Seattle woman does SPD's job for them. (sex offender, crime)

[wutitiz]

Julia Marquand, 28 was groped by a man as she was walking into a store near Westlake Park in Seattle. She later decided that she would confront him if she could find him again, and sure enough she saw him again near Westlake. She walked towards him, yelled at him, and took his photo w/ her phone. Then she went to Seattle police, but "the female officer at the front desk seemed uninterested" and told Marquand it was unlikely anything could be done. Then she went to Facebook and twitter, posting the man's photo, saying "This dude groped me in Seattle yesterday. Cops don't want his pic."
Woman takes to Twitter to shame alleged groper, police reaction | Local News | The Seattle Times

Marquand got responses from other women who had been victimized by the man, who turns out to be a level 3 sex offender who is under Dept of Corrections supervision. SPD eventually started an investigation, doubtless in reaction to a social media PR debacle for them.

I believe this is typical of SPD. When I lived in Seattle I was a crime victim and knew who the perp was. I had a witness, the perp's name, whole nine yards, but SPD was about as interested in my case as a 7-yr-old in cleaning his room or doing his homework. I made a bunch of trips to various offices, got nowhere, and eventually wrote a letter to the SPD chief and the mayor threatening to peddle my sad saga to media outlets. That was when I finally got action, and the perp eventually earned a felony conviction.

Kudos to Julia Marquand for standing up. Given the progressive nature of these kinds of aberrant behaviors, it is entirely possible that she saved someone from the trauma of rape at the hands of this sex offender.
Woman uses social media to shame accused Seattle groper | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

[mkarch]

I don't think it's that the SPD isn't interested, they just know that the City Attorney Pete Holmes won't pursue charges.

It seems like if the perp is already someone bound to end up in the corrections system or on additional public assistance the plan is to try and keep them on the street as long as possible. This saves money but obviously makes other people's lives less safe.

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by mkarch

I don't think it's that the SPD isn't interested, they just know that the City Attorney Pete Holmes won't pursue charges.

It seems like if the perp is already someone bound to end up in the corrections system or on additional public assistance the plan is to try and keep them on the street as long as possible. This saves money but obviously makes other people's lives less safe.

This has been going on long before Pete Holmes. Years ago there was a cokehead car thief named Neal Kelley. A Seattle woman had her minivan stolen, and Kelley stupidly left his ID it it. After it was recovered, the woman went to SPD with his ID, asking that it be checked out. They blew her off. Not much later Neal Kelley wound up crashing into and killing a SPD policewoman. My case was long before Pet Holmes. This is SPD DNA. They are not interested in what they see as petty crime. They would rather raid a strip club.

[mkarch]

Car thief blamed for police death in Seattle crash | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

From reading this it's difficult to say that the police were the ones that didn't want this guy in jail. It sounds like they tried to arrest him for years but he got a soft sentence because he was a poor helpless drug addict.

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by mkarch

Car thief blamed for police death in Seattle crash | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

From reading this it's difficult to say that the police were the ones that didn't want this guy in jail. It sounds like they tried to arrest him for years but he got a soft sentence because he was a poor helpless drug addict.

Here's the story--I remembered it like it was yesterday but it was not easy to track down. It was a Chev Suburban, not a minivan--that much I got wrong.

Car thief blamed for police death in Seattle crash | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

Originally Posted by komo

A woman from Whidbey Island had her SUV stolen by the same thief 48 hours earlier.

She had her husband were at a Seattle nightclub when their Suburban was stolen. It was recovered the next day. Thieves had stripped it of its stereo and speakers and broken the rear axle while four wheeling in Hiawatha Park.

But when she and her husband went to look at it Saturday at a tow yard she found a wallet inside. She even took a photo of the Washington ID card she found inside. It belonged to a man named Neal Ryan Kelly: the same Neal Kelly who would be in the Monday morning accident with the Seattle officer.

The woman says he turned the wallet over to a Seattle officer on Saturday but feels it wasn't taken seriously. She says he was told there are hundreds of car thefts in a given week and that there was no way to be sure that the wallet belonged to "her" car thief.

Monday afternoon she became angry when she realized her car thief and the man who killed the rookie police officer were the same man.

[Huckleberry3911948]

sorry to say that is true here. i must create a great deal of interest in the community before the police will do anything about anything. 30 years ago it was not like that at all. im not sure who the police work for now but i know its not us.

[Adrian71]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

This is SPD DNA. They are not interested in what they see as petty crime. They would rather raid a strip club.

It's not even unique to SPD. You can find stories like this from all over the country. Not too long ago I read about a guy in L.A. who had his iPad stolen from his car. He was able to locate where it was with another Apple device and told the police. They pretty much told him they didn't have time to deal with it, and the only thing he ever got was a letter in the mail from the LAPD, offering him a special police-rate discount on "The Club" for his car.

Raids, checkpoints, red-light cameras, seat-belt tickets ... the cops seem to focus more on stuff like that than they do on actual crime, because it's easy money. They're now revenue collectors just as much as they are public servants.

[GatsbyGatz]

I was over on 23rd Ave the other day and I witnessed a car accident where two cars got in a minor fender bender. No one seemed injured or anything bad. The bumpers were just a bit dented.

There were three cop cars surrounding the scene. I'm glad SPD went above and beyond to assist in the tragedy of a minor fender bender, yet whenever any real crime occurs, they are conveniently "too busy" to help out.

A few weeks ago my buddy had his laptop stolen from his car that was parked in a parking garage in Capitol Hill. Footage of the thief was caught on a security camera. Later, my buddy went on Craigslist and found exactly his laptop that was stolen (he could identify it by a distinct scuff on the side). He called the police to inform them that he found the thief and that he has video footage to identify the thief.

Seattle PD told him to just meet the thief, and "talk it out" and to call the police to let them know how that goes. They did not offer any other assistance beyond that.

It must be nice to be a criminal knowing that SPD is too apathetic to stop any crime.

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

I was over on 23rd Ave the other day and I witnessed a car accident where two cars got in a minor fender bender. No one seemed injured or anything bad. The bumpers were just a bit dented.

There were three cop cars surrounding the scene. I'm glad SPD went above and beyond to assist in the tragedy of a minor fender bender, yet whenever any real crime occurs, they are conveniently "too busy" to help out.

A few weeks ago my buddy had his laptop stolen from his car that was parked in a parking garage in Capitol Hill. Footage of the thief was caught on a security camera. Later, my buddy went on Craigslist and found exactly his laptop that was stolen (he could identify it by a distinct scuff on the side). He called the police to inform them that he found the thief and that he has video footage to identify the thief.

Seattle PD told him to just meet the thief, and "talk it out" and to call the police to let them know how that goes. They did not offer any other assistance beyond that.

It must be nice to be a criminal knowing that SPD is too apathetic to stop any crime.

Why don't you tell your friend to follow in the footsteps of Julia Marquand and go to twitter, facebook, or directly to the press?

1-800-K5-story.

[peequi]

Times are changing folks. Police are letting the small stuff go. Get use to it. It isn't right but that is how it is. Hopefully they will draw a line at some point.