Today the City of Seattle will be celebrating its 26th Annual National Night Out Against Crime. Night Out is an event that encourages neighbors and communities to gather and spend time together in an effort to heighten crime prevention awareness.
This year the Seattle Police Department is announcing a new property crime prevention campaign. Thousands of fliers will be distributed by officers in all five police precincts to Night Out participants. Our goal is to raise awareness of the fact that even though property crime exists, much of it is preventable. The Department wants to assist the community in helping to deter property crime and opportunistic criminal behavior.
In the first six months of this year violent crimes have decreased 13% compared to last year. However, property crimes are up by 6% across the city, which is why we are launching a new property crime prevention campaign.
The theme of the campaign is “They’re watching!” We are asking citizens to be more conscious of their own behavior and assume that criminals could be watching their actions. If a criminal was watching you leave your house unlocked or watching you leave valuables in your car, would you take a few extra moments to help prevent a crime of opportunity? There are simple measures you can take to help prevent you from becoming a crime victim. Don’t make it easy for criminals to target you. And remember to always report suspicious activity immediately to 911.
For more information about our new property crime prevention campaign you can visit our website located at www.seattle.gov/police/prevention/watching/.