Crime up in the East Precinct

[On the night of June 2, the owner of this truck parked at E. Galer and 42nd Avenue E. was the victim of a smash-and-dash that apparently was interrupted in progress, since the perpetrators left items in the truck and a tool of their trade on the street next to the truck.]

As you may have read in The Seattle Times yesterday, the Seattle crime rate was slightly down in 2008 over the level of the previous year, although serious crimes such as murder and rape were on the increase. Just why it took the City five months to report last year’s numbers was not explained. The City also issued crime statistics for the first four months of 2009, however, showing that overall crime is up 9% this year over the same period last year. The East Precinct, of which Madison Park is a subunit, showed an increase of 6% in major crimes. There were 180 violent crimes in the precinct through the end of April, compared with 165 last year, a 9% increase. Property crimes (burglary and theft) increased from 1,404 to 1,477 for the period, up 5%.

Unfortunately, the Seattle Police have yet to break out crime information by neighborhood, so we have to wait until the city is in the mood to report specifically on Madison Park crime. As I noted in a previous blog entry, the last crime information for our part of the world was published in early 2008 covering 2007 crimes. The East Precinct, by the way, encompasses pretty much the whole area between I-5 and Lake Washington and between I-405 and SR520, plus Montlake, and excluding parts of downtown:

When Madison Park crime data is reported, you can read about it here.