Crime rates have lowered and the neighborhood is getting cleaner since the beginning of the City’s emphasis patrols and community walks in Ballard.
The walks were part of the City’s pre-summer emphasis program which elevated police presence and took a closer look at community maintenance walks in seven neighborhoods across Seattle. Several City departments took part in the walks, which looked at streetlights, trees, graffiti, and illegal dumping. Representatives from those departments performed the walk with local business leaders to identify issues and determine maintenance projects.
Since the May 7th walk, the below issues have been resolved:
- Graffiti removal and repainting of signal boxes at 22nd Ave NW and NW Market St
- Pothole patching on the alleyways behind Ballard Ave and Leary Way
- Crosswalk painting at multiple locations across Market St.
- Notice posted to remove temporary bike racks and bikes at 24th Ave NW and Shilshole Ave NW
- Fixed damaged and dirty bike corrals at multiple locations: 22nd Ave NW and Shilshole, 22nd Ave NW and Ballard Ave NW, 22nd Ave NW and Market St.
- Replaced rail rack at 2026 NW Market St.
- Replaced signs at 22nd Ave NW and Shilshole Ave NW, and Ballard Ave NW and NW Market St.
- Replaced missing street name sign at 20th Ave NW and NW 56th St.
- Removed crosswalk warning sign at NW 56th St and 20th Ave NW to reduce sign congestion.
- Paved section of concrete and added new topsoil in the planting strip at 26th Ave NW and NW Market St.
- Re-marked crosswalks and installed new legends at 24th Ave NW and NW Market St.
Since the emphasis patrols began, SPD reports that there’s been a 48 percent increase in proactive work compared to May 2018. SPD says that between their various teams — Bike Patrols, Community Police Team, Retail Theft Program, Navigation Team, Anti-Crime Team, and regular Patrol Units — they made 167 contacts since the beginning of the enhanced patrols, which logged 500 hours since the beginning of May between Ballard and Fremont.
The contacts include 11 referrals to the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program (LEAD), 34 referrals through the Human Services Department, three Involuntary Treatment applications, 26 bookings into King County Jail, multiple campsite and RV clearance actions, more than 80 oral warnings, and 55 traffic citations.
SPD also found that reported crime is down 49 percent in the past 28 days.
The results have been consistent across the seven neighborhoods chosen for the enhanced patrols — crime is reportedly also down in Fremont, Downtown (Pike/Pine and 3rd Ave), Georgetown, SoDo, Pioneer Square and South Park.
The increased patrols are expected to continue through August. To view results of the emphasis patrols and community walks in each of the seven neighborhoods, click here.