“Trust God but lock your car.” I’m not sure who told me that years ago, but it’s something that’s stuck for some reason.
I don’t think about crime too much, not in the past dozen years or so since I moved to the Olympic Peninsula. Sure, I’d had my share of extremely minor victimizations (stolen wallet, stolen car cassette deck) and even spent the longest hour of my life in a holding cell once (I was 15 and it’s a long story, OK?) … but nothing too serious.
Then I read the “SEQUIM IS ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS CITIES IN WASHINGTON STATE!!!” (the all-caps and superfluous exclamation points added)
This, according to homesecurityshield.org. In another of those pseudo-surveys that make the rounds now and again, the website purports that, based on statistics they’ve uncovered, Sequim ranks No. 14 among the “15 Most Dangerous Cities in Washington,” along with Tukwila (No. 1), Tacoma and Lakewood (No. 2 and 3), Seattle (No. 8), Wapato (No. 10), Fife (No. 12) and Centralia (No. 15).
The site lists the cities of populations 5,000 and more using “the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report” (it’s actually from 2012) to list rates of violent and property crimes.
“We realize that this topic is inherently controversial in nature and hits close to home. We are aware that there are many different ways to present this data, but when compiling this list we chose to consider not just murder rate, but both violent and property crimes,” the website says.
The website, as one might imagine, also links to “home security options you can trust” starting at about $1 a day.
This, much to the consternation of Sequim police chief Bill Dickinson.
“The first thing you have to look at is that (the list) reflects raw data; it doesn’t tell you what that means,” Dickinson says. The more than two-year-old data sets don’t tell a clear picture of crime in Sequim. Dickinson notes that the vast majority of the listed violent crimes from that year (2012) were committed by persons known to the victims, that a change in reporting assaults spiked the numbers (a fight involving six people became six assaults rather than one incident, Dickinson says) and that Sequim’s relative small size of less than 7,000 in a community of more than 20,000 gave the community a seemingly sizable violent crime rate.
“That year, it appears we had a lot of violent crime. When you merge that with our small number of property crimes, it really looks bad,” Dickinson says.
“That kind of statistic will make people scared. When I see something like that web page, that this is not a safe place, I counter that, ‘It’s not dangerous here … but lock your car and your front door.’”
The largest number of theft crimes in our area, the chief says, is shoplifting, followed by folks stealing items from people’s cars.
Drugs, however, remain a thorn in the side of the community, he says, one that contributes to the issue of property crimes.
“One thing we do have up here are drug users,” Dickinson says. “Until we solve that problem, it’s not going to go away.”
On the loose!
A caring Sequim resident/Gazette reader sent in a couple of newspaper clippings the other day, noting that they may be of interest. Her first clipping was a “From the police log” article from sometime “the ‘90s.” Among the items listed: “May 14, 11:06 a.m. — A cat was reportedly chasing quail in the 9900 block of Old Olympic Highway.” The next: “May 14, 2:10 p.m. — A pair of horses was reportedly running through lavender fields near Cameron Road and Old Olympic Highway.” The next: “May 14, 4:23 p.m. — A quintet of horses was reported alongside the roadway at Highway 101 and Sherburne Road.” And so on.
In the police log just two days later … “May 16, 6:29 a.m. — A pair of horses was reported alongside the roadway in the 500 block of Diamond Point Road.” And, “May 16, 7:20 a.m. — A dark brown horse was reported running loose in the 1400 block of O’Brien Road.”
OK …
“May 16, 1:08 p.m. — A female caller reported a neighbor’s wiener dog attacked chickens in the 100 block of West Robert Place. Also, “May 21, 2:30 p.m. — A pair of full grown pigs was reported charging down the 200 block of Thornton Drive.”
What was going on in the here 1990s? Did you folks just let your livestock run willy-nilly across the peninsula? (And did I just use the term “willy-nilly”?)
It goes on! From the same note: “May 22, 7:25 a.m. — A female caller reported something killing her sheep (on the 4300 block of) Old Olympic Highway.” And, “May 22, 3:46 p.m. — A pair of pigs and a calf were reported running eastbound in the 100 block of Peterson Street.”
Later that day … “May 22, 7:50 a.m. — A pair of llamas was reported frolicking in the roadway in the 400 block of Erving Jacobs Road.”
The reader’s note also included a gem from a July police log: “July 6, 8:45 a.m. — A mother raccoon and babies were reported living under the front porch of a residence (on) Elizabeth Lane.”
The note also came with a point. Clipping a “From the Police Blotter” section from one of our February 2015 editions, our Gazette reader noted that in the span of seven days, 14 thefts, two car thefts (and a car prowling incident) along with three burglaries. Note: No animals were reported running wild in the area.
In thumbing through some of our editions from the 1990s, it became clear that our reader’s compilation needed some perspective. One look in those back editions show Sequim hasn’t descended into a pit of chaos and mayhem in just a few years. Along with animals running wild were murders and thefts, drug use and domestic violence, rape and abuse and other forms of awful con-artistry.
So the message remains, now as in any age: Lock your doors, people. And, to be safe, know where your livestock is.
Have a sip?
According to seattlepi.com, the great city of Victoria is not likely to start treating its sewage until 2023. The capital of British Columbia continues to dump millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage each day into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, nine years after agreeing to clean it up. The seattlepi notes that the Capital Regional District — including Victoria and surrounding cities — does not even have a site to put its treatment plant.
Go ahead and drink in the views of Canada … but just the views.
Gavin’s fight
Normally I don’t tell folks to go somewhere else unless I really don’t like them, but The Everett Herald, a fellow Sound Publishing newspaper, has a great story and slideshow about a young’ man’s fight with a deadly disease. See “Strength and love carry Monroe family through boy’s battle with cancer” at heraldnet.com or simply google “Everett Herald,” “Gavin” and “Dragon.”
And finally …
The American Gaming Association estimates that 40 million Americans will fill out more than 70 million college basketball March Madness brackets and wager approximately $9 billion on the NCAA tournament, according to research released last week.
Or, between $500 million-$1 billion more than the gross domestic product figure for the entire countries of Andorra and Montenegro for 2013.
Ironically, perhaps, the winner of the Andorra/Montenegro plays Kentucky in the round of 64. Got your brackets ready?
Reach Sequim Gazette editor Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.
