VIDEO: Shelter discussion dominates fall meeting of Southwest Precinct Advisory Council

By Torin Record-Sand
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

About 50 people were in attendance as the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council had its fall gathering Tuesday night at Alki Masonic Hall in The Junction.

The crime-drop stats we’ve reported in coverage of many recent neighborhood meetings were mentioned, – particularly the Southwest Precinct’s status as the only precinct with no 2025 homicides – but much of this meeting focused on concerns voiced by neighbors and community advocates regarding the Westside Neighbors Shelter, the Triangle facility that remains West Seattle’s only emergency shelter. Many of the concerns had been aired at the shelter last Sunday at its open house and Q&A session (WSB coverage here), with shelter manager Keith Hughes in attendance. But he wasn’t at the Precinct Advisory Council meeting, where many community residents followed up on their concerns and expressed interest in how police might be able to address them.

Chris Mackay, a member of the council and executive director of the West Seattle Junction Association, said the problems facing the shelter felt overwhelming to the local community. “The shelter has done an amazing amount of work on volunteer hours, donating materials and money, but at this point, it’s clear they’re in way over their heads, and the impact on the community has been extreme.” She related a story about recently bringing in someone from an intervention group to take a look at the shelter and meet with one of the guests there, who walked them through a day in their life. They went with the person to Junction Plaza Park, where they met up with four other people who had been at the shelter that day, and, she said, all of them seemed to be in an clearly visible opiate-induced haze.

This was the main concern brought up at the meeting: that drug use and theft by some shelter users has spilled over into the broader surrounding community. Many attendees wondered what options were available to deal with the issue.

Wes Collier, the 2nd Watch Lieutenant for the precinct, was there to represent the voice of the police. “The best thing for SPD is to build a relationship with the shelter and understand what the goal is. We don’t want to shut it down, but we want it to be safely run and not affect the rest of the neighborhood.” He suggested that the community might have more impact in resolving issues if they effectively communicated with police when incidents occur. He suggested this could be as simple as calling 911 when appropriate to respond, or requesting police patrols via the SPD website. He also said that they recently started focusing on ongoing police patrols in the area around the shelter, with an emphasis vehicle visiting adjacent problem areas.

One community member was willing to put their foot forward in an attempt at proactive engagement with these community issues. Abi Harmon, a nearby resident, said she was working on being a point person for creating a “Good Neighbor Agreement” in coordination with the shelter and other local residents. Such an agreement would clarify the standards of the shelter, as well as creating standards and paths for communication with neighbors, and ways that each group can help the other. (If you would like to contact her about joining the group collaborating on the agreement in coordination with the shelter, you can email abiharmon at gmail.com.

From District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka‘s office, district director Erik Schmidt was also in attendance. He emphasized that getting funding for either increased patrols or the shelter would require the public to make budget requests directly to the councilmember’s office. But, he said, none had come in. “Anyone can bring an ask to the office, but no one has so far.” Schmidt said that Councilmember Saka’s office would be receptive to anyone who would like to do so. He also said that recently, both he and Saka had asked for more emphasis patrols in the area for all hours of the day.

Rachel Porter, executive director for the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, also was there as a member of the advisory council. She said she was in talks with shelter owner Hughes on how the community might be able to help the shelter

After almost an hour of discussion regarding the shelter situation, the topic changed – SPD offered an update on crime statistics for the Southwest precinct for the year. These were delivered by South Precinct Crime Coordinator Matt Brown, substituting for Jennifer Satterwhite, as she is on maternity leave.

These stats have been mentioned in multiple communityTotal crime cases for the Southwest Precinct are down by 16% year to date, going from around 3500 reported instances in 2024 to 2800 in 2025. Burglaries are down by 31%, and robberies are down 30% in the same period. Incidents of shots fired are also down, with 77 reported so far this year, down from 86 reports in 2024. Of these, seven had a wounded victim, with no fatalities. Brown wanted to put a special emphasis that still, to date, the Southwest Precinct remains the only precinct in Seattle with zero homicides in 2025.

After the report on statistics, a few more questions from the community:

One was regarding the usage of personal security cameras, and how they might be used as evidence for police cases, or to report incidents of crime. Lieutenant Collier said that any contribution from these would be an aid to the police. “You can share evidence with SPD. It takes all of us to make our community safer, including collaborating with SPD on evidence.” He pointed to the recently announced Connect Seattle program (renamed since our report last month, when it was the Community Camera Registry) where citizens can list cameras on their property so the police can request footage of them if needed for an ongoing case.

Another community member asked for an update on whether anything was being done to stop street racing on Alki and Harbor Avenue. Lieutenant Collier said that the precinct is currently holding meetings to plan for summer 2026. They are currently looking at stronger patrols in the area, particularly around Don Armeni Boat Ramp, and will be working with Parks on increased enforcing for traffic and noise violations.

The Advisory Council’s community lead, Ella McRae, closed out the meeting. “A more connected community is a safer community.” she said. She highlighted that the next big event for the precinct was a drug takeback day, in partnership with the DEA. This will be held on October 25th, between 10 a and 2 pm at the precinct (2300 SW Webster). She noted, with a wry laugh, that the Southwest Precinct had the largest amount of contributions last year.

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