Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, so the chronic alcoholics, that live on the streets, felt emboldened. Two drunks wondered down 16th Ave. SW, malt liquor in hand (no bags). Clearly having imbibed a good deal already, one of the pair starts screaming at the top of his lungs. Concerned that a fight was about to break out between these two drunks, I called 911 and explained that there were two intoxicated men, drinking malt liquor and being belligerent. The dispatcher asked for description and said he would “call it in.”
My friend and I waited outside of the cafe and placed wagers on whether SPD would respond at all and if so would it be within the hour. “These calls are just one step above noise complaints on their radar,” he said. One of the drunks finished his liquor and flung the 20 oz can like a baseball. The other one continued to nurse his beer. Finally, about a half hour later a Seattle Police Department patrol car shows up with two officers. Not bothering to get out of the car they pull up to the individual with the can of malt liquor in his hand. “Toss it out,” they direct, although he had already started draining the can as he saw the patrol car approach. He flings his can to the ground. “Now move along,” says the officer. The drunks get up and start heading south towards Roxbury.
My friend approaches the patrol car and indicates he wants to talk to them. The police officers look bothered. He tells them that the other fellow had just tossed his can on top of the roof of building. “So?” came the reply from the officer, who had by now exited the car. “Well, we have lots of problems with these chronic drunks and we are concerned that nothing is being done to rid the area of them.”
“Look buddy, it’s not my issue. I can cite him for public intoxication, but that’s just a small fine.” We do not mention that he could have checked their ids and checked for outstanding warrants.
“But they are just going to get another round of malt liquor and continue to blight the area.”
The officer hems and haws and says, “they’re gone ok. Buddy, we gotta go.”
And as the two drunks cross Roxbury into unincorporated King County, the officer looks over and says, “look, they’re the County’s problem now.” And with those parting words, the officer gets in his squad car and drives away.
On behalf of West Seattle Blog and White Center Now, we interviewed King County Council Chair Dow Constantine the day he declared he was running for County Executive. One of his council colleagues, Larry Phillips, was already in the race – and we have just published our interview with Phillips on WSB – topics include annexation and a possible area jail — 
