The 'Reform' Administration's Policing Scandal
A scathing report accuses Seattle’s new municipal government of total incompetence in failing to curb a wave of burglaries, despite increased spending on the force.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The thousands of citizens who hoped for a reform administration are being failed by the present leadership. Mayor Ronald, who reconstructed the entire police department to ensure it had his full confidence, is now responsible for its actions. Burglary is a crime dreaded by the community, yet reports of home invasions are met with indifference or inaction. Citizens report that when they notify police of break-ins, officers fail to investigate even when clues are fresh. For instance, after L. U. Warner's home on Queen Anne Hill was burglarized, the responding officer simply looked things over and said goodnight. In another case, Dr. L. W. Carpenter’s wife scared off a burglar, but despite being able to track the intruder's footprints, the police never arrived to investigate. Auditor records show that the city spent $15,710 on the police in the second quarter of 1892, compared to $13,710 for the same period in 1891, yet the department remains effectively paralyzed.
“The police are interested in suppressing the publication of the many burglaries that occur. But far worse is the utter carelessness displayed by the department when citizens report that their houses were robbed.”
This 1892 critique of Seattle's police efficiency and municipal accountability mirrors contemporary debates about the city's public safety infrastructure. The specific naming of neighborhoods like Queen Anne and the reliance on neighborhood 'patrols' shows that the struggle between residential security and city hall oversight is a long-standing Seattle tradition.
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