we call, especially with property crimes.
But is it? People don’t expect personal attention when they’ve had a package swiped from a porch. But when there’s serious damage or alleged perpetrators still on the scene? Or how about with the late-night street racing gatherings — why not just roll up in a couple squad cars and scatter those?
I see this as one of those “defining deviancy down” type of issues. Where Seattle has implicitly lowered its standards, solely because failing to meet the standard became so commonplace.
Maybe there are other solutions. They could hire civilians to investigate property crimes. Or maybe AI agents could help. Nordstrom, instead of calling Seattle cops in vain, could submit evidence such as video footage to an online portal.
I don’t know what makes the most sense. But lagging this far behind Tukwila doesn’t seem like it.
Danny Westneat: dwestneat@seattletimes.com. Danny Westneat, a metro news columnist at The Seattle Times since 2004, takes an opinionated look at the Puget Sound region's news, people and politics.
