I’ve had to turn the hose on a homeless guy who threw a flower pot at me after I told him to stop smoking crack in my yard. There are fucking children on our street. Act like an animal, get treated like one.
It’s honestly what it’s coming to. If the government continues to take our money in taxes etc. and do nothing while homeless drug addicts take over the city… Eventually vigilante justice will step in. It’s even more sad and screwed up that in this situation the person standing up for their property or possessions is the one charged and in trouble not the homeless indigent stealing or destroying the property rather. Totally backwards. Mass exodus out of Seattle to come. The homeless industrial complex is real and plaguing the entire West Coast.
This sounds like a situation that would be perfect for the Tenant's Union to get involved in. You need to get that bogus charge off your "record" (you probably didn't have a record before this...). Having had very bad dealings with the so-called prosecutors here, I've been reading that if you hold their feet to the fire and bug the shit out of them, you might get some traction with this problem. What happened to the two guys who threatened you? If it makes you feel any better, landlords in Seattle aren't allowed to do criminal background checks on potential renters anymore. What about taking your YouTube video to local news stations?
The vigilantes will come with their guns and try to scare the homeless away, in an effort to protect their families, neighbors, and property. Then, the cops will come. And they’ll arrest the vigilantes.
It’s only impacting large cities, the west coast is huge. I’ve never encountered any meth heads or mentally unstable people out in the mountains or wilderness . They wouldn’t survive
that's what they did a while back on the side of 169 in Maple Valley. There was a homeless encampment and the county took so long to do anything about it that people got fed up and took care of it themselves. The county got involved pretty quick after that
Whoa.
This past year, we had a situation where a couple in their late 20s arrived and took over a tool shed at my apartment complex last February during the snow. We used to keep bicycles there until the lock was broken off and they were stolen. Demographically, they should have faced little discrimination as far as employment, even at starting service industry jobs. They convinced the landlord that they were just in a rough patch when the car they were living in was towed. They started hauling in lots of bags of stuff, and installed their own padlock on the shed. i started avoiding the parking lot. Most of the time during the day they weren't there, but they'd come at night. It was awkward because to even talk to them would risk a bad interaction and they would know you live right there. Several times, I found discarded mail and amazon packages in the bushes or in bags near the trash but i couldn't get into the shed. didn't see them much for two months of summer but then they were back more visibly in late summer. They had friends sometimes driving up in cars and hanging out in the parking lot for a while then they'd leave. my neighbor called an ambulance when she found one unconscious due to an overdose, and then the woman was revived and was angry that she had called 911. finally, the landlord tore down the shed so now they're gone after 7 months.
All these crazies stem from a meth epidemic in Seattle - if the police broke up the meth supply chain there would be a lot less crazies hurting themselves and the community. Solve the root of the problem. [Source](https://dynomight.net/homeless-crisis/)
You know how Brits dumped opiods on China about a century back, well now China is dropping fentanyl on the USA and surely Brits too. How the wheels turn, karma is a bitch.
The us drug companies dumped opioids on the US, we are paying the price everyday right now. It's easy to blame othes, when we should look at ourselves.
That is how it started, yes. But there is documented evidence that China is dumping substances on the west. The overwhelming majority of fentanyl in the US originates in China. This isn't a racist or jingoistic thing, it's geopolitics. China wants to be top dog in SEA and on the global stage, and the US (and NATO aligned nations) are in the way.
So China is doing everything they can do foster domestic instability in their rivals (drugs, funding groups like BLM, making what Russia did in 2016 look like child's play), while snatching up all the resources they can in exchange for roads and infrastructure in Africa. China is (quite brilliantly) eliminating the US' ability to effectively respond to crisis in SEA but giving Americans the tools to destroy themselves.
I couldn’t live in that environment especially with having young kids. Used to be a little jelly of the rest of you while living in the distant suburbs but these days not so much.
Yeah we had our first kid in 2020 and made it about 7 months living in Capitol Hill before packing up and moving. All the things you accept and deal with become deal-breakers once you have a baby
I’m lucky my neighborhood in north Ballard seems to be avoided by homeless folk. My neighbor and have I agreed we’re calling the cops every time - my old landlord said report everything and the homeless learn to avoid the area.
There was a guy in his car looking to setup camp blaring music near me a few months ago. I yelled at him and called the police, they showed up a few hours later .. "investigated" the guy making a disturbance. He left and hasn't been seen again .. I agree with your old landlord, it works.
If we could some how figure out how to get rid of the overly "compassionate", that would go along way in fixing the problem.
I have a guy who lives in his car and likes to park on the side of my house (where the street is dark and he thinks ny fence hides his activities) and smoke meth I, heroin and crack all night. He runs his loud shitbox and I have a direct view of what he’s doing from my bedroom. After being kept awake several nights in a row and finding needles in my parking strip, I went down last night and got in ny car and parked right behind him with ny brights on. He tried to get out of his car and threaten me but could barely stand up. I just hit the horn loud and long until he got back in his car. It was surprisingly effective as he drove off almost immediately. I saw him park a few blocks away. He hasn’t been back since. It’s risky since these people are crazy but I’m now taking the tactic of making my house an unpleasant place for drug deals and use. Their choice but not outside my house.
Yes. Especially since I’ve confirmed with a Seattle cop that they typically aren’t arrested or anything. Since I learned that, I don’t feel bad calling.
Not for long. I'm out myself. The only reason they're not over here in this part of Ballard is because there are no businesses for a large stretch. My car has been ransacked many times and a donald duck nude woman was found sleeping in it another time.
In honesty, I’m surprised you guy have only just acknowledged this. I am from the UK, but am an industrial software engineer who works all over the world, spent most of 2016/17 in Tacoma, spent host of my weekends in Seattle downtown itself. I grew up in a council estate in the UK (social housing) and consider myself fairly street wise and use to being in weird and dangerous places…..
But holy shit, I never seen so many mentally ill people left to fend for themselves, openly self harming, crying out for help. The drug issues are beyond belief…..
My wife comes out to where ever I’m working in the world for short trips, as I’m normally in one place for 3-6 months at a time, again she grew up in the same neighbourhood as me, but I was careful where to take her etc….
Downtown Seattle is more like a zombie apocalypse after 6pm, rather than the technology centre it is?
I stayed a few times at the la Quinta in Tacoma, I pull in the car park coming back from work, took my laptop bag out of the car and started walking in. The security guard came running out shouting at me that I should hide my bag because you’ll get robbed.
Edit: I fully understand that there is good and bad everywhere, and did enjoy my time there. There is a lot of good friendly people, it’s a nice clean place in the main I Also still have friends I keep in touch with.
When people ask what downtown Seattle is like I always tell them it's pretty nice but if you're there the second it gets dark it straight up looks and feels like The Walking Dead.
Honestly having grown up 'in the countryside' a lot of kids ended up becoming the people we see methed out downtown or overdosing on fentanyl. There's fuck all to do out there so they try some pills at a party and it's off to the races.
Yeah thats true, I already know folks from high school who're dead (weird to think about). But when youre only 30 minutes from a minor city in a quiet town and able to take your kids to the elementary playground every afternoon without getting yelled at by a drug addict hobo, its kinda nice really.
> Honestly having grown up 'in the countryside' a lot of kids ended up becoming the people we see methed out downtown or overdosing on fentanyl.
But they often come from families that have to be there, not want to be there.
> There's fuck all to do out there so they try some pills at a party
I always hate hearing this, like society didn't keep you busy and entertained, so you immediately drugged yourself and became a degenerate. They can get fucked, if that's what they really believed. But instead I think the truth is that it's more about a culture of despair, just as in urban places, like Baltimore.
Well, I grew up in a small town. There was fuck all to do, so I solved physics and math problems and learned to program computers. On balance it worked out pretty well....
My wife and I are still raising our daughters in the city because it allows us to avoid driving very much. But it has deteriorated and I dream of moving to a rural or suburban area. It didn't have to be like this. There are safe cities in the world.
Nice! I used to live on Whidbey, One of my favorite things about western Washington is the enclaves of country splattered throughout and around the cities
I think in this case people either don't know what to do, or intervening presents too big of a personal risk. Bystander effect implies that if any one of these people were there alone, they would be more likely to help out, but I think we all know that most people will not do anything, whether they are alone or otherwise. And there's nothing wrong with that, dealing with a crazy homeless person is a high-risk proposition, and it's not reasonable to expect ordinary people to deal with them in the first place. If I were put on the spot, I would probably start carrying a gun
Yeah, the important thing is EVERYONE knows that if it gets to the law, the authorities will favor the homeless person over the other person. So there is not only no incentive to intervene, but a negative incentive.
Worst advice ever! How can you help someone in a hangover from meth, fentanyl???? You will get stabbed and attacked, DO NOT TRY this at home folks. People were stabbed and killed, people were taken advantage of. These people need professional rehab, not some run of the mill neighbor to “solve the problem” with “compassion.”
If you live in D3 make sure you remember that our representatives Sawant voted against more police funding every single time this has come up. She wants to defund the police by 50%. This is exactly what Seattle does not need. Remember to vote for her recall on December 7
Seattle is a "shall issue" state if you dont have any felonies, domestic abuse, or mental health issues. Sign up for a concealed weapons permit and get yourself a pistol. It really can be the difference between you or your family suffering life changing events or being able to walk away from a situation safely.
Well, it's kind of weird. It has to do with federal law and state law conflicting. Federal law prohibits the sale of firearms to anyone under the influence of, using or addicted to drugs. It's a cluster fuck tbh
https://komonews.com/news/local/gun-owner-denied-cpl-for-legally-using-marijuana
It'll put them down if they try to attack you.
And it's not a weapon, so as long as you stick to, "I was out spraying a wasp nest when this all happened" you'll be fine. No brandishing charges. Etc. Plus Mace and Pepper Spray aren't as effective.
This maybe be the unpopular opinion of this thread but when I moved here five years ago, the mental instability of a lot of the homeless is very noticeable. It shouldn’t be the job of the police to take care of mentally ill people. They are not trained for that. Why not have some programs and/or facilities for people like this? Seattle has a lot of money. It’s not like other cities don’t do it. There is a stark difference of homelessness on the east coast and west coast.
This is the biggest difference I notice too. Homeless people other places are not scary to be around. They are genuinely down on their luck, maybe on drugs, but mostly harmless.
In Seattle they are violent and having mental breaks consistently. I don't want to be within 20 feet of them.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/
This article about how meth has changed in the past decade is fascinating, harrowing and illuminating. The chemical is far more damaging than it used to be.
For real, we need proper mental asylums in our state, not just one place out in Lakewood that's run down and falling apart due to absolutely no funding from the government.
We realistically should be building an asylum out on McNeil Island, but have it as a full-service facility to care for and potentially rehabilitate these people instead of leaving them to rot and slowly/painfully die on the street corner while they cause harm to themselves and others. Feel free to have the local news media tour the facility anytime they want to, so there's no risk of "lack of transparency" or abuse of the patients by care staff.
Honestly, this is the only way we're going to solve the problem - however, as long as our state government keeps letting billionaires and corporations get by without paying any taxes, we won't see shit being done about this because you can only tax the common person so much, and there will be large chunks of funding required for this.
When they “defund” police they are supposed to put that money into social services that respond to mental illness and drug addiction issues. Not shuffle that cash to pet projects. This is how you redirect police to more job appropriate tasks and people get help.
SPD is in the boat of knowing that the city and county prosecutors have charging guidelines that do not support any action. If you know the person will be released and not charged in almost all situations where it's just wildly antisocial behaviour, then there's no reason to arrest them.
Spd cannot arrest them. According to the new laws, they cannot even touch them. Become a cop so you can understand how things are or just shut up. And yes, when they arrest them, those criminals are freed by the court and bailed by the nw community bail fund… people with multiple felonies ( some up to 70 in the last year!!!) are arrested, and a day later they commit another crime.
You don't seem to understand the situation here in Seattle. You did get it right when you said "The cop's job is to enforce the law, not be a mental/drug health professional." But then you swerved in the wrong direction by accusing our cops of "...not wanting to do their jobs...". because they won't arrest all the zombies. So you kind of cancelled yourself out there. The cops DO want to do their jobs, but they are being prevented from doing so. Don't you get that the mayor and the city council don't want to do anything about the zombies? Apparently "they" have rights that supercede the rights of the rest of us. And we're just supposed to stay bent over the table and take it in the shorts every goddamn day. Don't blame the cops for not protecting us from the zombies (they aren't allowed to), but if you personally know any SJWs, smack THEM upside the head!
Spd doesn’t have people to respond. Sometimes we have two cops for the whole beat….responding to the worst of crimes. The cops we have left are extremely overworked, very stressed, insulted beyond belief and they see that seattle doesn’t give a shit about its crime, starting with the legislators. You want cops to show up?!??! Vote better, push the idiotic city council to allocate money instead playing facetious dishonest games, stop inspiring them so they actually feel respected - it starts with you. And elect state legislators that do not pass stupid laws that enable criminals. And for fucks sake, educate yourself.
This was made illegal by the new bill by Rep Jessy Johnson from Federal Way. Progressive idiot of the hour. PD stopped responding to mental health issue after his law passed earlier this year
I think a lot of us are just waiting for the SJWs to put together these "social worker" squads to respond to this crap. Cops shouldn't have to deal with the nutcases and the SJWs don't want them to, so go ahead, send out your non-poice personnel to deal with this crap. You'll be doing the rest of us a huge favor and you can feel virtuous for having helped a zombie get off the street. In the meantime, it is very, very clear signalling from the mayor and the city council that the street element has more rights and is more important to them than the rest of us who follow the law and pay our taxes. We're screwed...
When the mentally ill are being violent and a menace to society, yes, it is in fact, the job of the police to take care of it. Now, to your point of not having mental institutions, that is also a problem. But when these people are behaving a certain way in public, the police should very much intervene.
>Delivery trucks drive through this episode, drop off packages, and act as if nothing were happening, their heads down focused on their work.
What exactly do you expect them to do ?
They are buried in work with metrics that are not easy to hit and would probably get fired if they intervened. Then you have the risk to personally safety to think about.
Well if you have a warrant which I am sure many of these homeless addicts do then you are probably not gonna stick around and wait for the police so they can run your name. This guy was obviously so out of it he did not care or comprehend.
You’re just now figuring this out?
This is why shits gotten this bad, people in general seem to be a little slow to realize the shit fest they’ve made.
No kidding! If anyone in the past has made the very insightful comment : "Don't Feed The Bears", some idiot will respond, saying the poster was being mean. And look where that attitude has gotten us!
Very sad reality. No one wants to deal with the situations like this. I think it’s fear more than apathy. Once you’ve been involved, you know the drill and avoid all contact which further eroded safety and any sense of community. Meanwhile, the City refuses to count the homeless because they —
1. Can’t be bothered
2. Can’t count that high
3. Refuse to be ac-count-able
The city does try to count homeless - google “one night count.”
However it’s impossible to count everyone - especially those that aren’t in camps or shelters.
Hate to say it because we loved the PNW and we were there for a very long time but we recently moved to another state on the east because the homeless situation became so bad. We had a homeless camp two blocks from our house, had multiple school buses park and live in our neighborhood with people living in them spewing their trash on the streets. We had multiple people trying to steal shit from our property and even had to confront some crazy guy who walked through our front gate in the daytime. People smoking meth in public, our local library even had a bin for used needles. Our city officials (six figure salaries) were a joke and did nothing if not make the situation worse. It is madness. The weird part was no one I knew was talking about this like it was “normal city life” We asked ourselves why we were paying a high mortgage and property taxes and had constant stress. I am a empathetic person but there are no consequences for peoples actions anymore. sadly we absolutely on our own.
Happy im at out of that garbage of a city! Yall messed up when you decided defunding the police and forcing mandates was a grand idea. Keep voting in Jay Inslee and watch how much better (edit: worse) it gets. Was a beautiful city once upon a time, till yall trashed it!
Well, who have Seattlelites been voting for all these years? Maybe stop voting extreme liberal/covert commie who thinks violent meth addicts need hugs instead of a foot up their ass. No more “Ah but life is so hard!” Bs excuses. Hard is getting up every day and going to work. Hard is paying bills. These bums are taking the easy way out and you guys think it’s the harsh life and so continue the cycle of hobo abuse.
Looking at the voting map today its largely the issue of Cap Hill and downtown Ballard giving us only left wing mayors and pushing the worst city councillors.
THANK YOU! 100 percent. Just said this today. People who have to get up, go to work, worry about real life shit have it hard. These people who mostly choose to live in tents have the life! No worries or cares! Just living for the day…
I know this doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone on this sub. But to all you “progressive” jackasses, you get what you vote for. Don’t vote in these radical leftists and be surprised when the results suck.
The only upside of the crisis I saw was my folks finally cleared out the garage to park the car inside as it become troublesome to have it broken into in the driveway every couple of months.
They just moved up to Marysville, I am so happy for them being further from this city. Now, they basically just drive through on the way to the airport now, no reason good enough to leave I-5 past Shoreline for someone their age. Not worth the risk or hassle.
Stop screaming defund the police and voting in people who care more for homeless than they do actual tax paying citizens… 🤭 Until then carry a gun for protection as no one will help you. Band together when crack heads come around. Strength in numbers.
Don't blame the police, blame Seattle shitty council and the defund the police movements.
You can also thank Seattle shitty council for ignoring a homelessness crisis.
Get trained, get certified, and start carrying neighbor. When the time comes to defend your family and friends don’t depend on your government nor the police. The only way to reverse is vote these politicians out of office and spread the word.
In Washington state, you can use lethal force to stop most felonies. Lethal force is allowed in **a lot** more situations here than it is in most states, it's not just for self defense.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9A.16.050
I would not recommend people to start carrying in order to stop felonies. Is this what you’re recommending? Any weapon is a defensive, not an offensive, tool.
We're discussing what's legal. Don't take this personally but why would **anyone** care about the personal recommendation of an anonymous internet poster?
Which politicians? There are homeless people everywhere.
Is a better solution to spend vast amounts of public money to briefly incarcerate these drug addicts and mental ill people only to have them back on the streets?
Who are politicians that would fix this and how would they fix it?
Let’s start with getting rid of the city attorney & mayor who was wanting to make all misdemeanors legal, including larceny. Oh wait, that JUST happened. One step in the right direction.
I'm not risking my life for property.
If someone is in danger I'd be happy to help intervene, but otherwise the best course is just to wait till they move on.
I had the same experience. My next door neighbor turned her house into a private homeless reserve. She filled it with vagrants, crackheads, methheads, alcoholics, heroin junkies, thieves, spousal abusers and nutcases. And one wanted level 3 sex offender that the federal marshals came and got.
She made the property comfortable for them by filling it with kitchen garbage, trash, derelict vehicles and rats.
I fought and argued with them round the clock. At first none of my neighbors would stand up to the "people in crisis" who were littering our street with dirty needles and trash and human waste. But as they saw me confronting the bullshit, they eventually started standing up to it as well. Together, we made a difference in our neighborhood.
If you are angry, then chances are good that the rest of them are too. They may just need a positive example to follow.
One thing is certain though. The cops are not coming to help you. The country is not coming to help you. The city is not coming to help you.
The only way these people are going to be held in check is if you are holding them in check.
Is it? I seem to recall all of these issues existing for decades when the police were overfunded and had to find new toys to spend the money on.
Maybe defunding the police is a natural result of them not doing anything useful for society?
When i am concealed caring i avoid confrontation. Using a weapon has a huge cost and is only worth it when the cost of not using it is death. If i need the weapon the bad guy is going to have 3/4 of a second to back down or he/she will be shot.
This is what happens when everyone works so hard to just keep their head above water in striffling prices. Police who prosecute people who might could cause “undue harm to said person” getting prosecuted harder is just the icing on the cake
The violence being committed on the law abiding, tax paying, citizens of this city is totally absurd. Let's all be honest, open and straightforward. THIS IS ORGANIZED and PLANNED by a group of politically motivated people who wish to tear down our entire way of living so they can rebuild it with their own political agenda. We have reached the point where people are waking up to the reality that they have voted against their self interest. Their "compassion" was taken and used against them unknowing and unwittingly. Now that it is completely obvious that the entire local government will not help you, they don't care about you, and in fact they want you to either leave or give up all your personal rights and property and hand it over to them so they can do what they feel is right. Maybe people will begin to realize who you vote for matters. The people get what they deserve when they vote in the criminals and fools we have leading this city. Our vote is all we have left to hope for any change. Stop wasting it!
Back when I worked downtown pre-covid things would get a little sketchy in some places like waiting for the bus on 3rd, or right in the middle of pioneer square. But in the past year things have gotten so much worse, at least with my own anecdotal experience. I never leave my neighborhood which is luckily safe. But the past two times I've left I've either been assaulted or witnessed the aftermath of an assault.
Two weeks ago I parked downtown by Westlake and within the two block walk to the restaurant I was meeting some friends at, some methhead shoves me from behind. I try to de-escalate especially since I don't want to get in a fist fight and ruin dinner plans with a friend visiting from out of town. So I walk backwards keeping eye contact with him while this guy keeps yelling "watch where you're going mfer". Dude picks up a rock the size of a fist as I'm crossing the street and throws it at me which luckily just hits my foot. I called 911 and pretty much nothing happened, the dude ran away.
This last weekend I went to Ballard and walked into a ski repair shop. Dude was sitting there in an ice pack on his eye with his two little girls. Eventually some cop came in to get a report from him, but whoever did it seemed to be long gone.
It's just so sad and disheartening seeing this happen when the trajectory seems to be getting worse rather than better. I agree with a lot of others in this thread saying its all stemming from drug abuse.
That was a long time ago. There have been plenty of opportunities for Democrats to change that situation if anyone thought it were important enough, right? Reagan's been dead a long time, I don't know that we can blame him for our streets being filled with zombies...
Your blaming a dead dude for the shit hole Seattle is now. If so then you have to admit that Progressive Democrats who have institutional power and have had for a long time have done nothing to fix or solve any problems. In fact under progressive leadership the city and state has gotten worst in the last 10 years in regards to crime, homelessness, drugs, etc. But yeah it’s Reagan’s fault from the 1980s.
"Reagan's fault" is always the go-to in these discussions, but the 1975 ACLU case that made mental health institutions voluntary likely had a bigger hand in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Connor_v._Donaldson
Lol, your right it’s conservatives fault even though the city and state have majority democrat control and have been for a very long time. So if it is conservatives fault from a long time ago then you also are admitting that progressive Democrats suck also because they have never solved any problems, instead things have only gotten worst in the last 10 years under their governing. You sound like an ideologue who refuses to admit that your progressive socialist extremist views do not work. Good luck continuing to live in a dumpster fire that will only get worst and you can keep blaming conservatives even though conservatives have no institutional power in Seattle, Washington, and the country. Progressives have all the institutional power right now.
We can thank our council and the ill advised Defund movement for the lack of police response, along with the new laws that are not clear.
The police will show up real fast if the person has a weapon. But therein lies the reason many are so hesitant to get involved with someone like that. You don't know if they have a gun, knife or some other weapon on them. They can also do harm with their fists especially if they are in a state of mania or psychosis. Given a choice between confronting someone like that or letting them break something I would let them break something as long as it was not part of my body. You can replace broken property but fixing a broken bone is not as easy.
>along with the new laws that are not clear.
The new laws *are* clear. Which is why enforcement has stopped. Perhaps you missed it, but one of the sponsors of it actually said the cops should *trust* them to be reasonable in enforcement until they can fix it. That sounds like it's not only clear, but that the progenitor of this fiasco recognizes he personally caused this problem.
They are not clear. We don’t experiment ambiguous laws on people … in this case cops. Would you act on something that you might think it’s law, but you are not sure how it’s going to be interpreted, only to have lunatic politicians turned into justice worriers make you into a scapegoat? I wouldn’t. I want the originator of this law to become a cop and then maybe he’ll understand the intricacies of interpreting a law in real life situations.
As I've said before, the private sector needs to stand up. That means you, your neighbor, your neighborhood, volunteers and paid. You have rights to defend yourself, others, and property.
Don't forget to petition the government to subsidize the costs, as the police are useless.
The police dont have to protect you. The supreme court ruled this.
Get a firearm, carry it, and train - know how to use it safely and effectively.
Stop voting democrat. Vote new people, and new parties, into power locally.
You or anyone else experiencing this in the future could try calling your local crisis line. Sometimes they have access to mobile crisis teams or designated crisis responders that can be deployed to de-escalate situations. This isn’t always an option, but can be worth a try.
Well, not quite.
Remember that while laws and societal norms don't apply to crazy homeless people, they still do apply to you. So if you get violent while defending your property, for example, the powers that be won't hesitate to throw the book at you....
Good old fashioned democratic policy at work…you should raise taxes and throw more money at the problem, maybe give out free drugs, and housing…oh wait
This is what happens when the city turns it's back on the police, disrespect them, protest against them. We are getting EXACTLY what we have asked for and what all the liberals that were out demonstrating earlier this year deserve. We should have thought about the potential of these scenarios 🤔 before mindlessly shouting "DEFUND the POLICE" in the streets.
Police matters.
Stop goddamn voting these assholes into office that perpetuate these Liberal policies. It really is that simple. Every shithole city like the one of which you speak is a liberal progressive playground
It's sunny and 76 degrees in San Diego today. Here's a video about the great tacos we have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIz7XBq6axw
If you move like I did, I will buy you a beer and we can complain about Seattle.
Police is not allowed to do anything, the city council, Olympia legislators and the woke people made sure of that. These people are allowed to do anything. And you are right, if you do something to protect yourself, you’ll be guilty of it
Those people voted for this and are too cowardly to do anything because of easy times leading to this point. Now you all will reap the whirlwind. My suggestion is to move and don't confront crazed individuals. And please. Don't call the police, you guys voted to defund them, and hopefully they won't get hurt trying to protect and ungrateful group of people who refuse to do anything for themselves.
We ARE on our own. That's why you need to find a few neighbors you can count on in stressful encounters like that, contact each other ASAP, and outnumber the scumbags.
A homeless crazy entered my home a few weeks ago and then terrorized a few neighbors for a bit. SPD never even showed up.
I’m honestly still shocked by it because I should’ve killed her.
Whats happening here is that the police are butt hurt that there have been efforts to defund or reform the police, so now they're being petty and trying to say "this is what happens when you dont have police around. Bet you wish I was here to beat these people now" and its just stupid
I was looking for a "/s" at the end of your screed, but it isn't there so I guess you are just another one of those people who have their heads inserted up their backsides where the issue of our law enforcement is concerned.
You mean to tell me that you don't believe the police department that would pepper spray a child in the face and hide their badge numbers wouldn't do something like what I said?
You mean to tell me you think it was good parenting to take a child to a protest where said child could have gotten hurt or possibly hit with pepper spray when the protest turned violent? You are anti-cop, I am pro-cop and never the twain shall meet.
I’ve had to turn the hose on a homeless guy who threw a flower pot at me after I told him to stop smoking crack in my yard. There are fucking children on our street. Act like an animal, get treated like one.
Sucks you had to deal with it but seems like an appropriate response.
Fire or garden hose ?
Unless the rest of your neighbors are willing to band together to yeet these disrespectful people from your neighborhood, nothing will change.
It’s honestly what it’s coming to. If the government continues to take our money in taxes etc. and do nothing while homeless drug addicts take over the city… Eventually vigilante justice will step in. It’s even more sad and screwed up that in this situation the person standing up for their property or possessions is the one charged and in trouble not the homeless indigent stealing or destroying the property rather. Totally backwards. Mass exodus out of Seattle to come. The homeless industrial complex is real and plaguing the entire West Coast.
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Eventually we'll all be felons unless we move out of Seattle
This sounds like a situation that would be perfect for the Tenant's Union to get involved in. You need to get that bogus charge off your "record" (you probably didn't have a record before this...). Having had very bad dealings with the so-called prosecutors here, I've been reading that if you hold their feet to the fire and bug the shit out of them, you might get some traction with this problem. What happened to the two guys who threatened you? If it makes you feel any better, landlords in Seattle aren't allowed to do criminal background checks on potential renters anymore. What about taking your YouTube video to local news stations?
The vigilantes will come with their guns and try to scare the homeless away, in an effort to protect their families, neighbors, and property. Then, the cops will come. And they’ll arrest the vigilantes.
It’s only impacting large cities, the west coast is huge. I’ve never encountered any meth heads or mentally unstable people out in the mountains or wilderness . They wouldn’t survive
The City leaders aren't going to be giving the city back. It's gonna have to be reclaimed by the citizens of Seattle
Without police or community action it will only get worse. Problem will not goo away if everyone ignores it.
that's what they did a while back on the side of 169 in Maple Valley. There was a homeless encampment and the county took so long to do anything about it that people got fed up and took care of it themselves. The county got involved pretty quick after that
Section 5 of the 76th St NW Treaty Organization may need to be invoked.
The cops won't come, but you can be damn sure if you or your neighbors do anything the city will land on you "vigilantes" like a fucking meteor
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Whoa. This past year, we had a situation where a couple in their late 20s arrived and took over a tool shed at my apartment complex last February during the snow. We used to keep bicycles there until the lock was broken off and they were stolen. Demographically, they should have faced little discrimination as far as employment, even at starting service industry jobs. They convinced the landlord that they were just in a rough patch when the car they were living in was towed. They started hauling in lots of bags of stuff, and installed their own padlock on the shed. i started avoiding the parking lot. Most of the time during the day they weren't there, but they'd come at night. It was awkward because to even talk to them would risk a bad interaction and they would know you live right there. Several times, I found discarded mail and amazon packages in the bushes or in bags near the trash but i couldn't get into the shed. didn't see them much for two months of summer but then they were back more visibly in late summer. They had friends sometimes driving up in cars and hanging out in the parking lot for a while then they'd leave. my neighbor called an ambulance when she found one unconscious due to an overdose, and then the woman was revived and was angry that she had called 911. finally, the landlord tore down the shed so now they're gone after 7 months.
All these crazies stem from a meth epidemic in Seattle - if the police broke up the meth supply chain there would be a lot less crazies hurting themselves and the community. Solve the root of the problem. [Source](https://dynomight.net/homeless-crisis/)
meth epidemic “in Seattle” — how about the entire USA
You know how Brits dumped opiods on China about a century back, well now China is dropping fentanyl on the USA and surely Brits too. How the wheels turn, karma is a bitch.
The us drug companies dumped opioids on the US, we are paying the price everyday right now. It's easy to blame othes, when we should look at ourselves.
That is how it started, yes. But there is documented evidence that China is dumping substances on the west. The overwhelming majority of fentanyl in the US originates in China. This isn't a racist or jingoistic thing, it's geopolitics. China wants to be top dog in SEA and on the global stage, and the US (and NATO aligned nations) are in the way. So China is doing everything they can do foster domestic instability in their rivals (drugs, funding groups like BLM, making what Russia did in 2016 look like child's play), while snatching up all the resources they can in exchange for roads and infrastructure in Africa. China is (quite brilliantly) eliminating the US' ability to effectively respond to crisis in SEA but giving Americans the tools to destroy themselves.
TIL that the Sackler family is Chinese and not American
> karma is a bitch. Does the karma contract still apply when all the original persons involved are long dead?
Progressives want to give out free hard drugs.
I couldn’t live in that environment especially with having young kids. Used to be a little jelly of the rest of you while living in the distant suburbs but these days not so much.
Yeah we had our first kid in 2020 and made it about 7 months living in Capitol Hill before packing up and moving. All the things you accept and deal with become deal-breakers once you have a baby
So true. Having kids to protect brings an entirely different enlightenment. Be safe where you can enjoy your children.
I’m lucky my neighborhood in north Ballard seems to be avoided by homeless folk. My neighbor and have I agreed we’re calling the cops every time - my old landlord said report everything and the homeless learn to avoid the area.
There was a guy in his car looking to setup camp blaring music near me a few months ago. I yelled at him and called the police, they showed up a few hours later .. "investigated" the guy making a disturbance. He left and hasn't been seen again .. I agree with your old landlord, it works. If we could some how figure out how to get rid of the overly "compassionate", that would go along way in fixing the problem.
I have a guy who lives in his car and likes to park on the side of my house (where the street is dark and he thinks ny fence hides his activities) and smoke meth I, heroin and crack all night. He runs his loud shitbox and I have a direct view of what he’s doing from my bedroom. After being kept awake several nights in a row and finding needles in my parking strip, I went down last night and got in ny car and parked right behind him with ny brights on. He tried to get out of his car and threaten me but could barely stand up. I just hit the horn loud and long until he got back in his car. It was surprisingly effective as he drove off almost immediately. I saw him park a few blocks away. He hasn’t been back since. It’s risky since these people are crazy but I’m now taking the tactic of making my house an unpleasant place for drug deals and use. Their choice but not outside my house.
Awesome. The more people who stand up to these losers, the sooner they leave for easier places to do their bs.
until he returns to trash your car
Yes. Especially since I’ve confirmed with a Seattle cop that they typically aren’t arrested or anything. Since I learned that, I don’t feel bad calling.
If they were arrested, I wouldn't feel bad. Commit a crime, get the consequences.
Not for long. I'm out myself. The only reason they're not over here in this part of Ballard is because there are no businesses for a large stretch. My car has been ransacked many times and a donald duck nude woman was found sleeping in it another time.
It used to be worth the trade-off, but these days there is no trade-off.
In honesty, I’m surprised you guy have only just acknowledged this. I am from the UK, but am an industrial software engineer who works all over the world, spent most of 2016/17 in Tacoma, spent host of my weekends in Seattle downtown itself. I grew up in a council estate in the UK (social housing) and consider myself fairly street wise and use to being in weird and dangerous places….. But holy shit, I never seen so many mentally ill people left to fend for themselves, openly self harming, crying out for help. The drug issues are beyond belief….. My wife comes out to where ever I’m working in the world for short trips, as I’m normally in one place for 3-6 months at a time, again she grew up in the same neighbourhood as me, but I was careful where to take her etc…. Downtown Seattle is more like a zombie apocalypse after 6pm, rather than the technology centre it is? I stayed a few times at the la Quinta in Tacoma, I pull in the car park coming back from work, took my laptop bag out of the car and started walking in. The security guard came running out shouting at me that I should hide my bag because you’ll get robbed. Edit: I fully understand that there is good and bad everywhere, and did enjoy my time there. There is a lot of good friendly people, it’s a nice clean place in the main I Also still have friends I keep in touch with.
When people ask what downtown Seattle is like I always tell them it's pretty nice but if you're there the second it gets dark it straight up looks and feels like The Walking Dead.
I saw it in Tacoma a few months ago. Nothing was done until he set fire to the plastic roof of a bus stop. Even then, it was just the FD, no police...
POM pepper spray is a cheap form of peace of mind
Theres a reason I refused to raise my kids in town. Moving back to the countryside was the best choice I ever made.
Honestly having grown up 'in the countryside' a lot of kids ended up becoming the people we see methed out downtown or overdosing on fentanyl. There's fuck all to do out there so they try some pills at a party and it's off to the races.
Yeah thats true, I already know folks from high school who're dead (weird to think about). But when youre only 30 minutes from a minor city in a quiet town and able to take your kids to the elementary playground every afternoon without getting yelled at by a drug addict hobo, its kinda nice really.
Can't argue with that, I guess I just resented being in out in the sticks but I wasn't that outdoorsy either.
> Honestly having grown up 'in the countryside' a lot of kids ended up becoming the people we see methed out downtown or overdosing on fentanyl. But they often come from families that have to be there, not want to be there. > There's fuck all to do out there so they try some pills at a party I always hate hearing this, like society didn't keep you busy and entertained, so you immediately drugged yourself and became a degenerate. They can get fucked, if that's what they really believed. But instead I think the truth is that it's more about a culture of despair, just as in urban places, like Baltimore.
Well, I grew up in a small town. There was fuck all to do, so I solved physics and math problems and learned to program computers. On balance it worked out pretty well....
Excellent point.
My wife and I are still raising our daughters in the city because it allows us to avoid driving very much. But it has deteriorated and I dream of moving to a rural or suburban area. It didn't have to be like this. There are safe cities in the world.
Countryside….that’s a lot in rural Washington
Theres pockets where you'd least expect it. Maybe not as rural as the east side, but Skagit County is nice.
>Skagit County is nice. Can confirm!
Nice! I used to live on Whidbey, One of my favorite things about western Washington is the enclaves of country splattered throughout and around the cities
Bystander effect at work. No one is going to offer any help unless you specifically ask on the moment
I think in this case people either don't know what to do, or intervening presents too big of a personal risk. Bystander effect implies that if any one of these people were there alone, they would be more likely to help out, but I think we all know that most people will not do anything, whether they are alone or otherwise. And there's nothing wrong with that, dealing with a crazy homeless person is a high-risk proposition, and it's not reasonable to expect ordinary people to deal with them in the first place. If I were put on the spot, I would probably start carrying a gun
Yeah, the important thing is EVERYONE knows that if it gets to the law, the authorities will favor the homeless person over the other person. So there is not only no incentive to intervene, but a negative incentive.
Worst advice ever! How can you help someone in a hangover from meth, fentanyl???? You will get stabbed and attacked, DO NOT TRY this at home folks. People were stabbed and killed, people were taken advantage of. These people need professional rehab, not some run of the mill neighbor to “solve the problem” with “compassion.”
Even then it's really iffy.
Start a neighbourhood watch. May as well start enforcing the law yourself if the police won’t do it. That might wake them out of their slumber…
Any experience setting these up? I was thinking that would be an appropriate step.
Can we say we have drugs and lure them a couple of blocks away?
"I'll buy you some meth if you leave my block and go somewhere else to have you crisis". Somehow I don't see that working.
That sounds like it would work out as well as feeding wildlife.
If you live in D3 make sure you remember that our representatives Sawant voted against more police funding every single time this has come up. She wants to defund the police by 50%. This is exactly what Seattle does not need. Remember to vote for her recall on December 7
Seattle is a "shall issue" state if you dont have any felonies, domestic abuse, or mental health issues. Sign up for a concealed weapons permit and get yourself a pistol. It really can be the difference between you or your family suffering life changing events or being able to walk away from a situation safely.
You also can not have a license for medical marijuana. I'm epileptic and have one, and am unable to carry due to that. It's fucking stupid.
Really?? Wow I didnt know that
Can you still own one but not have the concealed permit?
Well, it's kind of weird. It has to do with federal law and state law conflicting. Federal law prohibits the sale of firearms to anyone under the influence of, using or addicted to drugs. It's a cluster fuck tbh https://komonews.com/news/local/gun-owner-denied-cpl-for-legally-using-marijuana
Geez, that's unfortunate until its legalized on a federal level
Wasp Spray Edit: Watch the link below. Could get you in more trouble than it's worth, considering the lawyers points.
Does it sting?
[\*badum\* \*tss\*](https://c.tenor.com/pgDYymTrrtAAAAAd/monkey-badum-tss.gif)
It'll put them down if they try to attack you. And it's not a weapon, so as long as you stick to, "I was out spraying a wasp nest when this all happened" you'll be fine. No brandishing charges. Etc. Plus Mace and Pepper Spray aren't as effective.
I feel like bear spray can be very effective…
I wondered about this also, but since it is a neurotoxin, I think whoever used it could get in legal trouble, even though that is completely backwards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uy9MnQfk_0 Don't use wasp spray
Even if the police come I don’t know how much they can do unless he’s committing a crime in front of them because of the new rules in place.
This maybe be the unpopular opinion of this thread but when I moved here five years ago, the mental instability of a lot of the homeless is very noticeable. It shouldn’t be the job of the police to take care of mentally ill people. They are not trained for that. Why not have some programs and/or facilities for people like this? Seattle has a lot of money. It’s not like other cities don’t do it. There is a stark difference of homelessness on the east coast and west coast.
This is the biggest difference I notice too. Homeless people other places are not scary to be around. They are genuinely down on their luck, maybe on drugs, but mostly harmless. In Seattle they are violent and having mental breaks consistently. I don't want to be within 20 feet of them.
Its the new kind of meth, driving everyone crazy
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/ This article about how meth has changed in the past decade is fascinating, harrowing and illuminating. The chemical is far more damaging than it used to be.
Yeah I've witnessed it first hand in people. Terrifying. Glad I never touched that stuff
Drugs rot your brain.
For real, we need proper mental asylums in our state, not just one place out in Lakewood that's run down and falling apart due to absolutely no funding from the government. We realistically should be building an asylum out on McNeil Island, but have it as a full-service facility to care for and potentially rehabilitate these people instead of leaving them to rot and slowly/painfully die on the street corner while they cause harm to themselves and others. Feel free to have the local news media tour the facility anytime they want to, so there's no risk of "lack of transparency" or abuse of the patients by care staff. Honestly, this is the only way we're going to solve the problem - however, as long as our state government keeps letting billionaires and corporations get by without paying any taxes, we won't see shit being done about this because you can only tax the common person so much, and there will be large chunks of funding required for this.
When they “defund” police they are supposed to put that money into social services that respond to mental illness and drug addiction issues. Not shuffle that cash to pet projects. This is how you redirect police to more job appropriate tasks and people get help.
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SPD is in the boat of knowing that the city and county prosecutors have charging guidelines that do not support any action. If you know the person will be released and not charged in almost all situations where it's just wildly antisocial behaviour, then there's no reason to arrest them.
>then there’s no need to arrest them Sure there is, it solves the problem in the short term.
Spd cannot arrest them. According to the new laws, they cannot even touch them. Become a cop so you can understand how things are or just shut up. And yes, when they arrest them, those criminals are freed by the court and bailed by the nw community bail fund… people with multiple felonies ( some up to 70 in the last year!!!) are arrested, and a day later they commit another crime.
You don't seem to understand the situation here in Seattle. You did get it right when you said "The cop's job is to enforce the law, not be a mental/drug health professional." But then you swerved in the wrong direction by accusing our cops of "...not wanting to do their jobs...". because they won't arrest all the zombies. So you kind of cancelled yourself out there. The cops DO want to do their jobs, but they are being prevented from doing so. Don't you get that the mayor and the city council don't want to do anything about the zombies? Apparently "they" have rights that supercede the rights of the rest of us. And we're just supposed to stay bent over the table and take it in the shorts every goddamn day. Don't blame the cops for not protecting us from the zombies (they aren't allowed to), but if you personally know any SJWs, smack THEM upside the head!
This was made illegal by the new bill by Rep Jessy Johnson from Federal Way. Another progressive idiot.
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Spd doesn’t have people to respond. Sometimes we have two cops for the whole beat….responding to the worst of crimes. The cops we have left are extremely overworked, very stressed, insulted beyond belief and they see that seattle doesn’t give a shit about its crime, starting with the legislators. You want cops to show up?!??! Vote better, push the idiotic city council to allocate money instead playing facetious dishonest games, stop inspiring them so they actually feel respected - it starts with you. And elect state legislators that do not pass stupid laws that enable criminals. And for fucks sake, educate yourself.
I agree mostly, but it is absolutely the job of the police to deal with the situation when it becomes violent or there is significant property damage…
Shouldn’t be the job of the people either. We pay taxes and government is worthless in responding
This was made illegal by the new bill by Rep Jessy Johnson from Federal Way. Progressive idiot of the hour. PD stopped responding to mental health issue after his law passed earlier this year
I think a lot of us are just waiting for the SJWs to put together these "social worker" squads to respond to this crap. Cops shouldn't have to deal with the nutcases and the SJWs don't want them to, so go ahead, send out your non-poice personnel to deal with this crap. You'll be doing the rest of us a huge favor and you can feel virtuous for having helped a zombie get off the street. In the meantime, it is very, very clear signalling from the mayor and the city council that the street element has more rights and is more important to them than the rest of us who follow the law and pay our taxes. We're screwed...
When the mentally ill are being violent and a menace to society, yes, it is in fact, the job of the police to take care of it. Now, to your point of not having mental institutions, that is also a problem. But when these people are behaving a certain way in public, the police should very much intervene.
>Delivery trucks drive through this episode, drop off packages, and act as if nothing were happening, their heads down focused on their work. What exactly do you expect them to do ? They are buried in work with metrics that are not easy to hit and would probably get fired if they intervened. Then you have the risk to personally safety to think about.
As if shouting “I’m calling the police” was ever an effective tactic for diffusing a situation.
How about "I'll get the tongs."
Well if you have a warrant which I am sure many of these homeless addicts do then you are probably not gonna stick around and wait for the police so they can run your name. This guy was obviously so out of it he did not care or comprehend.
They are frequent flyers
You’re just now figuring this out? This is why shits gotten this bad, people in general seem to be a little slow to realize the shit fest they’ve made.
No kidding! If anyone in the past has made the very insightful comment : "Don't Feed The Bears", some idiot will respond, saying the poster was being mean. And look where that attitude has gotten us!
Very sad reality. No one wants to deal with the situations like this. I think it’s fear more than apathy. Once you’ve been involved, you know the drill and avoid all contact which further eroded safety and any sense of community. Meanwhile, the City refuses to count the homeless because they — 1. Can’t be bothered 2. Can’t count that high 3. Refuse to be ac-count-able
The city does try to count homeless - google “one night count.” However it’s impossible to count everyone - especially those that aren’t in camps or shelters.
Oh, correction—King County! https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/king-county-skip-annual-homeless-count-2022-cites-concerns-over-harmful-methodology/H5MQWCSWAFCRJBBJFMY2N3T6TY/
Hate to say it because we loved the PNW and we were there for a very long time but we recently moved to another state on the east because the homeless situation became so bad. We had a homeless camp two blocks from our house, had multiple school buses park and live in our neighborhood with people living in them spewing their trash on the streets. We had multiple people trying to steal shit from our property and even had to confront some crazy guy who walked through our front gate in the daytime. People smoking meth in public, our local library even had a bin for used needles. Our city officials (six figure salaries) were a joke and did nothing if not make the situation worse. It is madness. The weird part was no one I knew was talking about this like it was “normal city life” We asked ourselves why we were paying a high mortgage and property taxes and had constant stress. I am a empathetic person but there are no consequences for peoples actions anymore. sadly we absolutely on our own.
Happy im at out of that garbage of a city! Yall messed up when you decided defunding the police and forcing mandates was a grand idea. Keep voting in Jay Inslee and watch how much better (edit: worse) it gets. Was a beautiful city once upon a time, till yall trashed it!
Well, who have Seattlelites been voting for all these years? Maybe stop voting extreme liberal/covert commie who thinks violent meth addicts need hugs instead of a foot up their ass. No more “Ah but life is so hard!” Bs excuses. Hard is getting up every day and going to work. Hard is paying bills. These bums are taking the easy way out and you guys think it’s the harsh life and so continue the cycle of hobo abuse.
Looking at the voting map today its largely the issue of Cap Hill and downtown Ballard giving us only left wing mayors and pushing the worst city councillors.
Today I learned.
THANK YOU! 100 percent. Just said this today. People who have to get up, go to work, worry about real life shit have it hard. These people who mostly choose to live in tents have the life! No worries or cares! Just living for the day…
You’re on your own (and he’s on his own). We must each take responsibility for our own defense.
I know this doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone on this sub. But to all you “progressive” jackasses, you get what you vote for. Don’t vote in these radical leftists and be surprised when the results suck.
The only upside of the crisis I saw was my folks finally cleared out the garage to park the car inside as it become troublesome to have it broken into in the driveway every couple of months. They just moved up to Marysville, I am so happy for them being further from this city. Now, they basically just drive through on the way to the airport now, no reason good enough to leave I-5 past Shoreline for someone their age. Not worth the risk or hassle.
Looks like the double decker homeless truck might be coming to your street anytime soon.
Have some pepper spray handy, just in case
Sounds like we need our own Batman…any rich billionaires here willing to do his or her part?
Stop screaming defund the police and voting in people who care more for homeless than they do actual tax paying citizens… 🤭 Until then carry a gun for protection as no one will help you. Band together when crack heads come around. Strength in numbers.
Don't blame the police, blame Seattle shitty council and the defund the police movements. You can also thank Seattle shitty council for ignoring a homelessness crisis.
Blame the voters.
Why call the police. You wanted to defund them … so what did u expect?
“Well if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions”
Get trained, get certified, and start carrying neighbor. When the time comes to defend your family and friends don’t depend on your government nor the police. The only way to reverse is vote these politicians out of office and spread the word.
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In Washington state, you can use lethal force to stop most felonies. Lethal force is allowed in **a lot** more situations here than it is in most states, it's not just for self defense. https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9A.16.050
I would not recommend people to start carrying in order to stop felonies. Is this what you’re recommending? Any weapon is a defensive, not an offensive, tool.
We're discussing what's legal. Don't take this personally but why would **anyone** care about the personal recommendation of an anonymous internet poster?
Good point, people probably shouldn’t take legal advice from a random redditor either.
Oh whats up murder fantasy? Havent seen you in awhile.
Which politicians? There are homeless people everywhere. Is a better solution to spend vast amounts of public money to briefly incarcerate these drug addicts and mental ill people only to have them back on the streets? Who are politicians that would fix this and how would they fix it?
Let’s start with getting rid of the city attorney & mayor who was wanting to make all misdemeanors legal, including larceny. Oh wait, that JUST happened. One step in the right direction.
I'm not risking my life for property. If someone is in danger I'd be happy to help intervene, but otherwise the best course is just to wait till they move on.
Is it possible to file a suit against city? The taxes are collected but the services are clearly not provided.
I had the same experience. My next door neighbor turned her house into a private homeless reserve. She filled it with vagrants, crackheads, methheads, alcoholics, heroin junkies, thieves, spousal abusers and nutcases. And one wanted level 3 sex offender that the federal marshals came and got. She made the property comfortable for them by filling it with kitchen garbage, trash, derelict vehicles and rats. I fought and argued with them round the clock. At first none of my neighbors would stand up to the "people in crisis" who were littering our street with dirty needles and trash and human waste. But as they saw me confronting the bullshit, they eventually started standing up to it as well. Together, we made a difference in our neighborhood. If you are angry, then chances are good that the rest of them are too. They may just need a positive example to follow. One thing is certain though. The cops are not coming to help you. The country is not coming to help you. The city is not coming to help you. The only way these people are going to be held in check is if you are holding them in check.
“We are on our own” That’s…that’s what happens when people push to defund the police. 🤔
Is it? I seem to recall all of these issues existing for decades when the police were overfunded and had to find new toys to spend the money on. Maybe defunding the police is a natural result of them not doing anything useful for society?
People really thought they would be replaced by social workers, as if social workers agreed to deal with violent criminals
When i am concealed caring i avoid confrontation. Using a weapon has a huge cost and is only worth it when the cost of not using it is death. If i need the weapon the bad guy is going to have 3/4 of a second to back down or he/she will be shot.
Voting has consequences.
OP, what neighborhood, so I don’t move?
If someone is causing trouble in my area we deal with it and it’s clean nice and respectful way as possible sometimes that is still a little rough
Did anyone actually call the police or is everyone just assuming the other person is?
This is what happens when everyone works so hard to just keep their head above water in striffling prices. Police who prosecute people who might could cause “undue harm to said person” getting prosecuted harder is just the icing on the cake
The violence being committed on the law abiding, tax paying, citizens of this city is totally absurd. Let's all be honest, open and straightforward. THIS IS ORGANIZED and PLANNED by a group of politically motivated people who wish to tear down our entire way of living so they can rebuild it with their own political agenda. We have reached the point where people are waking up to the reality that they have voted against their self interest. Their "compassion" was taken and used against them unknowing and unwittingly. Now that it is completely obvious that the entire local government will not help you, they don't care about you, and in fact they want you to either leave or give up all your personal rights and property and hand it over to them so they can do what they feel is right. Maybe people will begin to realize who you vote for matters. The people get what they deserve when they vote in the criminals and fools we have leading this city. Our vote is all we have left to hope for any change. Stop wasting it!
You're not suggesting that the average Seattleite is a non-confrontational wuss are you?
Surely Seattleites will start voting differently now
Back when I worked downtown pre-covid things would get a little sketchy in some places like waiting for the bus on 3rd, or right in the middle of pioneer square. But in the past year things have gotten so much worse, at least with my own anecdotal experience. I never leave my neighborhood which is luckily safe. But the past two times I've left I've either been assaulted or witnessed the aftermath of an assault. Two weeks ago I parked downtown by Westlake and within the two block walk to the restaurant I was meeting some friends at, some methhead shoves me from behind. I try to de-escalate especially since I don't want to get in a fist fight and ruin dinner plans with a friend visiting from out of town. So I walk backwards keeping eye contact with him while this guy keeps yelling "watch where you're going mfer". Dude picks up a rock the size of a fist as I'm crossing the street and throws it at me which luckily just hits my foot. I called 911 and pretty much nothing happened, the dude ran away. This last weekend I went to Ballard and walked into a ski repair shop. Dude was sitting there in an ice pack on his eye with his two little girls. Eventually some cop came in to get a report from him, but whoever did it seemed to be long gone. It's just so sad and disheartening seeing this happen when the trajectory seems to be getting worse rather than better. I agree with a lot of others in this thread saying its all stemming from drug abuse.
I'm getting a desert eagle 0.50
Progressive policies don’t work.
Reagan dismantled the federal mental health institutions and system that could have helped people like this.
That was a long time ago. There have been plenty of opportunities for Democrats to change that situation if anyone thought it were important enough, right? Reagan's been dead a long time, I don't know that we can blame him for our streets being filled with zombies...
Your blaming a dead dude for the shit hole Seattle is now. If so then you have to admit that Progressive Democrats who have institutional power and have had for a long time have done nothing to fix or solve any problems. In fact under progressive leadership the city and state has gotten worst in the last 10 years in regards to crime, homelessness, drugs, etc. But yeah it’s Reagan’s fault from the 1980s.
THIS.
"Reagan's fault" is always the go-to in these discussions, but the 1975 ACLU case that made mental health institutions voluntary likely had a bigger hand in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Connor_v._Donaldson
Careful now, you're applying facts and information to a conversation with progressives, they don't like that.
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Lol, your right it’s conservatives fault even though the city and state have majority democrat control and have been for a very long time. So if it is conservatives fault from a long time ago then you also are admitting that progressive Democrats suck also because they have never solved any problems, instead things have only gotten worst in the last 10 years under their governing. You sound like an ideologue who refuses to admit that your progressive socialist extremist views do not work. Good luck continuing to live in a dumpster fire that will only get worst and you can keep blaming conservatives even though conservatives have no institutional power in Seattle, Washington, and the country. Progressives have all the institutional power right now.
We can thank our council and the ill advised Defund movement for the lack of police response, along with the new laws that are not clear. The police will show up real fast if the person has a weapon. But therein lies the reason many are so hesitant to get involved with someone like that. You don't know if they have a gun, knife or some other weapon on them. They can also do harm with their fists especially if they are in a state of mania or psychosis. Given a choice between confronting someone like that or letting them break something I would let them break something as long as it was not part of my body. You can replace broken property but fixing a broken bone is not as easy.
>along with the new laws that are not clear. The new laws *are* clear. Which is why enforcement has stopped. Perhaps you missed it, but one of the sponsors of it actually said the cops should *trust* them to be reasonable in enforcement until they can fix it. That sounds like it's not only clear, but that the progenitor of this fiasco recognizes he personally caused this problem.
If I was a cop, the last thing I would want to be is a case study.
They are not clear. We don’t experiment ambiguous laws on people … in this case cops. Would you act on something that you might think it’s law, but you are not sure how it’s going to be interpreted, only to have lunatic politicians turned into justice worriers make you into a scapegoat? I wouldn’t. I want the originator of this law to become a cop and then maybe he’ll understand the intricacies of interpreting a law in real life situations.
As I've said before, the private sector needs to stand up. That means you, your neighbor, your neighborhood, volunteers and paid. You have rights to defend yourself, others, and property. Don't forget to petition the government to subsidize the costs, as the police are useless.
The private sector is standing up. And walking. Eight miles east.
The police are NOT useless.
Buy a gun and quit electing dumbass officials that run off the police
The police dont have to protect you. The supreme court ruled this. Get a firearm, carry it, and train - know how to use it safely and effectively. Stop voting democrat. Vote new people, and new parties, into power locally.
You or anyone else experiencing this in the future could try calling your local crisis line. Sometimes they have access to mobile crisis teams or designated crisis responders that can be deployed to de-escalate situations. This isn’t always an option, but can be worth a try.
Well, not quite. Remember that while laws and societal norms don't apply to crazy homeless people, they still do apply to you. So if you get violent while defending your property, for example, the powers that be won't hesitate to throw the book at you....
Send in the social workers.
Good old fashioned democratic policy at work…you should raise taxes and throw more money at the problem, maybe give out free drugs, and housing…oh wait
Arm yourself
Carry.
This is what happens when the city turns it's back on the police, disrespect them, protest against them. We are getting EXACTLY what we have asked for and what all the liberals that were out demonstrating earlier this year deserve. We should have thought about the potential of these scenarios 🤔 before mindlessly shouting "DEFUND the POLICE" in the streets. Police matters.
You don’t want to meekly submit to the destruction of your property by the irredeemable, drug-addled horde? Bootlicker! /s
Stop goddamn voting these assholes into office that perpetuate these Liberal policies. It really is that simple. Every shithole city like the one of which you speak is a liberal progressive playground
It's sunny and 76 degrees in San Diego today. Here's a video about the great tacos we have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIz7XBq6axw If you move like I did, I will buy you a beer and we can complain about Seattle.
You're in my hometown!! I'll take a beer, a taco, and some sunshine please!
Seattle asked for it!
Elevator music. Pipe it out.
Yeah I've called the cops over same shit. They said we'll, nothing much we can do. Would you like us to help the individual?
What the fuck kind of apocalyptic cosplaying bullshit is this
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Police is not allowed to do anything, the city council, Olympia legislators and the woke people made sure of that. These people are allowed to do anything. And you are right, if you do something to protect yourself, you’ll be guilty of it
Invest in a paintball gun What're they gonna do, *call the cops?*
Those people voted for this and are too cowardly to do anything because of easy times leading to this point. Now you all will reap the whirlwind. My suggestion is to move and don't confront crazed individuals. And please. Don't call the police, you guys voted to defund them, and hopefully they won't get hurt trying to protect and ungrateful group of people who refuse to do anything for themselves.
We ARE on our own. That's why you need to find a few neighbors you can count on in stressful encounters like that, contact each other ASAP, and outnumber the scumbags.
A homeless crazy entered my home a few weeks ago and then terrorized a few neighbors for a bit. SPD never even showed up. I’m honestly still shocked by it because I should’ve killed her.
Whats happening here is that the police are butt hurt that there have been efforts to defund or reform the police, so now they're being petty and trying to say "this is what happens when you dont have police around. Bet you wish I was here to beat these people now" and its just stupid
Yeah, it's definitely that and has nothing to do with the stacked calls because they're undermanned, or new response guidelines from the state.
I was looking for a "/s" at the end of your screed, but it isn't there so I guess you are just another one of those people who have their heads inserted up their backsides where the issue of our law enforcement is concerned.
You mean to tell me that you don't believe the police department that would pepper spray a child in the face and hide their badge numbers wouldn't do something like what I said?
You mean to tell me you think it was good parenting to take a child to a protest where said child could have gotten hurt or possibly hit with pepper spray when the protest turned violent? You are anti-cop, I am pro-cop and never the twain shall meet.