Crime between Interstate 5, Lake Washington, the Ship Canal and Interstate 90 has plummeted in the last five years, so much so that 35 to 40 police officers have been reassigned to other neighborhoods, said Capt. John Diaz of the police department's East Precinct. Between 1993 and 1996, murders in the Central Area dropped from nine homicides to three. Robberies plunged from 206 to 68 in the same period. Residential burglaries dipped from 337 to 249.
Car theft remains a problem, as it is elsewhere in the city, police say.
The Central Area also was hit this fall by a rash of small, potentially dangerous arson fires. Fabulous big city stuff.