Unlike Tacoma, Seattle Police swears by crime data

After Tacoma Police Union President Henry Betts mentioned the town’s crime info is deceptive its residents, the Seattle Police Division (SPD) wished to make sure their knowledge is as correct as doable.

“Our Knowledge Pushed Unit does a superb job of vetting all statistics earlier than publishing something,” mentioned Detective Patrick Michaud with SPD Public Affairs. “We very hardly ever run into points with the information. The division has labored very exhausting to construct belief within the reporting course of and as that work continues, folks really feel secure reporting crimes.”

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Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore reported in a current press convention that violent crime — homicide, theft, aggravated assault — is down 37% inside Tacoma, main Betts to write down a letter in regards to the inaccuracies on this declare.

“Tacoma Police Division management not too long ago offered to the Metropolis Council an replace on violent crime within the Metropolis of Tacoma. That replace was extensively coated by the native media. The Officers, Detectives, and Sergeants represented by the Tacoma Police Union Native 6 work together each day with the neighborhood that’s experiencing unprecedented crime in our metropolis,” Betts wrote. “For us, the actual message was misplaced in TPD’s presentation. TPD’s artificially slender give attention to statistical enhancements in crime charges in particular places misleads the general public into believing crime is down citywide. That’s removed from the reality.”

Within the letter, Betts mentioned neighborhoods are nonetheless experiencing too many shootings, drive-by shootings, and assaults.

Crime knowledge statistics in Seattle usually are not dealing with the same pushback, in response to Michaud.

In SPD’s knowledge, Seattle not too long ago recorded the bottom quantity of crime in a month since June 2021, with simply 3,894 crimes logged in September 2022.

Whereas that quantity would solely qualify because the sixth-lowest month of crime within the earlier 12 months, Seattle has witnessed a 13% drop in crime from January by means of October, in response to SPD statistics.

2022’s crime tendencies have been an anomaly in comparison with the earlier two pandemic-riddled years. Whereas crime peaked within the month of January 2022 (4,538), 2020 noticed a three-month excessive in crime from September to November, and 2021 peaked from October by means of December.

“2020 and ’21 had been irregular years for fairly a number of causes, so whereas forgetting them is not possible, eradicating them from the analytics, for now, is important,” Michaud mentioned. “Sticking with the crime statistics although, once you take away 2020-21, 2022 instantly mirrors yearly going again to 2015, however the numbers are greater.”

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The stark distinction when evaluating this 12 months to 2015-19 is the sheer quantity of crime. 2022 is on tempo for about 47,718 crimes, 8.7% greater than the earlier excessive in that span (2018).

Sadly, the variety of violent crimes continues to climb in Seattle. The town is on tempo for five,504 violent crimes, clearing final 12 months’s record-high of 5,412. The database tracks all crimes courting again to 2008.