When SPD reports came out earlier this month with the news that major crime in Seattle has gone down by some 11%, the Southeast Seattle Crime Prevention Council was skeptical. They crunched the numbers on their own neighborhood themselves, and found some startling results: assaults, homicides, and non-residential burglaries have all increased by huge numbers. Though even the police chief went on record this week to speak on Seattle's deepening gang violence problems, the police department is refuting the SSCPC's numbers, saying they aren't taking all the factors into account (precinct boundary changes and incidence of "actual crime" versus dispatch calls). more ›