We’ve been feeling guilty. It’s been weeks since we’ve sat down and really wrestled with the police crime map to round up neighborhood crimes.
But earlier today we picked up a comment from New In Maple Leaf that questions whether we SHOULD track crime here:
It seems as if ALL this blog discusses is robberies and car thefts. It seems rare that it reports on other happenings of the neighborhood. Is it right to assume that we have moved to a high crime area? It is great to be informed…but interesting that none of the other seattle neighborhood blogs report on this type of stuff as often…any thoughts?
We’re willing to let readers figure out if all we write about is crime. (And chickens.) And we honestly don’t know how other hyper-local sites approach crime reports.
But we do operate on the basic assumption that it’s better to know than to not know. About what’s happening next door and across the street. At neighborhood businesses and parks. Why ARE there 10 police cars parked down the street?
Is Maple Leaf a high crime area? Not so far as we can tell. We’ve discussed it here. Also here, here, and probably a few other places, including our inaugural post -yes, Maple Leaf Life is a year old!
So (deep breath) here’s a crime update since our last roundup nearly a month ago. Incidentally, we don’t report on all crimes – no shopliftings, for example – just ones we think neighbors should know about.
Burglaries
- Tuesday, Feb. 8, in the 500 block of Northeast 78th Street.
- Monday, Jan. 31, in the 9700 block of Third Avenue Northeast. Credit cards stolen from a purse inside an office.
- Wednesday, Jan. 26, in the 500 block of Northeast 79th Street.
- Tuesday, Jan. 25. Two separate witnesses watched two suspects walk up to the back door of a house in the 1900 block of Northeast 107th Street. Police report that a woman dropping off her child at day care saw one of the suspects enter the back door. And a neighbor, who knew that neither suspect lived at that address, followed their vehicle when it sped off but lost them at Lake City Way. Police reported: “Inside the house there were clear signs of burglary. Jewelry boxes were emptied and drawers were opened.”
- Wednesday evening, Jan. 19, in the 300 block of Northeast 103rd Street.
- Monday, Jan. 24, in the 1000 block of Northeast 82nd Street. Drawers and cabinets opened, laptop computer, passport and jewelry stolen.
- Tuesday, Jan. 18, in the 8800 block of Roosevelt Way Northeast. This is the annual Cloud City Coffee commercial burglary we reported on earlier.
Vehicles stolen
- Friday, Jan. 28, in the 800 block of Northeast 81st Street.
- Wednesday, Jan. 19, in the 300 block of Northeast Northgate Way.
Vehicles prowled
- Friday, Feb. 4, in the 10300 block of 15th Avenue Northeast.
- Friday, Feb. 3, in the 9000 block of 12th Avenue Northeast.
- Wednesday, Feb. 2, in the 9200 block of 12th Avenue Northeast.
- Monday, Jan. 31, in the 9700 block of 23rd Avenue Northeast.
- Monday, Jan. 31, in the 300 block of Northeast Northgate Way.
- Thursday, Jan. 27, in the 500 block of Northeast Northgate Way.
- Thursday, Jan. 27, in the 1200 block of Northeast 89th Street.
- Thursday, Jan. 27, in 1500 block of Northeast 90th Street.
- Wednesday, Jan. 26, in the 500 block of Northeast Northgate Way.
As another newer Maple Leaf resident, I agree with New to Maple Leaf that having this info is good, and that it may have made me think twice about our home purchase. That said, another commenter notes (correctly) that relative to other neighborhoods, the crime statistics for ML are lower than for many other parts of Seattle. I am grateful for the reports for the fact that they remind me to be vigilant about locking doors, installing motion detector lighting, not leaving anything in my car, etc.
I believe the Ballard blog uses a “Forum” column for crime reporting. If it’s easy, segmenting the crime reports in a similar way wouldn’t be a bad strategy.
All that said, I am tremenously appreciative that the blog exists, love the neighborhood, and encourage our steadfast reporters to keep doing this great work for the good of us all.
Here is one vote for continued crime coverage!
I appreciate hearing more backstory on goings-on than may be available via other sources.
I read maple leaf, greenlake, and fremont blogs every week – keep up the good work!
i think it’s important to know if there is criminal activity in my neighborhood. please continue reporting so we can stay informed.
To clarify, Maple Leaf Life gets the crime maps they post from the Seattle Police departments website. If people want to read about crime in our neighborhood and look at the crime maps, just go to SPD’s website. I would be more interested to read this site if there are other topics discussed. If they are just going to copy and paste the crime maps and info from the seattle police departments website, then there is no point in reading this site. I will just read the original and more up to date info from the Seattle PD’s site.
Good points from everyone. It’s good to be informed, but not on every little thing. I love the idea of having a separate link or something to check out recent crime. I don’t want to know about every little burglary on this site. And as someone said, you can choose to “not read it” but that means I’ll just stop reading this site altogether if that’s all that’s posted! Which is my choice, but there are lots of reasons to keep your readers interested. There are lots of other things to let people know about. It might require a bit more digging, but that would be welcomed by lots of people who simply don’t have the time to find out what else is going on in the hood.
There are already multiple websites that cover Seattle crime activity, such as the seattle police website. If people want to check out criminal activity they can go to those sites. Can this site focus on other events and info in the neighborhood as there are already websites devoted to crime in Seattle?
I think the crime reporting is very, very good and much needed. It’s not like the local TV news or Seattle Times are going to cover Maple Leaf (they barely know we exist), and even though Maple Leaf is a medium to low crime area, it’s still extremely helpful to be aware of the patterns and trends, and it makes the city more responsive to Maple Leaf when we actually know what’s going on.
It’s true enough that Maple Leaf is a bit sleepy, and apart from retail openings and closings and lunch trunk comings and goings there’s not as much to report on as in more blustery neighbourhoods. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. But what Maple Leaf-specific news there is I’m extremely glad to get!
I think the problem with the crime reporting on this site is that there isn’t much else going on that is post-worthy.
Perhaps the site could create a link to a new section for criminal/police activity. That way all the action is available but won’t give the immediate impression that we live in a high-crime zone.
I feel both ways about it. We have recently bought a home in Maple Leaf. Honestly, had I viewed the blog as much as I do now that it is relevant- I would have thought twice about buying in this particular neighborhood- just because of the reports. It made me think, OMG where are we moving to? Did we make the right decision? I do agree Crime happens all over-and yes we just don’t hear about it as often. Nor have I taken the time to dig for the information. So which would I prefer? Balance. We all feel differently about how much is too much. Good discussion though. Sidenote- We are excited to start our family in this neighborhood…and have felt the warmth and welcoming from our Maple Leaf Neighbors.
**My earlier comment was not an attack, it came more from a place of worry. In the last 6 weeks, I have tuned in to blog. I am sure there are other great articles as well. Thanks for the work you do.
At first I was really surprised about all the crime reports until stories were posted highlighting that the current level of crime is pretty much standard and most people just don’t know about it.
I don’t think being informed is a bad thing. If people are tired are reading about crimes, then whenever a crime story is posted, which you can easily tell from the title, skip over it. It really is that easy!
Thanks for keeping us informed Maple Leaf Life. If anything it makes me check my locks more often and not keep valuables in my vehicle which are both good things.
I presume we’d all like to hear about the gentleman who strolls through the neighborhood, surprising random senior citizens with bouquets of flowers.
This is absolutely newsworthy. So why wouldn’t his not-so-nice doppelganger be newsworthy?
Crime is common, but we don’t have to be inured to it.
The crime reporting is factual, and I very much appreciate the information. I do not have time on my own to go research and interpret police reports, so these postings are quite helpful.
These reports do not “portray a negative image” of Maple Leaf. These are just facts. How people perceive Maple Leaf is up to them, and there is plenty of “positive” stuff in here to help them perceive Maple Leaf as a good place to live.
I appreciate ALL of the postings on Maple Leaf Life, and would encourage you to continue to post as much information as possible, including the crime reporting. This is a great place to get VERY localized information about the neighborhodd where I live.
Thank you.
The relative emphasis on crime fears that I see on this site indeed does not reflect life in this neighborhood as I have known it in the 20 or so years that my family has lived here (_including_ the most recent years). All neighborhoods have a certain amount of petty crime, I think.
What seems to me a disproportionate amount of attention paid to these fears (on this and other neighborhood internet sites) is potentially unhealthy, divisive, and, as far as I know, unwarrented by any objective crime statistics.
There are other neighborhood concerns that may turn out to be of much more import as time goes by.
I agree the crime reports are too much. Good to be informed but not for every little thing. Maybe go to something monthly and report on really big stuff as needed.
I think this website reports on crime way too much making it appear that Maple Leaf is a higher crime neighborhood than it actually is. When compared to other neighborhoods in Seattle Maple Leaf is a very low crime neighborhood. Other neighborhoods that have much more crime than ours don’t report on it nearly as much. You also report on crimes that happen outside of the Maple Leaf boundaries on this website which is misleading and makes it appear Maple Leaf has higher incidents of crime than it actually does. For the majority of 2010 there were very few crimes in Maple Leaf, so you would report on crimes that happened in other neighborhoods next to us making it appear they happened in our neighborhood which was not the case. I don’t understand this websites obsession with crime reporting. Can’t you find anything else to discuss that is going on in Maple Leaf? I think you need to lay off the crime reports and quit getting people so worried and portraying a negative image of our neighborhood. I have been following crime reports on the Seattle Police website for 5 years and the incidents of crime in Maple Leaf are very low typically ranging from 0-3 incidents per month. This fall / winter the crime rate went up for a few months when the robbery suspect was targeting our neighborhood and Roosevelt, but he has since left this area.
I personally would rather see these reports so we can have the discussion, raise awareness and take steps to continually make Maple Leaf A Better Place.
I think that’s preferable than failing to acknowledge it and pretending the problem doesn’t exist. That *surely* will not improve our neighborhood.
Keep up the reporting, MLL. We’re better for it.
From the police website:
http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/policereports.aspx
2/9/2011 10:00:00 AM
ROBBERY-BUSINESS-WEAPON
GO Number: 201147290
Reported Date: 2/9/2011 10:06:00 AM
88XX BLOCK OF ROOSEVELT WAY NE