Seattle's Crime Surge and the Police Problem
City Hall faces criticism for its ineffective police department as crime rates climb.
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 mayor and city council have at last become aroused to the absolute necessity of taking some steps to increase the efficiency of the police department. The conduct of this department of the city government has for some time past been so weak and unsatisfactory that almost no protection has been given either to life or property, and the number of crimes committed daily has assumed alarming proportions. It is not probable that any half-way measures will remedy the evils that now exist. To increase the expenses of the department by employing an inspector and fourteen additional patrolmen is certainly not a movement in the direction of economy that will commend itself to the average taxpayer. It is an open question whether more policemen and more inspectors or more efficient policemen and more efficient inspectors are needed. The attempt of the mayor to fasten the responsibility for the failure of the police department upon one saloon is absurd. If we are to have relief, let it be thorough. The people are not in a mood to be put off by official communications and an increased pay roll.
“It is an open question whether more policemen and more inspectors or more efficient policemen and more efficient inspectors are needed.”
Debates over police funding, the efficacy of patrol presence, and political scapegoating remain central to Seattle’s civic discourse today, mirroring these exact frustrations from 1893.
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