We were just alerted to this post in the Forum about a drug deal that happened in broad daylight in Phinney/Green Lake:
Tonight (we) witnessed a drug deal in front of our house, just North of 73rd and Dayton. One guy got dropped off in front of our house, loitered around for a few minutes then went down the block and got into another car. (We) walked down the street and looked in the window of the car and saw two guys counting out drugs from a plastic bag. We chased them off by saying their license plate number out loud and they took off. We called 911 and they sent a patrol car out.
We talked to the patrol officers who said this activity was moving north after getting chased out of the Woodland Park Zoo area. In order to keep chasing it, the SPD needs to get statistics to support more patrols in our neighborhood.
Here is what the officers asked us to do…
1) Do call 911 immediately if you see a car with people sitting in it apparently going no where. They are waiting to make a drug connection. They connect by cell phone or text message and select a random intersection. That gives the police about two minutes to arrive before they go separate ways.
2) DO NOT confront the dealers directly. The officers chastised me mildly.
3) Get a license plate if you can do it discreetly.
If SPD gets enough calls they will increase police patrols in our area. This is not the first time I’ve seen people just hanging around in cars. I’ve seen it a time or two before. Now I think we just need to call 911 as soon as we see someone sitting in their car doing nothing.
