McGinn readily admitted that Third Avenue in Belltown remains a chronic crime area. Says the mayor, “Third Avenue is one of the real problem areas we have in the city.” He announced that plans are already underway to redeploy police officers to Belltown to help stop crime. “We are doing that,” McGinn said. This will not require additional expenditures, McGinn pledged.

The mayor continued, however. “You know it’s not just the police,” he said. “It’s a more complex set of factors.” Then he outlined his new approach. First, the City went to Seattle Police Department Belltown beat officers and asked them to identify the 50 most problematic individuals that they deal with. Then, the City ran an analysis on them. “Between them there have been 2,500 arrests. 50 individuals, 2,500 arrests. So this is not a problem of having sufficient officers down there to arrest people.” Next the City put together a team that includes the Seattle Police Department, the Human Services Department and the Office of Housing. The City also plans to ask Seattle Municipal Court to become involved. “We are going to collect more data on these folks to figure out what is broken,” said McGinn. “And then try to get to solutions.”

McGinn is clearly proud of this new initiative. “I want to give credit to our police department and our police officers for coming up with this new approach because it hasn’t been done before.”

Will it get results? We’ll be sure to ask on future editions of Ask the Mayor. The next show is Wednesday, October 26, 7 p.m., SEATTLE CHANNEL, Cable 21, http://www.seattlechannel.org/.

Watch this segment right now by visiting http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3011109&start=19:28.

Watch the entire program by visiting http://www.seattlechannel.org/AskTheMayor/.

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 This week, City Inside/Out takes up the debate. We begin by taking a trip across the water to Bainbridge Island and visiting one local police department that has already brought cop cameras onboard. Our studio guests are Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Deputy Director Jennifer Shaw, Seattle Police Officers Guild President Rich O’Neill and Seattle Human Rights Commission Chair Roslyn Solomon.

 Our cameras are always rolling! City Inside/Out, Friday, April 29, 7:00 p.m., SEATTLE CHANNEL, Cable 21 or right here on http://www.seattlechannel.org/. Did you see last week’s program about the legal issues surrounding the ballot measures on the deep-bore tunnel? Watch it now by visiting http://www.seattlechannel.org/CityInsideOut/.

Watch it right now http://www.seattlechannel.org/CityStream/.

 King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert , YouthCare’s Melinda Giovengo and King County Deputy Prosecutor Sean O’Donnell join us in the studio to explain what government and non-profits are doing to stop this wrongdoing.

Watch City Inside/Out, Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m., SEATTLE CHANNEL, Cable 21 or right here on www.seattlechannel.org. Did you see last week’s program about homeless encampments? Watch it now by visiting www.seattlechannel.org/CityInsideOut/.

The Mayor pledged $9 million for the effort. So has it made a difference? What do teenagers whose lives have been directly impacted by violence think? SEATTLE CHANNEL, Town Hall and CityClub have created a unique, interactive event to look at the City’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. In one room, we’re putting together young people who know violence first-hand on the streets, a former gang member, Seattle City Councilmember and longtime youth mentor Bruce Harrell, an officer from the Seattle Police Department’s Gang Unit and the City’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative Director Mariko Lockhart. SEATTLE CHANNEL’s dynamic public affairs host C.R. Douglas will lead the lively discussion. Viewers can watch this program live on SEATTLE CHANNEL and participate in the discussion by using special tools on our website.

What do we want from you? First, be sure to tune in, Tuesday, November 10, 7:00-8:30 p.m. Second, participate in the forum on-line during its broadcast at www.seattlechannel.org. Third, fill out CityClub’s survey on youth violence right now!

SEATTLE CHANNEL will broadcast and stream City government events responding to the crime such as the Mayoral press conferences, briefings by the Seattle Police Department, and the Council’s tribute to Officer Brenton. Videos of these news events will be available for on-demand viewing on our website as soon as we are able to post them.

Nickels was responding to a question from host C.R. Douglas about the Drug Market Initiative —a program designed by John Jay College of Criminal Justice Professor David Kennedy to reduce drug crime and recently tried out by the Seattle Police Department. The Initiative features an “intervention” in the lives of drug offenders by community leaders, police, family members and loved ones. The drug offenders are told that they can be arrested and sent to prison, but instead are given a second chance to get into treatment for their addiction. If they reoffend instead of getting treatment, they are immediately arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

In commenting on the Initiative, the mayor took the opportunity to sketch out his larger views of the war on drugs. Nickels says, “It has given us the highest per capita prison population of any country on earth. We’ve turned into criminals people whose primary problem is addiction. We ought to be dealing with it as a public-health problem. We probably need to have the criminal sanctions as a backup to get people into treatment to get them help, but to focus on it primarily as a public-safety problem has been a colossal mistake.” He also talks about the reason that his administration is trying out the Drug Market Initiative. “This is an attempt to try to get people incentivized to try and get this help and to get off of those drugs so they are not having to commit other crimes to feed that habit,” he says.

Three years ago, Seattle Police Department Detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin was looking for an activity that could be used to prevent youth violence in the Rainier Valley. “I was going to do a basketball game with the kids playing the officers,” recalls Bouldin. The kids, however, were unenthusiastic about her idea. So she asked them for other suggestions, figuring they would say a pool party or a barbeque. Much to her surprise, the children suggested a chess tournament. She was reluctant but agreed. She picked the Rainier Beach library as the site for her tournament since that neighborhood had been wracked by violence.

Now Officer Cookie’s Chess Club is a huge ongoing success. Kids, parents and volunteers fill the library on Saturdays to play chess and learn non-violence. Detective Boudlin says, “I teach anti-violence to the kids showing them different ways that they can deal with situations and I relate them all to the chessboard. On the chessboard you have to look at all your surroundings. You have to look at protecting your king and taking one step at a time to see where you are going to go. What they have learned is that, in chess, one mistake can cause your king to tumble—as in real life, one mistake can cause your life to tumble. So the kids are learning consequences—consequences of your actions.”

Detective Bouldin says that chess is also building the children’s self esteem. She always asks the children why they haven’t played chess before. A common answer is that they weren’t smart enough. After some basic instruction, they discover that they are smart enough to play chess. Bouldin says, “Those same kids are coming up to me and saying, ‘Officer Cookie…I’m smart, I can play chess. I love this game. Thank you for having chess.’ That makes me so happy.”

Last year, Mayor Greg Nickels and the City Council agreed to expand the powers of the auditor in order to strengthen the City’s process for investigating police misconduct. Spearman’s powers as auditor include recommending to the OPA director when the director should investigate a complaint further. The auditor may also require additional investigation under certain circumstances. In addition, the OPA auditor examines any and all OPA records to review them for thoroughness, fairness and timeliness.

Spearman was King County Superior Court judge from 1993 to 2007. Currently, he is a mediator and arbitrator at Judicial Dispute Resolution, providing services in all types of civil matters. You can read more about his background in Clerk File 309978. Spearman will serve for a three-year term and can earn up to $143,000 annually at an hourly rate of $160.

“Judge Spearman is an excellent fit for this important position,” said Nickels. “He has the integrity, temperament and reputation to continue making a great department even better.”

“I am honored to be appointed to this position,” said Spearman. “I look forward to working with OPA director Kathryn Olson and the members of the [OPA] Review Board to ensure an open and fair accountability process for Seattle’s police officers and the citizens they serve.”

The three parts of Seattle’s police oversight include: the OPA auditor, the OPA director, and the OPA Review Board (OPARB). The OPA auditor’s position was expanded last year after the mayor’s Police Accountability Review Panel called for 29 changes to Seattle’s police accountability system.

The auditor recommends to the OPA director when the director should investigate a complaint further and may also require additional investigation under certain circumstances. The OPA auditor examines any and all OPA records to review them for thoroughness, fairness and timeliness.

Spearman was King County Superior Court judge from 1993 to 2007. Currently, he is a mediator and arbitrator at Judicial Dispute Resolution, providing services in all types of civil matters.

Spearman’s appointment is subject to confirmation by the Seattle City Council.