Central Area storefront would be new "cop stop"

Concerned by a sudden increase in criminal activity in the past year at 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, someone came up with the idea to turn a vacant storefront on the corner into a "cop stop."

It would be a place where Seattle police officers assigned to the Central Area could write reports, use restrooms and take breaks instead of trekking back to the East Precinct on Capitol Hill.

So for the past three months, members of the East Precinct's Community Police Team have been working on a deal with the owner of the property on the southeast corner of 23rd and East Union. If all goes well, officers could be moving in the next couple of weeks into the space once occupied by the Chesterfield Pharmacy.

The former pharmacy is directly across East Union Street from the Philadelphia Cheese Steak restaurant, where owner Degene Barecha, 32, was fatally shot and one of his customers was wounded Wednesday morning.

"This isn't a knee-jerk reaction — this was in the works long before this shooting," said Officer Tim Greeley, a Community Police Team member assigned to the Central Area.

Police already have an increased presence in the neighborhood, he said.

Officers are working with local business owners on crime-prevention, and residents "are very excited about us moving in," he said.

The building's owner may be willing to provide the space rent free for the next six to nine months, though the department will have to cover utilities, Greeley said. The department just needs to sign a lease, but must wait for the owner to return from vacation, he said.

When Club Chocolate City — once a notorious hangout for drug dealers and prostitutes on East Madison Street — closed down last spring, police noticed an influx of people to the 23rd and East Union area, Greeley said.

But it wasn't exactly a migration — instead, a new criminal element moved in to fill the vacuum, concentrating its activities around Thompson's Point of View, a local soul-food restaurant, and its neighbor, a Key Bank branch. Both businesses are working closely with officers on crime-prevention, he said.

While overall crime reported in the four census tracts around 23rd and East Union has dropped over the past 10 years, the number of robberies and aggravated assaults — a criminal category that includes nonfatal shootings — more than doubled between 2006 and 2007 in the handful of blocks around 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, according to a Seattle Times analysis of police reports.

"There's definitely been spurts of increased drug activity, prostitution and black-on-black violence," said Dena Varriale, a block watch captain for the block of 20th Avenue between East Union and East Marion streets. "We've really worked hard as a community to band together."

Residents are looking forward to having a physical space for officers who patrol the neighborhood.

"Once they're in, we'll get them set up with furniture so it's a nice place to be," Varriale said. "We're just waiting for the OK to help them out."

Seattle Times staff reporter Justin Mayo contributed to this report.