EastPAC Meeting, June 2015
At the EastPAC Meeting on June 25, 2015, longtime EastPAC Chair, Stephanie Tschida, stepped down and passed the (non-existent) gavel to Troy Meyers, Squire Park resident. Troy introduced himself as the son of a police officer who had died in the line duty and he felt his knowledge of police work and his community leadership experience would make this role as Chair a good fit.
East Precinct Paul McDonagh spoke about a new system of tracking crimes which should change the nature of policing. Troy described this system known as SeaStat:
“SeaStat is aimed at quickly addressing crime hotspots and trends based on analysis of crime data and community reports of incidents. The Department holds regularly scheduled meetings every two weeks, involving staff throughout the department and partner agencies to discuss the latest information and come up with strategies to reduce crime. EastPAC will be regularly integrating SeaStat into our meetings, with SPD taking our feedback as the community component of the program.”
The program is similar to ComStat (New York City) and this concerned some attendees who wanted reassurance that the new system would not involve stop and frisk actions. Captain McDonagh did assure the audience that this has never been a tactic for Seattle police and it is not being planned.
When it came time for community input, it was pretty much concerns about incidents at Powell Barnett Park. There were many attendees who lived on the periphery of PB Park and spoke about bullets flying about and some entering bedroom windows of neighbors on 28th. Last month a home on MLK experienced the same destruction.
Captain McDonagh shared their concerns and said they have a plan to deal with this but could not share the plan as this info invariably reached the wrong ears and defeated the police tactics.
The residents felt good about being listened to, but the good feelings were undone when they returned home to the PB Park area only to arrive in the midst of more gunfire. Watch the LCC website for information on a planned march from Flo Ware Park to Powell Barnett Park in mid-July.
We will see their EastPAC Community Meeting Thursday, June 25th, 6:30 - 8:00 PM current focus and hear about their plans. We’ll also learn how we compare to other parts of Seattle. With a goal of creating a more informed and engaged community, East Precinct command staff and EastPAC will enrich the data with a narrative and share it with the District and community councils in our community.”