Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

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Central District News makes clear what most of us already knew:

[A]t the end of 2006 the area for the ban was enlarged to include Capitol Hill, the University District, and most of the CD (the map was carefully drawn to include every convenience store in our neighborhood). And now, 18 months later, we've got the first report on how it's working: hardly at all.

The ban was placed on specific brands of drinks such as Night Train and Colt 45, and so the businesses have just gone and rebranded the same drinks to avoid the ban. And the alcoholics, not caring too much about brand loyalty, have made the switch.

In the P.I. piece CDN links to, reporter Angela Galloway notes that city officials call the ban "doomed without reforms to deal with market changes"...

...so does that mean I can have my Strawberry Cisco again?

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By way of Central District News, here's a sketch police recently released of the suspect in the assault of good samaritan Joseph Skillings:



More detailed than the sketch of the suspect in Shannon Harps' murder, but still very vague...frankly, I couldn't even tell that the suspect was an African American until reading his physical description as printed on CDN:

A black male in his late 40's. He is described as between 5'9" to 6' tall, 150 pounds, with a slim build. He has been described as having a "wrinkled face." He was last seen wearing a black knit ski cap, black thigh length coat with a 1-2" white stripe down the length of the sleeve. He may have been wearing a black velvet sweat suit and was carrying a large black backpack. He may also be wearing gold rings and/or bracelets.

Know him? Call the SPD's Homicide Unit (206-684-5550) with any tips.

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Yesterday I discovered Central District News, another great community blog that is certainly worth adding to your feed subscriptions.

While it focuses on a range of Central District issues, one element that caught my eye was the noteworthy crime coverage. The author, Scott, even include dispatches of what's coming in over the police scanner (which is awesome, by the way).

Yesterday, thanks to a link I found at C.D.N., I stumbled upon the "Deuce Eight on Mine" video by C.D. rapper Mr. Benjamin, which frankly showcases gang life in the area around 28th & Jackson. It was worth watching for a number of reasons, but at the time not many people had done so - around 250 views and no comments.

But at least one of those views apparently came from the evening news team at King 5. By last night, they had a lengthy story on gangs, both in relation to recent local murders and the broader problem of violence in Washington. And as they launched into the discussion of gangs in the C.D. getting younger and more MySpace-oriented, guess what video they showed?

Alas...I'd post the link, but "Deuce Eight On Mine" has since been removed from YouTube by its creator (probably a smart decision on Mr. Benjamin's part).

King 5 has last night's segment and a brief summary of its points up at their website. Check it out...and note how, despite the fact that Seattle's crime rates were just reported to be at their lowest in 40 years, that point is barely touched on, replaced instead with the overpowering sense of subdued urgency that television news is infamous for.