Dear Mr. McNerthney
You recently reported on the disparity between the perceived and actual amount of crime in the University District. I find your report misrepresentative of the reality. What’s more, the tone of your article, borderline chastising of community members concerned about crime in the area, is wholly irresponsible as it undermines the effort to reduce violent crime in the U District. Your interpretation of the statistics is inaccurate and you include irrelevant or misleading quotes on multiple occasions.
“It's not an increase at all, it's just more awareness." - Teresa Lord-Hugel, U-Dist. Chamber of Commerce director
Wrong.
You write that UWPD statistics show decreases in “more serious crimes against persons and property”. The latter phrasing is nicely copied from the UWPD’s Annual Report but how does no change in the number of aggravated assaults, a 12% decrease in simple assault and a 82% increase in aggravated assault constitute your “overall decrease from the previous year”?
No doubt you’re looking at the numbers for Part 1 Crime, but closer inspections suggests that this decrease, while statistically significant (I did the math), is almost entirely due to a decrease in bike and other forms of theft, which is differentiated from robbery because it does not employ force or intimidation.
So when you include quotes from the executive director of the Greater University Chamber of Commerce saying, “if we look at the big picture over several years, crime has not increased and has probably decreased some”, you’re simply misleading the public. Violent crimes have doubled since I was a freshman in 2004. Both forms of assault show strict upward trends since that time.
And thanks for including Interim Police Chief Wittmier’s note that these numbers account for any incident where UW police respond, not necessarily on-campus – are you suggesting that this means there is an overestimate of crime in the area, as if the UWPD were riding their bikes into some jurisdictions far removed from the University itself? If anything, there is an underestimate in your cited numbers because they include zero crimes for which SPD responded near campus.
You close by quoting a biased source again. “… it’s not any more dangerous [on the Ave] than it is anywhere else… being smart in an urban environment – that’s what’s important.” Are this person or this person somehow at fault because they were not conscious enough of the fact that they live in a truly dangerous environment?
It doesn’t sound to me like you’ve done any hard reporting, it sounds more like Ms. Lord-Hugel, the Chamber of Commerce director, is trying to protect the interests of her organization. It’s irrelevant whether the U-District is the most violent area in Seattle; you’re supposed to be comparing the amount of crime relative to previous years in one area.
I might expect such soft reporting from the UW Daily, but not from an experienced reporter who is now the primary contributor to the Seattle PI’s blog on Seattle crime. It’s no wonder you didn’t include a link to the report in your article. Your article and its inclusion of misleading numbers and quotes serve only to breed complacency in the fight for a safe university environment. In the future, please consider the potentially negative ramifications before your write your next puff piece for the police force.
Matt Clark--
