Police Chief Troy Smithmeyer presented Q2 2024 crime stats to the SeaTac City Council on Tuesday night, Sept. 10, 2024, revealing a spike in simple assaults.
Of the 130 calls received for crimes against persons, 59 were for simple assaults. From those calls, 47 arrests were made.
In addition to simple assault, one homicide was committed and is still under investigation by the King County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit.
Crimes against property dropped, including 124 auto thefts, down from 141 at the same time last year.
Narcotics offenses went up significantly compared to Q2 last year. Chief Smithmeyer sees this as an overall positive. Not that there are narcotics offenses, but that “…we’re being proactive on making arrests for [narcotics cases] when we do have them.”
Dispatch calls for service dropped by 12% in quarter two. Councilmember Peter Kwon asked if this decrease is due to community members feeling there is no point in calling for police service because nothing will be done or because crime truly has decreased.
Chief Smithmeyer responded:
“There is no way to quantify what’s caused [the drop in calls] at this point, but I would say the fact that we made 247 arrests combined with the emphasis patrols that we did […] we’ve done a little more data-targeted patrols where we’re really looking for hot spots. […] I would love to believe that the [decrease in calls] is due to all of these factors. I would be very disappointed to hear that people are not calling because they feel like nothing is happening or that we’re not going to get there or we’re not going to solve their crime.”
from the people i talk and listen to I’m absolutely convinced people don’t call the police. People that have gun shots go off in front their homes don’t call. People with cars speeding past don’t call. People who witness theft don’t call. Frustrated because they don’t believe they’ll catch anyone and if they do it’s just catch and release. Very discouraging.