The King County Sheriff’s Office – which contracts police services to Burien – announced on Friday, Mar. 20, 2020 that crime rates are significantly lower during the current COVID-19 outbreak compared to last year at this time:
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- VIOLENT CRIMES: DOWN –24%
- PROPERTY CRIME: DOWN –26%
Here’s more info from KCSO:
With many of us telecommuting and practicing good social distancing, we thought we’d pull up a crime rate comparison to see if the COVID-19 outbreak is having any impact on crime rates in King County.
Here’s what we found, by comparing the first two weeks of March 2019 with the first two weeks of March this month.
This is a very general overview, but both violent crime and property crime have dropped.
These stats are for all of unincorporated King County and our many contract cities.
This is a great trend. But, we don’t want folks to let their guard down. We recommend that you stay vigilant, lock your doors and windows, make sure you bring valuables inside and turn on outside lights in the evening before going to bed.
We also recommend you take extra precautions if you are going to parks or trailheads to take walks because you have cabin fever. We are still seeing a fair number of car prowls, so don’t make your car a target. Remove all valuables from view and do not hide cellphones in consoles and wallets or purses under seats. Crooks know that trick.
