Recently we reported on a new survey by the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce of registered voters showing profound dissatisfaction with the state of the city, including when it comes to public safety. However, Seattle University’s latest annual Public Safety Survey suggests that fear of crime is fairly low. As reported by the Seattle Times, on a scale of 0 to 100 the overall fear of crime was 43.1 last year, after peaking since reaching 49 in 2018.

Yet, that overall fear doesn’t reflect actual crime stats.

As reported in Unherd’s “The Fall of Seattle.”

 The year 2020 saw a 68% spike in homicides, the highest number in 26 years, and the year 2021 saw a 40% surge in 911 calls for shots fired and a 100% surge in drive-by shootings. Petty crime plagues every neighborhood of the city, and downtown businesses have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund their own security.

“Without question, many city residents are deeply concerned about the surge in crime.” Seattle Times columnist Gene Balk, a.k.a. FYI Guy wrote in a column. “So it’s perplexing that the fear of crime has continued its downward trend.”

But is this the biggest takeaway from the survey?

One of the other questions asked in the survey were top public safety concerns.

Guess what came up at number one?

Police capacity.

This shouldn’t be surprising. Seattle Police are currently severely understaffed, and have been for years. The lack of officers not only puts strain on those who have to work overtime, but it leaves sections of the city vulnerable to increased crime.

This is why it’s important the City Council enact proposals like Councilmember Sara Nelson’s to create officer hiring bonuses and support Mayor Bruce Harrell’s vow to fully staff the department. Nelson’s proposal was discussed at a recent meeting of the city’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

Make Your Voice Heard!

Contact the City Council and tell them you support Councilmember Sara Nelson’s proposal to offer hiring bonuses so we can fully staff the police department!

As for the survey’s results on fear of crime, it’s important to keep in mind two things. One is that perception isn’t reality. The survey broke down fear of crime by neighborhoods, and while some of the more affluent parts of Seattle had less fear of crime, in some neighborhoods fear of crime went up even though crime there didn’t.

If the survey is accurate in conveying resident’s sentiments, there’s an inconsistency between perception of crime and the actual level of crime.

Having a false perception of safety in an unsafe environment isn’t a good thing.  If people think a mountain is safe to hike when it’s actually quite dangerous, it puts the hikers at risk. If a nearby park had unsafe playsets, you’d want to know so you could keep your kids or grandkids off it until repairs or replacements are made. It’s better to be safe than feel safe.

Secondly, the “fear of crime” is somewhat vague. Fear of what crime in what context? Are you afraid of crime happening to you, or happening in general? A person may not be afraid of getting robbed, but that’s separate from a small business owner worrying about petty crime making it impossible for him to operate. You may also feel safe operating in your own community, but are you afraid to go to other parts of the city you’d otherwise like to visit?

This is important, because we have to understand the issue at hand. Crime doesn’t have to occur to you in order for it to affect you. You may never be robbed or attacked or live in an area that directly experiences crime, but you’re affected when your favorite restaurant, bar, or store in another part of town closes due to repeated break-ins, assaults, and shootings. Just as crime is committed by a relatively small amount of people, crime doesn’t directly occur to most residents.

Seattle residents clearly believe public safety is a major problem facing the city. Among the solutions is to fully staff the police department so more officers patrol the streets and respond faster and better to calls. If that happens, people won’t just feel safer. They will be safer – and that’s what matters most.

Contact the City Council and tell them you support Councilmember Sara Nelson’s proposal to offer hiring bonuses so we can fully staff the police department!