Shoreline has low crime rate compared to other cities

Published 7:33 am Friday, February 29, 2008

SHORELINE— Police chief Denise Turner presented the City Council with the equivalent of a police report card at the May 17 City Council meeting.

Like most people who are willing to share the results of their report card, the results weren’t too bad.

“On a whole we have a very low crime rate compared to other cities,” Turner said.

The report comes from an annual Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report (SEA), prepared by the King County Sheriff’s Office. It is usually presented in June, but since Turner’s last day as Police Chief is May 31, the report was given early.

The report highlights trends in crime, crime prevention and customer satisfaction with services.

Crime rates for crimes such as auto theft, larceny and auto prowls have increased and contributed to a rise in the Crimes Against Property crime rate, which was 44.5 per 1,000 residents. According to Turner, there was a statewide increase in auto theft, but compared to other cities, Shoreline’s rate is relatively low.

To offset this increase, Turner said the Neighborhood Watch program has been focused on and the goal last year was to increase Neighborhood Watch by 40 percent. This goal was met, but due to an increase in workload, the department has recently decreased the goal to 20 percent.

Another way to offset auto prowls, Turner emphasized, is for citizens to be cautious about leaving valuables in cars, because it only takes a minute to break a window.

The police department also will be determining where the larcenies are occurring, so they can work with specific Neighborhood Watch groups.

The SEA report also indicated an increase by more than 50 percent in the homicide rate. The average in the past was one homicide per year, but in 2003 three homicides occurred in Shoreline.

While this may seem drastic, Turner said the increase was from one homicide to three homicides, which is a large percentage, but still small in actual numbers.

The response time by police officers, according to the SEA report, shows about a minute increase, to four minutes, six seconds. While higher than in previous years, this response time remains below the goal of five minutes.

“When we look at why it takes a minute more to get there, it is a complex equation,” Turner said.

The actual cause of this increase has not yet been determined, Turner explained. Some factors in this equation, she said, may be staffing, traffic congestion, delays from the call service and officer availability.

Members of the City Council asked Turner what recommendations she has for them as to how they can make the best use of additional resources.

Turner said the best method of crime prevention is to get the message out to the community, who serve as eyes and ears for the police department.

“There are not enough officers in the world to solve all the problems,” Turner said.

Other Council members suggested enhancing the citizens academy, Neighborhood Watch program and advising citizens to lock their cars to prevent auto prowl.