Responding to community concerns and analysis from the SPD’s newly implemented Compstat process, Chief Kathleen O’Toole bolstered the number of officers in the Capitol Hill neighborhood this weekend.
East Precinct Captain Pierre Davis has assigned officers to walk foot patrols and has put additional officers on bikes on Capitol Hill, with a particular focus on the areas between Broadway and Pike and Cal Anderson Park.
SPD’s Criminal Investigations and Special Operations Bureaus are also lending members of the Gang and Traffic Units to add to the ranks of uniformed officers in the neighborhood, another result of the increased communication and cooperation among SPD’s resources fostered by Compstat.
This strategic deployment is already yielding dividends.
Chief O’Toole and other top brass of the department have been on patrol in Capitol Hill over the weekend. Just last night, Assistant Chief Nick Metz and Captain Ron Rasmussen were on patrol in the 1000 block of E Pike Street when they arrested a juvenile male suspect for threatening to kill a security guard. Officers arrested this youth in the past for violent crimes. Officers booked the suspect into the Youth Service Center for making death threats.
Later that evening, Anti-Crime Team officers were walking a foot beat in the same area when they saw a suspect grab a woman from behind and began rubbing himself against her. The woman kicked back at the suspect, but he refused to stop. The officers saw the assault and quickly intervened. They arrested the suspect for indecent liberties. Officers searched the man and found what they believed to be four stolen cell phones and a stolen credit card associated with a separate criminal investigation. Officers booked this man into King County Jail and will coordinate with Robbery detectives for further investigation.
These arrests, along with the two arrests Friday night, are a direct result of added emphasis patrols that will continue. At the conclusion of this deployment, the department commanders will reevaluate new data as part of the bi-weekly CompStat process, and determine if the extra patrols are having their desired effect.
“We’re listening to the community and using data to drive the way we deploy our officers,” SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole said.