Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Saw this flyer on a light post at the corner of 13th Avenue East & East Thomas Street yesterday:

The gist of it is that community residents are upset about perceived drug dealing in their neighborhood. This surprised me on a few fronts: most notably, the fact that I walk down East Thomas on a near daily basis and rarely see anything suspicious (in fact, the entire area from Denny to Harrison between 12th and 17th has always seemed like a very quiet neighborhood). On top of that, local blogs and newspapers have said nothing on the issue.

So I did what any self-respecting crime blogger would do: sent an e-mail to the address listed on the flyer. Turns out that part of the reason we hadn't heard anything on the matter was because the original flyers - posted last week - were ripped down over the weekend.

The community member behind this campaign, who identified themselves only as 13th Avenue East Resident, provided some background on the issue (I've added emphasis at certain points):

13th Avenue East held a block party and garage [sale] on Saturday, June 28th for residents between John and Harrison Streets. The intent of this was to clean out the closets and more importantly, get to know our neighbors.

One unexpected benefit to getting to know our neighbors is that we became aware via the neighbors that our building in the 300 block of 13th Avenue East has a drug problem. ( not sure which type).

Reports from two different neighbors informed us that our building has is being regularly used as a place to purchase drugs from. People are seen making phone calls on the corner of the block or waiting at the front door of our Condo building until they are met from somebody inside the building. The deal then goes down around the corner or inside the building.

We are not 100% able to identify the residents / or Guest of a resident who are selling - but we have a pretty good idea. And thanks to our neighborly tips - we are on the look out.

This is community policing at its finest: residents getting together with other folks from the neighborhood to identify socially deplorable behavior and tackle it from the ground up. While I have no problem with responsible drug use by adults in the privacy of their own homes, blatant dealing in a shared apartment building is a whole different story: distrust between neighbors, potential for more crime, and undesirable individuals who otherwise have no reason to be there are just a few reasons why.

So what will come of this? So far, very little. According to 13th Avenue East Resident, reports to the Seattle Police Department have had little impact so far:

I have gone to the police, but I was a bit disappointed in their response. The response was to call 911 when I see it happening. Otherwise, they really can't do much, but they have been place on notice to our issue.

Not surprising that the police aren't able to do anything on this based on hearsay (no matter how reliable it may be), but the fact that they're clued in is progress enough at this point - after all, awareness of the issue seems to have only come about after the block party two weeks back.

Should be interesting to watch where this one goes: just what, exactly, is going on around 13th & Thomas? If drugs really are being dealt, what types, and how widespread is the issue? Are other community members aside from 13th Avenue East Resident taking action? Only time will tell.

In the interim, this proactive community member is looking for suggestions on how to end drug dealing in this otherwise peaceful neighborhood. If you've got any ideas, shoot them an e-mail.