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Frustrated business owners, residents call on Auburn city leaders to take action on crime
Businesses that have been repeatedly and recently robbed and burglarized are calling on city of Auburn leaders for help.
AUBURN, Wash. - Business owners in Auburn packed a city council meeting Monday night, demanding to know what the city is doing about a rise in crime that's been impacting their homes, shops and restaurants.
"My neighbors are going to lose their businesses because we don’t have enough cops to protect me or them," said Virginia Haugen, a former council member.
"There are many things that have transpired that make the public feel unsafe," said Pastor LaShund Lambert of Resurrection Church of Auburn.
"My house was burglarized. My car was stolen. A window was broken with a rock. They didn't get in that time," said Val Erickson, an Auburn resident. "A human being pooped diarrhea in my garage which I had to pay to have cleaned up. I have had stuff thrown in my yard. I have people, humans, pooping in my yard."
Antique Marketplace Owner Carly Willis said she's already had conversations with the city leaders about the safety of her business. The most recent theft was caught on camera, leaving her with thousands of dollars in damages and stolen merchandise.
"I was here a month ago and my business was broken into seven days later, Easter Sunday, and clearly what we had discussed at that previous council session didn’t really work," said Willis.
In a separate shoplifting incident that happened last week at her business, Willis said she followed a woman outside who was accused of stealing a number of rings from the antique shop. Willis says she continued to follow her down the street while on the phone with 911, keeping the woman in sight until police arrived at their location. However, that woman was able to slip off into the woods, despite the police arriving at the scene. Willis says she texted the mayor, asking for help, as the theft was happening.
"Haven’t heard back," Willis said.
South King County mayors blast county, state officials over recent crime surge
The mayors of several South King County cities penned a letter decrying the recent surge in crime, urging county and state officials to do something about it.
Mayor Nancy Backus says police have been conducting enhanced-emphasis patrols in the downtown core and northern part of the city and says those are now expanding to the south. However, there are limitations.
"There aren’t enough officers period," said Mayor Backus. "The last few years have seen officers leaving all the agencies in record numbers. Auburn is not alone in that."
The mayor says two officers have left in the past couple weeks to go to the city of Renton and hiring new officers and getting them trained quickly is a challenge.
"We can't expect them all to stay. We'd like them to stay," she said. "We need to have officers on the street, and we don’t have enough academy space to get entry level officers into the academy ."
FOX 13 also asked the mayor about the text Willis sent to her last week and her plea for help.
"I did get that text. I didn’t have the opportunity to respond at the time. She said she was waiting for an officer and our officers are dispatched through Valley Com, and so dependent on what's going on in the community at that time, they are prioritized and triaged as far as when the officer arrives," said Mayor Backus.
When asked if the mayor planned on talking to Willis Monday night, she said,
"I chatted with her one day for over an hour, talking about, last time they were here for public comment, I was honest, and I said, ‘If you know someone who wants to be an officer, please send them our way,' and, one of the things she asked me on our hour-long call, ‘So, you asked us to help. What are you doing to attract officers?’ So, I gave her all the different creative ways, We are looking at all the different areas to recruit in. We have diversity hiring. We are going to more hiring events, the signing bonuses, the officer well-ness coordinator, that's a huge deal. The take home vehicles, specialty assignments," said Backus.
Still, Willis and others say change needs to happen immediately, or the city will lose residents and businesses.
"I’m calling on you to do whatever is within your power to stop this madness. We the people are fed up," said Willis during a speech before the council.
The mayor has invited businesses and residents to continue the conversation. Meantime, Willis said she just got permission from her landlord on Monday to put up security wire on the windows to try to prevent more break-ins.