Monthly crime roundups, for years a staple for neighborhood watchdogs in both Wedgwood and View Ridge, have gone on indefinite hiatus.
The reason is a little fuzzy. Based on multiple conversations with folks connected to the reports and their dissemination, it appears that someone in the new Seattle Police Department administration stopped the reports after becoming concerned with a “discrepancy” in stats or facts connected to the reports.
Leaders for both the Wedgwood Community Council and View Ridge Community Council are working with Seattle police to get the reports back. Not all Seattle neighborhoods get the reports but Wedgwood and View Ridge have, largely because Officer Diane Horswill, community crime prevention coordinator in the North Precinct, has been willing to do them and because the two neighborhoods have established distribution networks.
In Wedgwood, the reports are disseminated via email and a well-organized Blockwatch Web site. In View Ridge, they go out via an extensive email distribution tree.
The roundups get heavy use during burglary sprees, such as the several disturbing cases in View Ridge recently that occurred while residents were home.
However, not everyone agrees on the worth of the reports. The Wedgwood View spoke to a few people this week who said the reports are the same every month — summaries of break-ins that occurred because residents got complacent, leaving a door or window unlocked.
Others, however, say the reports raise awareness and prompt residents to be vigilant.
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