Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer

by Jack Mayne

Burien’s police chief say he was a bit perplexed at recent increases in crime in the unincorporated parts of the North Highline Unincorporated area, but believes his department can easily police the area if the Burien City Council and the voters of the area eventually do approve its annexation to the city.

The annexation matter is still under consideration by the state Boundary Review Board for King County. If it approves the proposed annexation, the Burien Council must ask voters in the so-called Area Y to vote in favor of becoming part of the city.

During recent Boundary Review hearings, Chief Scott Kimerer said there were some “relatively minor increases” in crime in the northern half of the North Highline and the White Center business and residential area.

During a recent period, overall statistics for “Part One” crimes – more serious offenses such as assaults and robbery – were 54 incidents per thousand residents in Burien, while the number for North Highline was 65 incidents per thousand people.

“Not a huge difference,” he said, but in the past both areas were about 62 violent crimes per thousand.

For “Part Two,” or lesser crimes, the recent comparison was 66 per thousand for Burien, versus 69 per thousand in North Highline – “so very similar,” said the chief.

One reason the county wants North Highline to become part of a city (Burien, Seattle or Tukwila) is that counties have fewer ways to tax residents and offer higher urban services. That means there are as many as half as many deputies patrolling the area than there used to be.

That could account for the increase in crime rate, Kimerer said in a recent interview.

“Like I said at the (annexation hearing), I was a little bit surprised because in studying crime up there for the almost nine years that I have been (Burien Police chief), the crime rates have always been very similar.”

“You could say at times there might be a concentration of crime in the White Center area, however you could also say there could be a concentration of crime in the downtown Burien core,” the chief said.

Kimerer said the annexation of the southern half of North Highline was mostly residential areas, very little business. But the majority of the area still unincorporated is where business is located.

The King County Sheriff’s office has “had a budget crisis” in the past couple of years.

“The sheriff’s office has taken some serious cuts in officers and staffing – the staffing is not what it was four years ago up in White Center,” Kimerer said.

People need to remember that Kimerer and all blue uniformed members of the Burien Police are actually deputies in the King County Sheriff’s Department, contracted and paid by Burien taxpayers. While he has been chief in Burien for just under a decade, he is also a major in the Sheriff’s department.

The Burien contract has permitted Kimerer to maintain the same number of officers.

King County had to cut the White Center storefront position, at 9609 16th Ave. SW for almost a year until funds were found to restore it. Still there are about two officers per shift on duty there, down from up to four before cuts.

“I think people don’t realize the value of that storefront position in crime reduction and community involvement to help drive down the crime rates,” Kimerer said. “All the cuts bunched together showed indicators that the crime rate went up.”

Kimerer said he would keep the storefront open if Burien annexes the area and would even keep the same deputy since the Sheriff’s department manages the individual from his department who would reopen the storefront. The deputy that works the office does not answer calls, but is available in the business community and can advise store operators on ways to cut down on crime and how to control nuisances by panhandlers or those under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“It is community interaction, getting together with the businesses, talking about what their issues are, trying to find solutions, trying to build relationships up there amongst us and them and with each other to really drive down the people that are causing the problems.”

The chief also said he did not need as many officers to handle the unincorporated area that Seattle said in a study its department would need.

“Seattle said they would have to put all of those officers in there and then turned around and said they could not afford it,” Kimerer said. “Well, I could make a claim of putting a whole bunch of officers in there that I can’t afford but it is about being realistic. We all have budget concerns.”

Seattle has a “fine department” but he didn’t think policing the area would take as many officers as they had claimed – 44 added police officers – while Kimerer figured he would need only 15 additional officers.

The added officers for Burien to cover the proposed new annexed area would mean he had that many additional officers to use anywhere in Burien, as needed.

“It would become a much more robust department,” Kimerer said.

Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer talks to area residents during a recent 'Natonal Night Out' event. Photo by Michael Brunk.

by Jack Mayne

Scott Kimerer has been police chief in Burien for over eight years but few realize he comes from a pedigreed law enforcement family.

Both of his parents retired from the Seattle Police Department as assistant chiefs. His mother, Noreen Skagen, later became the first woman U.S. Marshal in Seattle and still later came out of retirement in Mill Creek to be interim chief of police while city officials sought a new chief.

His brother, Clark Kimerer, is a deputy Seattle police chief serving as the chief of staff overseeing the field support bureau, administrative section and the legal unit.

Scott Kimerer joined the King County Sheriff’s department at 21 and now in his 33rd, year, holds the rank of major. Burien contracts for its police service from King County and Kimerer is designated police chief and, as such, works for Burien City Manager Mike Martin.

All Burien officers are commissioned deputies who separately apply to be on the Burien force. When he hires a deputy for Burien, they must give a two-year commitment so they can learn the city and its priorities.

“I take direction from the city manager and City Council about what is important to them but they rely on my expertise and experience to know how to run the police department and what those priorities should be,” Kimerer says.

Despite the national concern over the illegal immigrant population, that is not considered an issue for the Burien officers. The Burien Police Department does not apprehend illegal aliens living in the area. It is not a priority or “even a function” of the department.

“Immigration status can be a useful tool for violent offenders that we have identified in the community,” he says. “But for the hard working families in Burien that may or may or may not be legal, that is not something we seek out or spend time enforcing.

“What we look for is that small percentage of people who are violent offenders – gang members for lack of a better identification,” the chief says. “They are the ones who are victimizing their culture – the decent citizens – and we can’t have that.”

Police do have a “cultural barrier with a lot of our diverse population that makes it difficult for us to get information that is necessary. They have had challenges in their own cultures dealing with the police. We are trying to break those down so they understand that we are helping people in the community. It becomes a challenge for us to deal with them, but they are not problematic, it’s just a challenge.”

Kimerer says the culturally diverse members of the community are a very small portion of Burien policing problems.

The bigger problem now is increasing burglary.

“It is the probably the most difficult crime to solve,” the chief says. “We do solve a great (number) of burglaries, but the unfortunate part is that a lot of people are victimized before we solve them. We can find one person, build a case against that person, most likely a juvenile, arrest them and prosecute them, but they may have victimized 20 or 30 people while we are doing that. That is 20 or 30 people who have had their life turned around because somebody broke into their house. Generally, one person is responsible for many burglaries, so by the time we catch them, our crime rate goes up.”

His department has not been weakened by the financial downturn because the Burien City Council has not cut the police budget.

Kimerer says he has 24 patrol officers, placing from four to six people at a time working the city’s streets. He still has four burglary detectives. Besides the six patrol officers on daytime streets, “I also have other units – I have burglary detectives out doing their cases, I have a special emphasis team and those people can be out,” he said.

The number of police on the city’s streets goes down at night and weekends, “but I could have anywhere from 10 to 12 people on the streets during the (week) day.”

Officers that are dedicated to the Burien Police Department, those who wear the Burien uniform or carry a Burien badge, stay in the city and only “very rarely” are they pulled out to do something outside the city. Sometimes they may be moved out for mutual aid agreements with other cities, but not often, he says.

“Burien gets a good benefit for what it is paying for policing,” he said. The city budgeted $9.8 million for 2011 and $10.1 million for 2012. He noted that while the King County Sheriff’s Department has experienced manpower and service cuts, Burien is paying for contracted service that remains at previous levels.

“Through all the economic difficulties of King County, Burien has done pretty well as far as maintaining levels of service in all areas,” the chief says, adding that about 50 percent of the Sheriff’s Department is under contract service to cities and other entities.

All the Burien officers are also sworn deputies in the King County Sheriff’s office but Kimerer selects each officer and hires them for the Burien department. Each must guarantee they will work in Burien for two years or more.

Other Sheriff’s officers in the region can always be called on to back up or cover a Burien problem, something other stand-alone police agencies cannot do without some difficulty, Kimerer says.

He says there are pockets in the city where gang violence and youth issues remain an issue. “It isn’t our biggest problem but it is a big concern.”

He says there are many benefits for Burien to be able to utilize the facilities of the King County department.

“There is a lot to be said for having a highly professional, well run, well established organization that you can draw resources from,” says Kimerer. “There are levels of expertise and experience that you are not necessarily going to get as your own police department because experienced people will gravitate to a major police agency.”

Kimerer, who lives in Edmonds (“it is not a bad commute”), has been coming to Burien for many years both a Sheriff’s officer and since as Burien chief.

He said he first came here when he was promoted to sergeant in the Sheriff’s department. He later left for a stint in the Metro Transit Police and returned to Burien when he was promoted to captain.

He was operations captain for the Southwest Precinct in Burien for about a year before becoming the interim chief and precinct commander when his predecessor retired.

The sheriff’s department was soon reorganized to make the Burien chief a fulltime job and shifted the precinct commander position to Sea-Tac where that person is also the chief of the Sea-Tac police department.

King County Sheriff Sue Rahr will join Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer and Normandy Park Chief Rick Kieffer in White Center on Wednesday, Sept. 15th as a report is released showing that investing in early learning programs reduces crime in the long run and saves dollars on the state’s education budget as well.

The report shows investments in high quality, voluntary early learning programs reduce the need for special education placements and other Kindergarten through Grade 12 education expenses.

“I am in favor of anything that helps kids succeed, and keeps them away from a life of crime. Early learning centers have a positive impact, I’m all for those programs”, says Rahr.

Sheriff Rahr will be joined by Normandy Park Police Chief Rick Kieffer and Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer at the event.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Sheriff Sue Rahr will speak about Early Learning Programs.

WHERE: Educare Early Learning Center, located at 625 SW 100th St. in White Center.

WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 15th at 10am.

We were first to report on the recent rash of burglaries in Burien’s Gregory Heights neighborhood (thanks to our initial report, most of the other “mainstream media” has picked this story up), and now we’re probably first to publish the following response from Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer:

Scott,

This is a recap of what went out to the Burien Officers. We want to increase our visability and talk with residents as part of our prevention tactic. There is real value in the analysis to see if a pattern exists. We want to be effective with the time we can spend in these neighborhoods. I appreciate all the awareness this has created. We all need to watch out for our neighbors and the Burien Police will work as hard as we can to keep our neighborhoods safe.

Chief Kimerer

K. Scott Kimerer
Police Chief/City of Burien
(206) 296-3333 office

Here’s the email Chief Kimerer forwarded to us, which apparently went out to all Burien P.D. officers from Captain Carl Cole:

All,

Over the last week we have received a number of complaints about a property crime wave hitting the Gregory Heights, Three Tree Point area.

Crime Analysis has not shown a significant increase or number of burglaries or other property crimes. We are working on figuring that out, in the mean time I am making this request:

1. Please spend some time in these neighborhood on area checks, especially this weekend when many folks may be out of town.
2. Log your time out on radio
3. If you see folks out and about, please make contact and see if they are aware of any recent crimes that may not have been reported…if you do talk to anyone, please shoot me an email with the details even if they are unaware of anything

Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions. CCC

Captain Carl Cole
Burien Police Department
206/296-3341 (W)
206/423-2941 (C)

It’ll be interesting to see if this raised awareness has any effect on this recent crime wave.

As we were once told by a Public Information Officer:

“Crime is like a tube of toothpaste – if you squeeze it at one end, it just comes out on the other…”

Story and Photos by Scott Schaefer

Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 2nd) around 2pm, a potential domestic disturbance 9-1-1 call in Burien turned into the shooting death of a Pit Bull at an apartment near the intersection of 4th Ave SW and SW 155th.

According to a King County Sheriff’s officer on the scene, the Pit Bull escaped from its apartment when its owner, who was unrelated to the original disturbance call, heard some commotion. The dog then allegedly “charged” a cop, who shot it in self-defense. The officer (or possibly another officer) then had to “euthanize” the injured dog by shooting it again, possibly numerous times, according to witness accounts.

The dog’s body was covered in a yellow tarp when we arrived, as Animal Control officers and police continued to investigate the scene.

A neighbor who witnessed the attack told us that he felt the Pit Bull had endangered and scared other residents and children before.

UPDATE 3/3/10 Noon: We just received a response from Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer, who said:

There is an ongoing investigation of this case so I will need to be somewhat brief in my response.

I can tell you the officer was not bitten.

Dog attacks happen occasionally and like any life/safety issue, the Officers are trained to respond to the level of danger using necessary force.

Some of the other questions may be answered in the course of the investigation.

- Chief K

Here are photos we took on the scene shortly after it happened (WARNING: one pic includes visible dog blood):

The deceased Pit Bull's body lies under a yellow tarp.

At least four Burien Police cars and two Animal Control units were on the scene.

Blood from the shot Pit Bull was still visible in the apartment driveway.

As if wondering what had happened, this dog stuck its head out the window of a car as it passed the scene.

Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer

Story by Ralph Nichols
Photos by Scott Schaefer

Police chiefs from King and Snohomish counties voiced their concerns at a press conference in Burien Wednesday morning (Oct. 21) about potential impacts of Initiative 1033 on public safety – especially in smaller cities.

But they stopped short of opposing the revenue-limiting ballot measure. Public officials are prohibited by state law from campaigning for or against ballot proposals as well as candidates.

Instead, said Scott Kimerer, Burien police chief and chairman of the King County Police Chiefs Association, “People have a right to make their own decisions on how to vote. But they need to be informed….

“We are encouraging citizens to ask their city governments what effect I-1033 would have on their ability to provide services if it is successful.”

Kimerer and Des Moines Police Chief Roger Baker represented Highline cities at the press conference.

I-1033 would limit future growth in the revenue cities, counties and the state could take in, based on annual growth in inflation and population. Revenues above the limit would be used to reduce property taxes.

“Already reeling from tough economic times that have seen 15 to 20 percent reductions in revenues, the financial analysis indicates that police services, many of which have already experienced budget cuts this year, could be further restricted to the point of struggling to meet the needs of their citizens’ public safety concerns,” Kimerer said.

“Police budgets generally represent half or more of cities’ general fund expenditures,” he added. And there has been “a 30 percent drop in cities’ anticipated enrollment of new hires in the (state) police academy” in Burien.

Burien City Manager Mike Martin

The impact of I-1033, if approved in the November election, Kimerer said in response to a question, also could delay North Highline annexation by Burien, which now is expected to take place in late March. Residents of the southern part of the unincorporated area voted 56 percent to 44 percent in August to become part of the city.

Burien City Manager Mike Martin, who attended the press conference, concurred with Kimerer’s assessment.

“If people want less government, they will get less government,” Martin said. “There will be fewer departments and less people (police officers) on the street.”

Kimmerer said “the easily discernable impacts of I-1033 can be found by examining the general funds and budgets of the 82 percent of suburban cities in King County having a population of fewer than 50,000. These cities function with a small margin to provide all the needed services and are very transparent in their budget process and revenues.”

Statewide, 94 percent of all cities have populations less than 50,000.

Marysville Police Chief Rick Smith, chairman of the Snohomish County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association, said his department experienced sharp cuts due to the recession this year. Further cuts, should I-1033 pass, “could impair our ability to provide services to our city….

“The whole criminal justice system (including prosecutors, courts and jails) would be impacted, maybe significantly,” Smith said. “We just don’t know. The bottom line is for citizens to ask officials what impact 1033 would have on their city.”

Any cuts in the budgets of local law enforcement agencies “minimizes our response,” he added.

One problem with I-1033, said one police chief who spoke on condition of anonymity, is that it “targets state government, large counties and large cities” without taking into account the different circumstances of smaller cities and counties.

RELATED STORY:

• LETTER TO THE EDITOR: King County Police Chief’s Association On I-1033