I am a former Officer from Harborview. On May 2nd of this year I was terminated for an incident that occured on March 9th. I had been assaulted, punched and choked. This led to me doing what I was trained to do and needed to do to protect myself. I struck the assailant twice in the leg with my ASP baton. Witnesses stated that I struck him in the head with my baton, but even he disagreed with that. I was a Shop Steward that also was very vocal about how unsafe it was. You see, I had been injured to the point of hospitalization twice, and had checked into the emergency room more than a dozen times since being hired. I was the subject of a memo from administration stating that I was guilty of reporting every little incident such as getting kicked or spit on. How many people at work in their jobs would get in trouble for reporting getting spit on? We were trained and told not to engage people unless in self defense. I did this, I was being choked so I hit him with my baton. To save my own life. Administration told me that I was to have disengaged (read: run away) from the subject. Once he started hitting me i should have simply left him and run away to leave him to possibly assault others in the area.

This is the harborview mindset.

I am also a former Officer of Harborview Medical Center. I have worked with former Officer Coonradt and have on several ocassions been assaulted as well. I have also checked into the emergency room at HMC for being assaulted. I also have been punched, kicked, spit on, had urine thrown at me and been stabbed by a psyhc patient with a fork.

I had also been very vocal about the safety issues that surounded the horrific working conditions only to be ridiculed by command staff for doing so. Afterwords I was labeled as a "DISCRUNTLED employee.
Officers want better training, other tools besides a baton and more clearly defined authority.

I was an advocate fof the Taser, which I was told on several ocassions to stop talking about by command staff. I was told that you cannot Taze "patients" But when those patients have IV pulls using them as metal bats! What are the Officers to do? Officers are faced DAILY with making that very decision. They are often called to the Crisis Triage Unit (intake Psych) and confronted with people who are intoxicated, mentally ill, on who knows what kind of drug and very much of the time extremely violent.

Officers stationed at the entrance after a certain time to screen people through a metel detector, often encountering people with weapons and with what are they going to counter a weapons threat with? there batons. And these are just a FEW of the issues facing Officers at Haborview.

How many times does one have to be assaulted or injured before others realize there is a problem. Harborview is a very unsafe place to work, let alone be a patient at.
I think someone needs finally step up and help the Officers who still work there.

That remains to be seen.
Steven Roukie
Crawford County Sheriff Dept.
Missouri

I too was an Officer at HMC from 2000-2003 when I, and several senior Officers were summarily discharged after false accusations were made against us during a bogus investigation conducted by UCIRO. I was personnally accused of excessive force when I shoved a suspect who had assaulted me in the face. This incident was caught on camera and clearly showed that I used an appropriate level of force. At that time, we were trying to get improved training and tools and, as a result, I and several senior Officers approached the Seattle Times (August 18th,2002) and helped with a story about this very issue. We also filed complaints with L&I at that time regarding the unsafe work environment and L&I found AGAINST HMC and mandated training. ONLY after L&I mandated the training AND the damaging story in the Times did HMC provide us with training conducted by a company called the Taylor Group. This training was Law Enforcement training. We also had a thirteen week Field Training & Evaluation program based on the same model of Field Training provided by law enforcement and was supervised by myself, a CJTC Certified FTO. Since we were discharged (a Deputy Chief, two Watch Commander, one Corporal and the senior FTO) these programs have gone to waste and Administration has seen to it that the dapartment had no power in that facility whatsoever.
I cannot begin to describe my anger and disgust with a system that is so concerned with how it looks to the public, that they would actually risk the safety of the very people who are there to insure that the place is really what they claim it is, to the extent that there have been three Chiefs railroaded out of there not to mention the Command staff.
I had a lot of pride in my job when I began to work there and discovered how naive I was when it comes to politics when I became a target of retaliation from Administration when they found out I had participated in the Times article. In addition to all the above, we discovered that while we were there, HMC refused to participate in the Cleary Act which requires all four year Universities to report their crime statistics. This applied to HMC because HMC is a teaching hospital that is managed by the University of Washington. HMC Administration lied repeatedly about their status and refused to report the crime stats even though the website clearly states that HMC is a teaching hospital.
There is so much to add and I am glad to see that this issue has come to the surface once again and I hope that change at the top HMC Administration will take place to insure that the safety of the staff, visitors and patients will be properly addressed.

I am now currently an Officer at Harborview Medical Center, and I feel it is about time that this information is put out to the public. I have worked with Officers Roukie and Coonradt. Both were great at what they did. And I would trust them to make the best judgement in ANY situation.
I speak to various people from various walks of life about my experiences at HMC. i.e. the situations that present themselves there. Everyone I talk to cannot believe the incidents we face on a daily basis. I know police officers....these are commissioned POLICE OFFICERS that say they would REFUSE to do our job with the tools and training we have. Most of the Police Officers I speak with say that they feel safer on the streets than they do at HMC. Now that statement is coming from persons who are committed to keeping the streets safe, who went through state certified police academies and are trained for their jobs!! I've heard police officers admit that when they cannot control a suspect in a crime or do not feel safe, they 'drop them off' at HMC to let us deal with them. We have no proper way of dealing with criminals, out of control drug addicts, drunks, King County Jail inmates, and persons with psychological issues who cannot control themselves. And when a police offer (or officers) 'drop off' someone who needs to be taken to jail, the Emergency Departments heads get mad when we, the officers, want to give a call to the police to come pick up this suspect who just committed a crime. The Emergency Department heads want to keep his or her (the patient's) information private. Is someone leaving the hospital private information? And this CRIMINAL can walk out of the ER, and possibly go and commit another crime against someone. Case in point... the coach from West Seattle that was killed.... he was killed by someone who was released from Harborview Psych!!! But that's a whole other issue.

Point being, Harborview is not a safe place. I witnessed an RN3 from the ER tell medical students (who come to Harborview because it is a teaching facility. Remember the Clery Act in the post above?) I witnessed this RN3 tell these students to "get a ride with public safety because nowhere around here is safe. They will take you to your car even if its around the corner." If it was such a safe place, why would this nurse say this to students?

Why do we do it you ask? My reason and probably a lot of officers reason is that we love the place. I do. I love what Harborview stands for. I love its quality of service to persons who need medical care. I love the diversity of the hospital. Its a fine establishment. But in order for the mission of Harborview to continue, it has to be kept safe from people who disrupt the activity. Who keeps Harborview safe? The Officers. No clinic or ICU floor will call the Medical Director's office to ask Dr. Barnhart or Dr. Copass to go in a bathroom and make contact with someone who has passed out with a needle still sticking out their arm. Nor will either one of those doctors go into a room where a patient has a weapon. Any doctor will not even go up to someone who is sleeping in the cafeteria to ask him to wake up. But I garauntee they will call us. That's to say nothing against the doctors at HMC. I respect and admire Drs. Barnhart and Copass. They have a job to do. And they do their job above and beyond what is called for. All the doctors at HMC. They are trained for their job. All we ask is that we get the training we need to do ours. No one will ask us to go in the OR and stitch someone up. And I don't expect doctors to do our job. Just train us to do the job to keep Harborview staff (including ourselves), patients, and visitors safe.

I am the wife of a current HMC Public Safety Officer and refer to the comment made by "Formerly #47" and the UCIRO (University Complaints Investigation Resolution Office)My husband was one of the officers interviewed regarding the investigation conducted by UCIRO. The training that my husband received was infact provided by the Taylor Group (not recognize as State Certified Law Enforcement training) to the tune of one million dollars +, as stated by "Formerly #47". What it does not mention is that HMC had the option to obtain the same training that would have been recognized by Washington State L&I and the State of Washington as adequte training for "free of cost" from (CJTC)Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center and would have saved the tax payers more than the one million dollar spent that HMC pats themselves on the back for. This training was only offered because L&I forced HMC to provide it after finding that the officers were not properly trained.The end result of the complaint was the training from The Taylor Group and loss of 5 jobs ranging from the Cheif on down to the training officers. HMC would like everyone to think they did the right thing by providing the "training", but the officers clearly forced their hand when multiple complaints were file with both the Administation and L&I. Officer Miller has come forward at his own expence because it is almost guarenteed he will not return to work because he voiced his opinion. As the wife of someone who goes to work everyday and risks his life I hope that this blog is visited by more people who are not afraid to come forward and that someone does not have to lose their life over HMC's failure to listen.

You needn't look any further than Johnese Spisso to discover what is wrong with Harborview. Johnese has been the decision maker for the security/public safety department for the past 7 years or so. She has been involved in every conversation with Labor and Industries, Seattle Police, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, Executive Consultants, Washington State Attorney General's Office, and the list goes on and on. She is fully aware of everything that goes on in that facility and yet continues to put EVERYONE's life in danger because of the fear of stigma, or control, I'm not sure which. She has concealed homicides, suicides, sex crimes, identity theft, assaults and just about every other kind of crime that can be committed against a person or property.

Everyone is quick to point the finger at "them" when in reality it is "her" that makes these decisions. All under the premise of Harborview being a sanctuary. One of these days, her poor decision making and outright elitist attitude will turn Harborview into a mortuary for the very people we were trying to protect.

It is high time someone held her accountable for her actions or inactions, however you choose to say it. Rest assured, Johnese Spisso is the reason Harborview is and will continue to be one of the nation's leading crime statistics. The records cleary show it!

Bravo to S. Martinez for the clarification on the training provided by the Taylor Group. I probably should have elaborated further regarding this training.
On that note, the initial proposed training was more than the 186 hours we actually received and was pared down by HMC Administration. While most of the classes were informative, they had little bearing on what we as DPS Officers did. For instance, we received training on how to contact an active shooter called R.A.I.D.. This is training that Police and SWAT use to search out and confront an active shooter. Helloooo, we weren't armed. Another interesting yet useless class was how to profile a serial killer. Again, what did this have to do with us as DPS Officers? We weren't profilers and we definitely didn't investigate homicides, the police did that. We needed relevant, quality training and, as S. Martinez pointed out, HMC blew over a million dollars when we could have received the needed training by the CJTC for free.
I would certainly like to hear more from current and former DPS Officers about how dangerous and unsafe that place is. I wouldn't mind hearing from some of the nurses as well. Workplace violence should never have been a way of life for those folks and we as Public Safety should have had the proper tools, authority and trainng to protect everyone, no matter who they were.
I agree with "Another former member of the DPS team" when he identified the main problem as being Johnese Spisso. She was then and is still now a vindictive elitist who will ruin anyone who tries to fix her broken empire. I salute you guys who are still there doing the daily battles while dealing with the apathy and poor management of what should be the best healthcare facility anywhere. I wish you luck and hope that eventually someone will do something to get you the tools you need to be safe.

I have been an officer for several years now. Remember I am nothing more than an unarmed and under trained security guard. I deal with violent and psychotic patients. I deal with felons, drunks, deranged persons high on meth or crack or heroin. I deal with the mentally ill and the traumatized victims and their families. I have been kicked, punched, bitten, scratched, slapped and spit upon. I have never seen a place that retaliates so strongly against people looking to be better employees and looking to do a better job. We want better training, better tools/equipment and the authority to do our job. Harborview is dangerous. Look at our crime log, go to HSOSA.org and look at the work the officers have done to make this a safer place. Morale is terrible here at the hospital, leadership is non-existent and the hospitals response still seems to be that we are complainers. They work harder to try and refute our claims than they do to fix the problems.

As long as the hospital can say they are doing stuff to make it look safe they will claim they are doing all the can. To them it is more important to appear safe than to really be safe. Crime in the hospital is rampant. Do they install lockers in the waiting rooms to secure people's belongings? NO, that admits there is a problem. Do they install signs warning of recordings in the garages to prevent theft? NO, that would be admitting to a problem. Do they hold the patients to a standard of conduct to prevent them from acting out? NO, they let patients curse and threaten the doctors and nurses and then DPS officers are called to deal with that patient. We are 1st responders to anything that happens in the hospital no matter how violent or dangerous. Staff believes we are police in many cases and then wonder why we cannot act to protect them. The hospital should be ashamed of itself.

And when we DO defend ourselves and do WHAT WE WERE TRAINED TO DO, We are Fired. 2 Officers this year. Both Stewards. Now a Third Steward is on admin leave...

I used to be an officer at HMC, now I am a local police officer. These officers face more danger and threats and violence than many police officers. I was fighting someone nearly every day when I was a guard at Harborview-I almost never fight someone now that I am a cop. These officers have very little training and no equipment. They have 2 choices when it comes to defending themselves, their fists or their batons. My bosses would never consider sending me or any other officer to a violent dispute or a domestic situation unarmed but that is exactly what Harborview bosses do to these officers. When i was there years back, we dealt with thefts, sex crimes, assaults, drugs, suicides, car prowls and car thefts, weapons and liquor violations. All this in a hospital. The guards are required to be involved in dealing with patients care and with patient families. They deal with gang members and criminals on a daily basis. The hospital is a joke-lights and cameras don't protect people. And neither does one under utilized state trooper sitting at the back desk.

Is Harborview Medical Center Safe? I am a current 4+ year veteran officer of the department. As an officer I have responded to disturbances, violent threatening individuals, sexual assaults, vandalism, thefts/burglaries, vehicle prowls, barricaded individuals, assaults, etc. Crime is commonplace and this is inside a hospital. Currently over the last few years over 100 assaults occur yearly. The current Clery stats documented by Harborview are atrocious. What has management done to combat this crime? The following are duties no longer performed by Harborview Public Safety as instructed my HMC Management.

1) Officers cannot detain/stop anyone who has committed a crime (theft, assault, threats, dis con, etc.)
2) Officers do not confiscate any illegal weapons entering the facility (despite having metal detectors)
3) Officers do not confiscate any illegal drugs/contraband entering the facility
4) Officers cannot forcibly remove any disruptive, violent, threatening individuals from the facility.
5) Officers can only use force in self defense (despite this policy 2 officers, union shop stewards have been terminated for using force in self defense)
And finally
6) Officers should back out of any situation they feel is dangerous.

Also prior to 2006, between 200-300 Trespass admonishments were issued to individuals committing crime inside the facility, many in conjunction with arrests. Less than 30 have been issued for 2007, and officers have been told to no longer issue them. Currently, most individuals committing crime in the facility are just escorted out of the building or walked over to a public bustop and left there.

Prior to 2006 all of the above duties were performed by Pubic Safety on a daily basis. However, due to the overwhelming number of assaults and injuries received by officers (100% average yearly) plus the lack of clear policies and authority to perform the above duties, officers asked HMC administration for more training, better tools & equipment and clearly defined polices and authority. Management's response was to disparage vocal officers, threaten our jobs and say "security work is dangerous". When this failed, they said to no longer perform the above duties (This is all documented in our department polices as well as facilitated Union-Management meeting notes). Our then Chief, Emmett Stormo, even made the documented ridiculous statement "..even if a staff or visitor is being assaulted, officers should only go hands-on if it's safe to do so.."

Management will say they hired an off duty state trooper to perform the above duties. However, in reality their guidelines from their company state they are performing off duty security work, not to confiscate drugs or contraband, let Public Safety handle the calls and to only arrest as a last resort. Management also says their independent consultant in May 2007 stated Harborview is a safe place. This consultant was paid by HMC, contradicted both previous consultants reviews, issued a five page report on Public safety problems, stated officers are confused on their expectations, the SOP is not clear, there is a communication problem in the department and the hospital should hire a second police officer (Yet he states HMC is a safe place). Management is also proud of all the taxpayer money they spend on inadequate training that was forced on them by Labor and Industries. Finally, all the new surveillance cameras and lighting has not reduced violent crime.

Finally, after almost two years of off duty state troopers working at Harborview the crime rate is virtually identical as previous years. Injuries and assaults to Security Officers have not been reduced and the cost to Taxpayers for HMC managements failed policy changes, consultants, facilitators, state troopers has been well over 1 million dollars, not including the 800,000 they spent on previous mandated L&I training

I was an RN in the ED at Harborview for many years. I could never have worked there safely without these Public Safety Officers. Although it is still a dangerous place to work,the security officers at Harborvier have my deepest gratitude for trying to keep it safe. It is important that they have better training,back-ups, and whatever it takes to stop a violent person from harming staff and patients.

First, I would like to thank Chris Ingalls for allowing HMC current and former staff a conduit for their voice to be heard.
Those who are new, please visit www.HSOSA.org it will explain a lot of the questions you have about our Hospital and who is running it.
It would be easy to start naming names like (former C.E.O. David Jaffe, former C.O.O. Jonese Spisso, Administrator Robert Hamilton, Former Public Safety Chief Anthony Potter, former Public Safety Director Warren Walls, former Public Safety Director Emmett Stormo and to tell how each one effected the safety or at least the perception of safety of the visitors, staff and patients at HMC. I am not going to do that. Instead I want to set the ground work so to speak so we can all be on the same page.
HMC has a duty to serve the public. And the Public Safety Department has a “sworn duty” to the institution to keep it safe. Until recently Officers were told they were to detain/arrest/tackle/subdue (whatever moniker you want to substitute here) to stop someone from hurting another at HMC to include those in transit to or from HMC within a designated patrol area. (Patrol area: North from Howell Street to King Street and East West 17th Ave to 1st Ave)
As of last year HMC issued directives in a Labor/Management meeting between Public Safety Officers, staff, the Union and Administration to all officers directing them to no longer arrest/tackle /subdue/detain/intervene on behalf of anyone off or on HMC property, but “hoped officers would intervene if a staff member was being attacked and only if they thought it was safe to do so”. (insert your best judgment here) This was not communicated to the staff at HMC nor will it be by this administration. On several occasions Public Safety officers told staff that they could no longer protect them from dangerous people and each time the officer was either threatened by Administration or removed from working in a certain part of the hospital.
Enter the State Patrol. One Trooper 24 hours a day is almost half a million dollar investment by HMC per year to replace those duties Public Safety officers once did. The one catch is that they do not replace the duties and they are not really cops either. Yes they have gone through the training and yes they are “Law enforcement Officers” what I mean to say is that they have been given guidelines by HMC not to act as police while on HMC property unless directed by Administration or in lieu there of a Public Safety Sergeant.

F.Y.I HMC is getting another half a million dollar Trooper soon.

I wish I were shocked by this story, but the true is these men and women are poorly trained and at a huge risk of being injured or killed. I have run on several calls, one of which was someone who killed themselves in the bathroom. Public Saftey tried to create a crime scene by taping the area off, but the admin staff and nurse in charge in the ER would not let them. What are they so afraid of? Hopfully by continuing to push the Administrative staff by filing complaints, there will be changes made before someone get killed. The officers are already getting hurt. Good Luck to the HMC Public Safety officers.

Someone should take a look at the track record for Directors in Public Safety. For the most part they are only kept for around 2 years and then quickly up and leave.They fire their Chief when they get to know to much or they starting bucking Spisos impire. The last one Chief Stormo is now at UWMC. HMC's admin staff Johnese Spiso and Robert Hamilton are to blame, for spending so much of the tax payars money and creating a violent place to work.

I can not speak first hand for what these officers go through every day because I am not a security officer, but I can speak for my own fears. I think the first issue to be addressed is that Harborview is not a safe place, we all know it, come to terms with it,and take the appropriate steps to protect everyone that dedicates there time to it!! We need to stop trying to put off the fake image that we are a nice, clean, safe hospital. This is not Overlake or Evergreen, this is HARBORVIEW!!! We deal with the sickest and most unstable people seattle has to offer. In my position I have had chairs and computer monitors thrown at my head, I have been spit on, cursed at, and had other bodily fluids thrown at me, not exactly what anyone wants to deal with when they come to work.

Second of all, they have spent all this money to do a renovation and left out consideration of everyones safety in doing so. The main wall in the waiting room as well as half of the walls in the registration boths are GLASS!! At the moment they have free standing metal based chairs in the waiting room. You don't have to be a brain surgen to see why this is a problem. My co-workers and I have a bet out to see how long it will take for a psych(or any other for that matter)patient to throw one of those chairs through the glass. Also all of the desks at front registration and triage FLIP UP!!! Again, I am sure you can see the problem here. And finally, wit this new construction there is no security stationed at front registration. BAD,BAD,BAD!! The new area is beautiful and clean and much needed but since when did beauty become more important than safety.

My heart goes out to these officers. They put up with more crap than most anyone else would. They are a great group of people who are dedicated and love there jobs. These officers are the only reason I stayed at Harborview because I was, and still am scared every day I go to work. Yes we have the best doctors, and yes we have a great mission and great services but we are NOT safe. Stop trying to look like something we are not. Tacoma general has bullet proff glass at there registration booths for goodness sakes. It is not safe there and they know it, and have delt with it!! Just because we get all of the athletes and movie stars dosen't mean we are safe. Open your eyes people, stop pretending to be something your not, and take the appropriate steps to keep everyone (patients included) safe.

My heart goes out to the officer currently on admin leave. He is a great officer and I commend him for steping out and doing the right thing. Keep in mind though that the only reason he did this is because everyone knows he has nothing to loose. Harborview does not bring back staff they put on admin leave. This officer will be out of a job, out of a job for doing the right thing and protecting himself!! Please continue to show your support and help show Harborview's true colors.

This is what Jonese had to say about King 5 and its reporting the facts.

"Aug. 28, 2007 - You may have seen the news story that aired last night
and this morning on KING-TV regarding our public safety program. It's
disappointing that the whole story was not presented. I want to share
with you the facts we provided to KING-TV:

At Harborview Medical Center the safety of our patients and staff is a
top priority. The medical center maintains a safe environment for patients,
staff and the general public. Our public safety officers are provided
with clear policies, training and tools to guide them in performing their duties.

We take safety very seriously and have continued to implement a number of
enhancements to support our officers. Our continuous efforts and safety record have been acknowledged and validated by external reviews.

Highlights include:

a.. Completing regular security reviews by expert national consultants
to evaluate the security plan and proactively implement improvements when
needed. The most recent audit led by an independent consultant occurred in May 2007 and found Harborview to be a safe place.
b.. Labor and Industries performed a safety audit in 2007 resulting in no
deficiencies.
c.. Continued enhancements to our public safety work force, including assigning an off-duty Washington State Patrol officer to Harborview to provide immediate on-site response and additional assistance to our public safety officers if needed.
d.. Providing the availability of 24/7 escort service for staff and visitors to use.
e.. Providing extensive and ongoing training for public safety officers
and staff on de-escalation techniques to be used with patients and visitors.
f.. Enhancing the environment by installing additional security cameras
and lighting.

Washington State Patrol is on-site and the Seattle Police Department is
available at anytime for additional backup. Staff members are also instructed to immediately contact the police if at anytime if they feel
that a situation is not safe."

What do you think about this?

This was cut from the Seattle Times article dated August 18th, 2002. Does it sound familiar???

Harborview staff safety jeopardized by policy?

By Susan Kelleher

Seattle Times staff reporter

A fugitive pedophile wanted by the FBI has a doctor's appointment. You know the time and place. What do you do?
If you're an employee at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, you're supposed to make sure the pedophile keeps his appointment, receives medical care and leaves without the police finding out he was there.

Providing felons, fugitives, drug addicts and homeless people with care is part of Harborview's mission. Hospital officials see it as a sanctuary and strive to ensure that prospective patients aren't scared away or offended by too much security.

But the dark side of sanctuary regularly reveals itself in the hospital's emergency room, where staffers are assaulted; in its bathrooms, where heroin addicts shoot up in the stalls; in its security logs, where assaults, thefts, rapes, robberies and drug violations are recorded.

Last month, a man with a .357 magnum and 100 rounds of ammunition walked into Harborview and killed himself in a remote first-floor bathroom. Administrators said they would review security procedures in light of the shooting, but a question looms:

Is Harborview too safe for criminals, and not safe enough for staff and patients?

"They call it a sanctuary, and yet their own employees are afraid to come there," said Field Training Officer Gary Talcott, one of 51 public-safety officers who provide security at the hospital.

Higher risk of crime

A review of police, public-safety and workplace-violence records, as well as interviews with staff and independent experts, indicates there's a price to the administration's approach.

An analysis ordered by the hospital's former public-safety director last year showed that the risk of being robbed at Harborview and its surrounding clinics and offices was 10 times higher than in the rest of King County. The risk of being assaulted was five times higher.

Across the board, Harborview had higher levels of risk for every major crime than the national, state and local averages for those crimes.

"That is an extremely, extraordinarily high index, and it requires fairly stringent security measures," said Russell Colling, one of the nation's top hospital-security experts and the author of safety guidelines for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation's main hospital-accrediting body.

But Harborview administrators are moving in the opposite direction. Where other urban trauma centers have instituted around-the-clock weapons checks, Harborview has restricted weapon screenings to evening hours and no longer stations an armed off-duty police officer in the emergency room.

Other urban trauma centers are manned with police officers armed with guns, tasers or pepper foam, while Harborview administrators are planning to change the blue uniforms worn by their unarmed public-safety officers because they don't want people to think police are working at the hospital.

Other hospitals — including the University of Washington Medical Center — allow security officers to question people who appear to be at the hospital with no official business. At Harborview, anyone is welcome to hang out as long as he or she is not committing a crime or actively bothering others.

Though Harborview staff members widely accept the hospital's mission to serve people on society's margins, they disagree sharply on the sanctuary issue.

Nicknames result

Owned by King County and managed by the University of Washington, Harborview is one of the few places in the Puget Sound area that provide nonemergency medical care without first asking people whether they can pay for it.

The hospital is also the only Level 1 trauma center in a four-state region, handling tens of thousands of emergency visits a year, many of them life-threatening.

The chaotic environment that results from the mix and volume of patients has given rise to the nickname "Harbor-zoo." Those who disagree with the hospital's laissez-faire stance toward criminals use a different one: "Harbor-you."

Chief Operating Officer Johnese Spisso insists the hospital is taking the proper approach to crime. She noted that the safety program passed muster with the accrediting body during the last survey in 1999, and that the hospital is proceeding with better training for safety officers following a fine and citation by the state Department of Labor and Industries earlier this year.

Then there is the philosophical issue: Patients shouldn't be subjected to a higher level of security just because many of them are drug users, criminals or mentally ill, Spisso said.

Besides, she insists, "We're no more vulnerable than Safeway or Pioneer Square or McDonald's."

Seattle Police Capt. Mark Evenson, commander of the East Precinct, where the hospital is located, disputes that assessment. Harborview is not only more volatile than a typical business, he said, but more dangerous than Swedish Medical Center and Virginia Mason Medical Center, which are only blocks away.

Records show that Seattle police were called to Harborview nearly a thousand times last year for a variety of incidents ranging from assault to robbery to rape. About a third of those calls were related to gun- and knife-attack victims who might bring an angry entourage with them. Most of the other calls were for incidents in or around the hospital facilities.

Harborview's public-safety officers — who patrol the hospital and its grounds, apprehend and arrest violators, restrain violent patients and screen nightly visitors for weapons — want better training, protection and arrest powers. Some would like to be armed.

But Harborview officials plan to move the officers away from police functions to focus solely on security. And the hospital is strongly opposed to arming them with anything more than a collapsible metal baton.

Different comfort levels

John Frazier, a medical-records clerk who influences policy as a local union president and head of Harborview's minority-affairs task force, opposes giving the safety officers additional authority. He worries about racial profiling and abuse of power, which he says he has witnessed.

He also said most people who come to the hospital aren't afraid.

"This is a public facility. If someone's just sitting here, that should be OK as long as they're not bothering anyone," Frazier said.

Colling, the security expert, said such thinking obscures the reason the hospital exists: to provide health care.

"If they decide they want to run a safe haven or refuge, that's their prerogative," he said. "But it's out of context with health care in the United States."

While Harborview officials express little concern about the level of crime, some staffers and patients are clearly uncomfortable with the environment in and around the hospital. Last year, safety officers performed more than 5,900 escort trips, accompanying staffers or patients to and from Harborview and its outlying clinics and administration buildings.

"Of all the people I've provided escorts for, I'd say well over 50 percent have stated to me that their reason for using the escort is because they do not feel safe walking to their car or walking in the neighborhood," said former Sgt. Chuck Cerda, who resigned last month.

Inside the hospital — especially in the psychiatric ward and emergency room — visitors and patients have become violent toward staff. Emergency-room nurse Charles Wiley remembers the chill that ran through him after treating a suicidal man who had his stomach pumped.

"He said, 'Charles, I'm going to track you down. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill your family. You will regret this day that I was in the emergency room.' It's been 18 months, and thank God nothing's happened."

Employees who spoke to The Seattle Times did so as individuals, and not as spokespeople for the hospital.

Harborview's policy calls for all visitors and patients to be treated equally, even if they're just there for a cheap meal or to use the bathroom or phone.

But sometimes, visitors commit crimes of opportunity against vulnerable patients and their families. And sometimes, the patients themselves commit the crimes.

Last month, a patient threatened to stab a man with a syringe because the man refused his request for a cigarette on the sidewalk outside the emergency room.

Five days later, a woman whose husband was brought to the hospital for treatment reported that her purse containing $2,000 in cash and a $5,000 diamond pendant was taken from the cafeteria.

Calls for more security

Critics — including but not limited to safety officers — say Harborview needs more security to ensure that access to high-level trauma care is not shut down by a single incident.

They cite a near-riot that occurred last summer: Dozens of angry people swarmed into the emergency room following a shooting. At least two people in the crowd were carrying guns, and one man waiting in the ER pulled a gun when the crowd swarmed in.

Acting Sgt. Dan Sirotzki, a public-safety officer who was injured in the fray, said that incident underscored the hospital's vulnerability.

The critics' other concerns include:

• Construction of a new 437-car parking garage at the hospital that contains just one security camera. (Spisso, the hospital's chief operating officer, said new cameras will be installed.)

• Policies that delay or even prevent reporting incidents to police until they are reviewed by a hospital department charged with evaluating the potential for lawsuits.

• Inadequate training, equipment and authority for safety officers.

At times, critics say, administrators have been more concerned about the appearance of security than actual security.

For example, Spisso has repeatedly warned safety officers to stop patrolling areas adjacent to hospital property. But in November, after a nurse was abducted while walking to her car and subsequently raped, the hospital told employees that public safety had stepped up uniformed and undercover patrols in the neighborhood. In fact, it had not, according to former Sgt. Cerda and others with first-hand knowledge of the situation.

Some crimes aren't reported

When crimes do occur, they are not always reported to the police or even to the hospital's public-safety department, or are reported belatedly. For example:

• No one at the hospital called police or Harborview security in November 2000 when a woman claimed she was raped by an employee while recovering from an auto accident.

Although the hospital runs a center specializing in the evaluation and treatment of sexual assault, the woman was not sent for an evaluation until more than 34 hours after the incident was reported. By that time, according to her attorney, Brian Boddy, the woman had been bathed, likely destroying evidence of a crime.

The incident was reported to police by the woman's father.

"All I was getting from them was that they were trying to protect themselves and not the patients," said Boddy, who filed a malpractice suit on her behalf. The hospital has denied the suit's allegations.

• Earlier this year, medical staff did not notify police or public safety after discovering that a male psychiatric patient had possibly assaulted a 21-year-old female psychiatric patient. Safety officers learned of the incident only when a sexual-assault examiner approached them.

When the same patient was sexually assaulted by a different male patient six days later, reports indicate, the supervisor for the unit told staff not to cooperate with the investigation into the incident.

• Last November, safety officers say, Spisso chastised them for calling police after a patient was found unconscious in bed with a syringe sticking out of his intravenous line. Spisso said the call to police was premature because Harborview's risk-management department — charged with evaluating legal exposure — had not had an opportunity to review the case first.

The incident was found to be a suicide.

• Also last year, a patient infected with HIV bit a nurse and threatened to bite another.

"In that instance, the person should have been taken to jail," said Mary Jane Clark, a neurology nurse threatened by the man. "Instead, he was there for another three days."

Spisso said patients have been arrested and prosecuted, but whether that happens depends on the circumstances of the crime. Under hospital policy, the risk-management department reviews all nonemergency situations and decides whether police are called.

Limited weapons checks

The hospital has declared itself a "weapon-free zone," but it's common knowledge among staff that patients carry guns and knives into the hospital regularly. Screening for weapons is done only between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. on a rickety machine that on a recent evening had to be kicked and smacked before it worked properly.

Last year, the nightly weapons checks picked up more than 2,100 objects that could be used as weapons, including 32 guns, 1,591 knives and other sharp-edged tools, 197 pepper-spray canisters and 318 other "makeshift" objects.

No one knows how many weapons get into the hospital during the day.

"We feel it's very important that patients should be screened 24 hours a day," said ER nurse Wiley. "There's ways to do it that don't interfere with patient care."

Dr. Nancy Sugg, medical director of Harborview's Pioneer Square clinic, is among those who support Spisso's sanctuary approach to security. But even she doesn't understand why the hospital does only partial screening at the ER.

"It's a much tougher environment," she said.

(Associate Administrator Robert Hamilton, who oversees public safety, said in an interview Friday that he wants 24-hour checks and will discuss the idea with the hospital's new public-safety director, who arrives next month.)

Sugg said there are good reasons for a lower-key approach to security, one that focuses on de-escalating situations before they get out of hand.

Taking away people's needles, running warrant checks on people engaged in "suspicious" activity or hassling people who are hanging out with no official business at the hospital might scare away patients who need help, she said.

She's seen it happen, citing a case where a heroin addict failed to show up for care for a suspected case of so-called flesh-eating bacteria because she didn't want her drugs confiscated.

Sugg also said there is widespread suspicion of police among the homeless population, many of whom have had negative encounters with police.

"I take safety very seriously, but I also take our mission statement very seriously," she said. "We see patients in a whole different setting.

"We see people in the clinic who have committed murder. One of them I'm thinking about is the nicest person in the world. It was a substance issue. He's a sweet guy, and it's hard to imagine now he did it."

Colling, the security expert, questioned the rationale behind security planning at Harborview.

"I've never known anyone to be scared away by security," he said. "That's a pretty tough one, to say, 'We can't have a safe facility because we don't want to scare people away.' "

Even Sugg says: "It's clear Harborview can't be — at least in my mind — a total safe haven, because otherwise it would endanger the community and people at the hospital."

Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com.

And here it is, five years later and nothing has improved

Really? Call the police for back up? Have a Trooper respond to the 9th or 10th floor when you have someone who wants to hurt you? Add more security cameras and lights..... Really?

Officers patrol Harborview primarily by themselves, alone ! checking stairwells, basement areas, parking garages, outer park areas and all this with a baton and a radio!

So how long does it take for someone who is very serious about hurting you, to hurt or kill you? Answer that.....SECONDS! not minutes that it would take for the Police or a Trooper to respond to what ever location you might be in and if you have a chance to put that over the air on very poor portiable radios that do not get reception in all areas of the hospital.

This is a bunch of CRAP! Don't listen to their political lies and that is just what they are. You have Officers and Police Officers telling you what is really going on here!

Really take a minute and really read what is being said here. Sure you can provide an Officer with 200 hours of training, but you cannot expect an Officer to perform there duties at HMM with just a baton.

It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight. No these Officers need better Law Enforcement tools and more clearly defined authority. You have Private Security Officers with more tools and more authority to protect themselves and others than the Officers at HMC.

SO don't listen to the Adminstrations CRAP, Administration expect Harborview Security Officers to perform a Law Enforcement function with Security Guard tools and authority. To me that is a distaster waiting to happen, it is just a matter of time before a psych patient or a patient that is hopped up on drugs to turn Harborview into a Columbine. Only by the grace of God has this not yet happened.

I will give you another story here, One day while I was working at HMC, Officers are dispatched to the 2nd floor ICU waiting area. Officers are told that there is a person with a FIREARM on thier side.(this is against hospital policy) Officers make very clear statements that this is a Seattle Police call. Officers are told by a certain "Luitenant" that it is thier job to check this out and that Seattle Police will not be called until Officers have checked more into the situation.

Luckily there is a very active King County Sheriff's Deputy that is in the Security Office that overhears this and decides to assist Officers with this task of "checking out" the person with a weapon.

Later on this same Sheriff's Deputy is advised not to walk around with DPS Officers and is later placed at another location when he Tazed an out of control Psych patient, that assaulted a Harborview Officer.

So yeah there is a LOT more of this kind of stuff happening that needs to be heard.

I worked for a large ambulance company for several years,and can not count the number of times I have been to HMC, and witnessed a PSO dealing with a violent person. These people are asked to do the job of a Ploice Officer with out the traing, or the equipement. Any one working at HMC should demand that the PSO's get the traing, and epuipement that they need, all the unions in the hospital should get behind this so thier members can get the protection they deserve.

Can we take all these posts as gospel? Many posts seem to be written by one person. Note the writing / speaking style and consistent spelling errors. You cannot believe everything you read.

Security guards with guns? Scary. That'd be like giving crack to a crack addict and telling them not to smoke it.

Yes, some may have been written more than once by the same person. However, I know of some of these incidents because I've either been involved in them or know of them.

So, you may join the ranks of the blind but the truth is still there if you care to learn about it. As a fellow officer, I know management has always said one thing in writing but act out differently when given a verbal decision. It puts us officers at risk either way because if you fail to do what they say, they'll put you on Admin. Leave and fire you.

In the other side of the coin, you do what they tell you (Even going against written policy) and then somebody makes a complaint against you. The next thing you know, you are again placed on Admin Leave because the management will cover their tracks and say, "We didn't tell him to do this. It goes against written policy." So where does this leave the officer? Either way we are screwed.

In conclusion, if you aren't buddy-buddy with management, you can kiss your A** goodbye.

Nice try Lieutenants Redd, Bonilla, and Lewis. Dont decribe yourselves as anounymous when everyone who works with you has heard the very statement of "security with guns" stated by all of you!
You can try to lie to the public, but those of us who know who you are and who is pulling your puppet strings will know you are only out to save yourselves. Redd you know this more than anyone.

I've heard security guards called many things before, but this is the first time I've heard them being equated with crack addicts. You should be thankful that people are willing to place themselves in danger to protect you. To equate them with crack addicts is pretty insulting to all those who labor in this honorable profession, usually for very low pay.

To the "Anonymous" person mentioning Security having guns are like crack addicts... you must not have been to Harborview before. Then again, if so, you must be blind to your surroundings.

To everyone who is willing to learn more, go to HSOSA.org to see some of the crime stats. It may wake you up.

Keep in mind, I've heard management has been trying to find out whose posting this info on the website. If they are so "innocent", why are they targeting those who want to improve the department?

Come on folks, lets no air our dirty laundry in a blog that is addressing a very important issue. Clearly the ability of the Administation of HMC is in question and has been for along time, look at past stories. This is proven with the frequent changing of the Cheifs (which they do not have a current Cheif), the frequent staff that is put on leave for having a voice. Whether you think security should or should not be law enforcement is not the question..... its do you feel safe at work, do you feel safe as a patient and what kind of care are we giving to people who are seriously ill? Everyone knows that at the top of most institutions there is someone making policy that has no knowledge of the job duties and this is Johnese Spiso and Robert Hamilton. The 3 Lieutenants are just the fall guys hoping if they play along they will be secured in their jobs, but isnt that what we all want? Bottom line is HMC should be embarrased by the fact that they are always in the news about the safety of everyone. Clearly the employee is not being heard.

Trust me.... those guys at HMC do one hell of a job. I'm a King County Sheriff and I wouldn't dare place myself at HMC like these men and women do. To the HMC Admin and the HMC Security Admin, listen to these men and women. They are the ones doing the job. And until you put on that uniform RIGHT NOW, you need those officers to tell you what they need. Good Luck HMC Security!

My son was flown to Harborview from Idaho last year. We spent the better part of a month at Harborview, going back and forth from the Inn at Virginia Mason. These officers were courteous, polite, caring, and brave. Qualities not found in most police officers. There was one night I decided to walk to the hotel and saw first hand the job that these officers do. They stood up to a man who was clearly on some sort of controlled substance. The man posed a serious threat and the officers handled it with precision and kindness. My heart goes out to you officers who just want to go home safe at night, just like they want the people they protect to do the same. Good Luck!

As an EMT transporting patients to HMC on a regular basis over the last 10 years,I have seen on numerous occasions patients who are assaultive towards hospital and ambulance staff and I have personally been concerned for my safety and the safety of those around these violent individuals. These types of occurences have become much more common at HMC and I believe that HMC needs allow their DPS officers to at least carry tasers to better stop violent people who do not react to any other attempts at being subdued.Unfortunately these days it has become necessary for any DPS to carry more advanced forms of self defense in order to protect themselves and those they protect.Wake up HMC! before a staff member or DPS officer or any other innocent person gets killed!

King 5 you are doing some serious journalism. Does your staff members have some personal interst. Yes. Have you revealed this. No. If the story is worth telling, why don't you put your hard earned "communication" degrees to work instead of placing peoples jobs and potentially lives at risk.

It is unprofessional of you to manage a complex story in this manner. Have you called L&I, anyone to obtain a counter point position, or are you relying on gorilla journalism tactics.

This is a very challenging and complex issue and now that you have stirred the hornest nest the onus is upon you to truly investigate versus creating "news" through a "blog". What's next, a myspace page? If the story has merit, run it - but do your job. Harborview, as you say, is an institution and it is unprofessional of you to manage a story in a way that limits knowledge. As with any issue there are points on both sides, creating a forum for un-happy employees (and ex-employees) to rant is behaving like People magazine; and I would hope that you are better and more professional than that.

Harborview does wonderful things every day, and to create a forum to negate the care, treatment, and life saving measures great people take and do every day is shameful. Yes there are challenges and yes there are choices... perhaps everyone could make better choices, including you - don't create news, report news.

Armoured Car Drivers = Security Guards with Guns.

Private Security Services = Security Guards with Guns.

Various Security Guards at our Federal installations = Security Guards with Guns.

What are the police really? well SCREENED, well TRAINED, well PREPARED....Security guards with Guns, and AUTHORITY of course but there we are.

My point. Gun or no gun PEOPLE are still people. Comparing a Security Guard to a Crack user is just silly. What that statement is saying is that Security Guards are unintelligent, overreactive, and foolish and if given a gun will play Wyatt Earp and just start shooting. Yippekiay, lets shoot us some homeless folks!

Lets get serious for a second. A man wielding a Knife is lethal aithen several feet. This is a fact. A man with a bat or stick can kill you just as easy. A man with a gun and nothing to lose? Well then we have Virginia tech, Columbine, Jewish Federation... The list goes on.

How long until a desperate drug seeker, High on something, pissed that he can't get his drugs at harborview, angry at the nurses, REALLY angry at the highly visible blue uniforms that walked him out of the building, returns with a rifle and several pistols.

Who will he shoot first? Anyone wearing that evil blue uniform, and anyone wearing scrubs. They are fixed in his mind as the enemy.

This will eventually happen. What happens when it does? Several DEAD nurses/doctors innocent other people, several dead HMC Officers who can not defend them selves. Regret recriminations, and finally, hopefully, change. Too little will be done too late and familys will grieve.

I am a former officer there. I have formed a bond with these people that EVERY day put their lives on the line for Staff, for total strangers, and even for the abusive mentally ill or homeless guy that spits on them, throws urine at them, or punches them in the face.

I have seen "Guards," again the knuckle dragging THUGS reffered to earlier, go above and beyond taking hits, BLEEDING, putting themselves in harms way with NO THANKS AT ALL!

I was involved, for example, in a case where a King County Deputy had raped and beaten his wife. Administration would NOT tell me what was going on, they told me that Public Safety was NOT to know. Our Sgt. eventually got that information. It turned out that this deputy SHOWED UP IN THE ER WAITING ROOM. Remember this is a VERY well trained, most probably armed and demonstrably unstable individual. But they were refusing to let me know what was even happening. I recognized him from the description, called for back-up.

5 Officers and 2 State Troopers (Luckily it was shift change, in fact I had STOPPED the troopers from leaving to park a car because I recognized him) stood up to this very tall, very potentially dangerous man. He assaulted one of the troopers, she had to check into the ED, and it was up to the troopers and UNARMED public safety "Guards" to subdue this person.

Kudos was given. But not to me or the other DPS staff. The troopers were credited with the entire thing.

Someone could VERY well have been killed in that incident. While the man didn't have his sidearm, he DID have a long knife on him. And he COULD have had his gun.

This is getting long, but my last point. No one is asking for a gun anyhow. But a Tazer. Howmany violent encounters would this solve in a NON Lethal manner? How many injuries prevented? How many potential LIVES saved?

management has said that "Guards" Again neanderthals with zero intelligence apparently, would use the tazers on patients restrained in their beds. Heck they gave us Asp batons. Howmany times have they been used on someone restrained in a bed? Hmmm.... ZERO! Officers are even afraid to use the tools they have because if you do...FIRED. Even when being choked and punched.

These officers are NOT knuckledragging thugs. They are dedicated, honest, hard working, and perform unimmaginable feats against unimmaginable threats. Sometimes LITERALLY covered in someone else's feces, all to keep that nasty smelling violent person from hurting themselves or others. Several of these Officers have 4 year degrees, and many of them have been in the job for more than 10 years. A few as much as 20.

These idiots, and based on this I can't think of another word because who but an Idiot would continue in this line of workafter the abuse they get, These IDIOTS keep at it. With no thanks, with endless danger. They don't go hide in a bathroom and read for a whole shift, they don't refuse to respond to calls. These Idiots care. *GASP* They actually CARE about people, the staff, the public, and the Poop covered violent patient.

But no one cares about them. Seriously. I cry for them at times. They are the best society has to offer.

Crack Addicts indeed. hang you're head in shame whoever you are, you are not worthy of the protection they would give you if they even knew who you are.

To the King 5 critic above, I have one question for you. Who in this blog has questioned the integrity of Harborview as an institution providing the preeminient medical care in the country.....? I don't believe anyone has. In fact, I think you will find that every one of these people have or are willing to put their lives on the line to protect the very institution that turns their back to them EVERY SINGLE TIME this comes up. Oh, I have heard it all, trust me. This has been going on far too long and it is high time these people were heard. You call it guerilla journalism, I call it the only way people are going to hear the truth. Harborview will certainly never reveal it!! Go ahead King 5, call L & I, call the State Auditor's Office, call the U.S. Department of Justice, call the Criminal Justice Training Commission, call the Taylor Group, call anyone but HMC Administration, and you might get the truth. It is out there!!!!

As a nurse who works at HMC I am continually shocked to the degree of stupidity displayed by everyone in a position of power, but wait, they don't work during most of the times when one is most likely to get hurt. The ICU is unlocked, prior to the renovation in the ER anyone could come up the stairs and enter the ICUs. I guess a sign that says "do not enter" is better than a lock. Seattle, wake up, get with the program. it is more violent now than it used to be. If you don't act now, someone will die. If it is me, I have left names of people to sue. The slipshod way programs are implemented, without review or concern for both patient and staff safety. Harborview, you are responsible for my safety. if you can't provide for my safety then you will pay, both in criminal and in civil court. your retirement and fancy is not safe.

How about the time the guy hung himself in the ultra safe Psych ward? And ER Management physically assaulted the Officer trying to get the information.

This was pretty well covered up huh?

That Television that had the cord he used to hang himself with sure disappeared very quickly.

I have worked at Harborview for the past twenty years and have always felt protected and safe. You have grand-standed an issue that a very few of our public safety officers are begging for-guns! We are a hospital that takes care of people from all walks of life. We are an institution that has invested alot of money and hours in training for the public safety officers as well as the patient care staff to care for these patients and their sometimes complex behavior.

Unfortunately, a very few of these public safety officers want to become commissioned officers and carry guns----and unfortunately you have chosen to report this as news.

Please remember that we save lives every day, that is the story of Harborview! The story is not that Harborview is an unsafe place!

Nurses at Harborview save lives. Zero dispute. Answer truely, how many officers have been treated for injuries received at Harborview? How many Nurses? how many Visitors?

Harborview saves lives! Harborview has a very important and wonderful mission! Harborview the institution is as noble as it comes! Much of the staff there are the greatest people on the earth!

This is all fact!

Harborview administration however will not show you the dark side. Will in fact become incredibly evasive when asked.

I dont see anyone "begging for-guns!" "wanting to become commissioned officers and carry guns". It seems they want the proper training, equipment, clear authority and direction to perform their duties. And yes, that may mean they go though a police academy, be commissioned as police officers and carry a gun. Dont try and cloud the issues at hand with all this Gun and Commission talk. Do you have the training you need to do your job? Do you have the proper licesing or certification for your profession? Do you have clear direction in what you can and cannot do in your practice? That, and some well deserved respect, is all these people are asking for. Please remember this, your DPS Officers, well they protect lives every day as well.

Officers have NEVER asked for guns, period.

If you don't agree with what's being said, attack the message not the messenger. It so easy for HMC Management to say, "they just want guns!" and not back that up with any proof. What's hard is for them to explain the high crime rate at the hospital and the high injury and assault rate the officers face PROTECTING the staff. So they just ignore those true facts and attack the messenger, with unfounded statements.

If you truely don't like guns then write HMC management and ask them why they hired ARMED off duty State Troopers to work at the hospital. Mind you these are the same people protecting staff/vistors/patients at the hospital as the unarmed security officers.

Lets look at these Off Duty WSP officers.

First, they are all great people and fine Police Officers. Please do not misunderstand.

However, they are working in addition to their normal work schedules. Some are tired, some come from far away, some already have done 4 to 8 hours elsewhere before even comming to work at Harborview.

Next, there is only one of them. In a building that is basically 16 floors from bottom to top, with several buildings on campus, they can't be everywhere at once.

Many of them are working their first shift there or are rarely there. They simply do not know the Geography. In a situation where seconds can make the differance the choice of the wrong group of elevators or stairs can mean life or death. An out of control patient brutally assaulting someone on 4West Clinic, the Trooper goes to 4 west hospital. There is NO way to get back without backtracking. But howmany people get mixed up when NOT in a stressful situation.

And again let me emphasize that these troopers are great, the fact is that they generally do not know the "Regulars" that come in. And their Law enforcement role in their day to day jobs is ENTIRELY different than what happens at Harborview. Troopers be honest, how many fights do you get into in the course of a normal week?

How many troopers have been injured at Harborview? At least 3 that I know of.

Troopers are a great Public relations bandaid. But who knows the facility better than the people that are there day in and day out, dealing with the same stuff over and over. train THOSE guys. Give them the authority to do their jobs, Give them the training then need. At LEAST provide them with some stress management classes!

I'm a long time employee of HMC (over 13 years) - I've always felt safe there. I'd venture to say that the majority of staff would echo my sentiments. Almost every day, I see something at this amazing institution that make me grateful to be a part of it. But, crime happens everywhere. It happens on safe college campuses, it happen in wealthy neighborhoods and in slums.

One part of our mission is to care for the underserved and the mentally ill. We are also a huge trauma center. This is the population for whom we care. It's not a plastic surgery clinic on the Eastside and there should be no expectations that our patients behave as such. These people have to go somewhere for care, here in Seattle, it happens to be HMC. The issues of safety are not black and white - especially when it comes to caring for mentally unstable patients.

Having said that, here are some suggestions, I have heard them repeated often:

Suggestion #1: if this is such an issue for you, the current DPS staff, and you are in such repeated and terrible peril, please go find another job - no one is keeping you here, your employment is voluntary and no one wants to see your demise.

Suggestion #2: outsource public safety and security to a professional firm who is better equipped to deal with this. It is evident that the training and education (no matter how robust) isn't sufficient to provide the curent officers with the skills they need to be successful.

Well, Susan Greeg-Hansen-why does Harborview NEED three times the security of other hospitals. But this is a lie, we are severely understaffed. Some officers are working 50, 60, 70 hours a week. We are probably 6 officers under what we should have. If the officers are so safe why is their injury rate so high? Why is the crime and violence rate in your own Clery Act stats so high? Doesn't look safe to me. The crime stats at HMC are probably much higher than those for the rest of the UW system combined. No, the training is not sufficient and no we don't have enough equipment or training. In light of the numbers how you can possibly say such a thing?

As to suggestion number one above: If you feel safe that is fine, but who gets called when things go bad and a patient or visitor commits a crime or turns violent? It is DPS, not nurses, not doctors not MA's. We get called to deal with the problems no one else wants to deal with or can deal with. If every single employee of your department was assaulted or injured every year would that be a problem? Or would you and your co-workers just accept it. And your suggestion to "please go find another job" is ignorant and illogical. It is the UW's responsibility to provide a safe work environment. "Leave the job if there is something you don't like" is not an answer. All we are asking for is ways to do our job safer period. As to suggestion 2, no way will that happen. They could easily bring in UWPD but the UW won't let that happen. In your attempt to insult officers and the job we do you have a kernal of truth-and that is the training isn't sufficient which is what we've been saying all along.

It's good that some feel safe at HMC.

The reality is this; Public Safety Officers patrol and answer calls for service campus wide, as well as off site facilities throughout the downtown area. The vast majority of HMC employees work in a specific unit or department confined to a single floor, clinic or office. Most of their interation with the public is very limited, if they have any at all.

Unless you have "worked the floor" as a DPS Officer, you have no idea of what they deal with every day. For anyone to suggest they find another job or be outsoursed because of their concerns is just wrong.

The fact that HMC serves such a diverse population is not the issue being raised. But some keep throwing this into the ring. HMC serves the PUBLIC the PEOPLE the TAX PAYERS who have a RIGHT to be safe and free from harm at a public medical center.

If you want your opinion on the officers assesment of safety to have some meat to it, go work a couple shifts with them, walk the floor, get to know who they are and what they do. I'm sure your opinion of this situation will quickly change.

The following will be the start of several entries to serve as a rebuttal to SG Hanson and Johnese Spisso's email of Aug 28. I will break it up into several section so it is easier to read.

King 5 aired a story and the hospital refused to come on air and comment at that time, but did offer some "facts". The safety is a top priority is a nice slogan but the numbers don't bear out this assertion. There is far too much crime and violence at the hospital. Go to the 8th floor security office and ask for 6 months of Clery Act statistics to see how "safe" the hospital is. The number of violent incidents should shock anyone and betray the safe environment claim. According to your own expert you hired and others brought in the policies are NOT clear and the policy manual is filled with contradictions and confusion. If you think policies are clear whay don't you ask some of the officers if they truly know what the policy says and means. The same expert said we need much more training. With the number of injuries I think it is apparent the tools and training are not enough. The vast majority of officers likely are not convinced we have the necessary tools to do the job the hospital expects of us.

I have worked at HMC as a nurse for over 10 years, including the ED. I have worked along side HMC security in several capacities and appreciate what they do. However, it seems to me that the story that we keep hearing is biased…very biased. I have worked in several other level one trauma centers throughout the country. I have never felt unsafe while working at Harborview. I have questioned some responses to certain situations and have never thought that having security carry a weapon would have de-escalated a situation. I think it would have resulted in someone being hurt.
I am concerned that the message that is being sent to the public is the wrong message. I do feel confident that HMC Administration has addressed the security issue several times. Why is there not another side of this story being represented? To say that Administration doesn’t care about security means that L&I must not care either, as they found zero deficiencies in a 2007 audit. What about the unbiased opinion of an outside consultant – what do they have to gain by saying that HMC is safe??? Nothing! There are always two sides of a story and I have only seen one represented. I don’t think that this story represents the entire security department’s views on this topic. I think this is a last ditch effort on the part of an officer that decided not to follow policies that are put into place to protect patients. If security wants to be armed like police officers – then they should go be police officers and when I need one, I feel safe to call 911!!
I don’t believe that staff believes that ‘our own employees are afraid to go to work’ because ‘it is dangerous.’ As a nurse, I can easily choose to leave HMC and work at another hospital. Harborview is a wonderful place to work and I proudly CHOOSE to work there. I think the way that this story was told by the involved individuals was handled poorly and is a disservice.

Rebuttal Part 2:

A. The last "expert review" was done only after repeated complaints from officers of the unsafe working conditions. Officers easily rebuked every claim made in this expert's opinion. Very little of this expert's review contained anything capable of standing up to the the reality of the situation at HMC. This expert couldn't even properly count the number of offciers in the department. The review continued downhill from there. This review was also completely contradictory to two other reviews occurring previously that came to different conclusions as to the safety of HMC or the ability of the officers to do their job. This latest safety consultant had the audacity to claim "there are no rapes or murders at Harborview, so it is a safe place."

Rebuttal Part 3:

B. The L and I investigation did not claim "no deficiencies", it was very limited in its scope, but it is not yet completed. However, something is causing the excessive injuries to officers and HMC hasn't done anything to curtail them yet. Besides, twice in the last few years HMC has been fined by L and I for security department claims so I wouldn't be bragging about a 33% success rate.

C. The WSP Trooper was only added after officers demanded more equipment and more accountability from HMC due to our injuries. This wasn't done out of the goodness of thier heart. This was done after repeated requests by officers to improve our safety. Despite this, the Troopers are very limited in where they go and what they do. In fact, they are told to arrest only as a last resort. While officers are greatly appreciative of the Troopers, we realize they are restricted by the hospitals rules.

D. If it is so safe why is there a need for a 24/7 escort service for staff and visitors? Why are staff members tell vistors not to walk because it isn't safe? I think this just proves what we are saying. The area around the hospital can be dangerous, there isn't an ivisible force field at the entrance keeping the danger out of HMC.

Unbiased opinion from an outside consultant? Hired by whom? I believe the vast majority of urban level one trauma centers have Police Officers working the facility, correct? Do some research.

It would make sense to have a government appointed team investigate the issue of safety & security and role of the Public Safety Dept.

Since HMC is a county facility, I would think the King County Counsel should take the lead on this.

Rebutta Part 4:

E. We receive nowhere near enough training. This has been documented over and over. The only reason we are receiving the limited amount we now do is because of officers voicing their concerns. If we had not finally said, "Enough is enough, we need help.", the hospital would have been content to let things continue as they were.

F. Lighting and security cameras don't make people safe. In areas where officers actually get hurt there are no cameras and moreover no camera or lighting has yet served to reduce the criminal inidents at the hosptal.

Yes, WSP is on the property. One WSP to respond for the entire hospital, that is if it is someplace they are allowed to go. In most cases the Trooper nor Seattle Police would be able to find something in some back corner of HMC without being led by DPS Officers. And no, through many conversations, we have learned taht HMC administration does not wnat the police called. People always call DPS first even for events outside the hospital taht we are not responsible for. Want proof? Look at the emergency placards in the hospital with all the codes on them and look at the card emergency card with your HMC ID. Who does it say call for certain events outside of HMC or at UW? It says call 911. And who does it say call if you are at HMC? It says call the DPS emergency line. Unarmed, undertrained officers who have been told they do not have a duty to act.

Have you actually seen the L&I reports? Have you actually seen the report from the outside consultant? Or is this 2nd hand news? It is clear from these comments that the goal is to 'be armed.' There must be a solution to help security feel safe but I don't think that it is to arm themselves.

I know that a certain DPS officer with issues is posing as an "Just a nurse" or "Ambulance Driver" etc. and posting great exaggerated "facts". I work at Harborview a staff member and I do not perceive HMC as an unsafe environment. In general it is a few disgruntled officers who are frustrated wanna-be cops and who are unable to find employment elsewhere that are complaining.

As a current DPS officer, I would like it to be known that these are not the views of all of us. I have to agree that it is a few disgruntled officers that couldn't get hired as cops. Maybe Swedish is hiring.

My name is Doug Knorr and I have been the Administrative Director for Supply Chain Management for the past 10 years. During that time, I have been duely impressed by the fine work that the Public Safety Officers have done on behalf of our patients, families and staff. For the most part, they are dedicated workers trying to do their best in sometimes difficult situations. As far as the accusations bantered about in this blog, I can only say there are different perspectives on any issue. No-one here has all the facts and as a result any conclusions they draw are incomplete. I have my opinion just like others have theirs and the truth lies within a serious evaluation of all points-of-view.

My question here is to Chris Ingalls of KING 5; is this what passes for investigative journalism these days? To generate a story based on the views of a narrow, albeit passionate, group of people and then, for balance, ask for anonymous entries into an on-line blog doesn’t really seem to me to be at all fair.

In the words of Col. Nathan R. Jessep, “I suggest you pick up a weapon son, and stand a post”. Chris, why not come to Harborview and spend a day or two with the members of Harborview’s public safety staff and actually experience on a personal level what you’re writing about. Talk with the nurses, the administration, the patients and families and our neighborhood characters. Feel it, then write about what you know, not what you’re being told.

I think if you do, you might actually make a contribution to this story.

I worked at HMC for years as a student employee in college and have returned five years later as a full-time staffer and have never felt unsafe in this facility. Blogs are self-selecting and tend to only capture the most extreme opinions, therefore making it unlikely that these comments represent more than a fraction of entire workforce of thousands of employees. I support employees receiving adequate training to do their jobs (but I am not qualified to have an opinion on the training that DPS currently receives), but I do not support arming DPS officers. There seems to be an overwhelming slant in the news stories and many of the blog postings regarding arming of officers. What are you going to do? Shoot or taser patients and visitors? Is that really a viable solution? Arming of officers is what would make me feel unsafe in this facility.

...The disgruntled staff do need to find employment elsewhere. The majority of staff don't want people like you here. You are toxic. You are bad for morale, bad for HMC. You drag our wonderful institution through the mud and the only ones you hurt are the patients who are now afraid to come to this institution. Shame on you.

The last thing that is safe for HMC is a hot head with a gun trying to prove a point. Case in point, the officer on TV! He's been injured 6 times! Let's compare that to the other officers. Is this the routine? That is the data that I want to see. Also, what constitutes an assault? How many batteries have there been? Where is the detail in the data being distributed.

I know that the majority of DPS officers are very professional and ethical folks doing a difficult job. However, what you see here are rantings of the few who have performance issues and are not cut out for the difficult job they have.

You don't have to believe one word of any of these blogs written. But, you have to always believe the truth and we DO !! Nobody once ever said, we want to be ARMED. That is not possible and all DPS knows it because we work in psych units. We need another option for safety of DPS, staff, patients, and visitors in addition to batons.

*We need clearly defined authority
*We need pepper gel, tasers (preferred)
*We need radios that work. (IE- Clear reception all over the hospital)
*We need more DPS now !!
*We need training more than once a year

These are HMC Crime Stats that don't LIE !!

August 2007
(6) Vehicle Burglaries Vista Garage (Case #'s Not Shown)
Malicious Mischief 2007-00430 08/16/07 - 01:28 08-16-07, 0128 Emerg. Room Closed DPS
Vehicle Prowl 2007-00427 08/08/07 - 13:05 08-08-07, 0830/1305 Vista Garage Open DPS
Vehicle Prowl 2007-00426 08/08/07 - 13:05 08-08-07, 0030/1305 Vista Garage Open DPS
Burglary 2007-00423 08/06/07 - 10:24 08-03/06-07 3 West Clinic Open DPS
Theft 2007-00421 08/06/07 - 07:43 08-06-07, 0743 Cafeteria Closed DPS
Assault 2007-00420 08/05/07 - 05:15 08-05-07, 0515 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action

July 2007
Trespass 2007-00416 07/31/07 - 21:19 07-31-07, 2119 1 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00414 07/31/07 - 08:13 07-31-07, 0715/0810 Cafeteria Open DPS
Assault 2007-00413 07/30/07 - 10:19 07-30-07, 1019 8th Ave. Referred to SPD
Weapons Violation 2007-00409 07/26/07 - 02:15 07-26-07, 0215 1 East Hospital Closed DPS
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00408 07/25/07 - 03:15 07-25-07, 0315 Emerg. Room Closed DPS
Vehicle Prowl 2007-00407 07/24/07 - 17:49 07-24-07, 1215/1745 Lot 21 Victim Declined Action
Malicious Mischief 2007-00405 07/23/07 - 23:05 07-23-07, 2305 1 West Clinic Open DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00406 07/23/07 - 02:32 07-23-07, 0232 Basement West Hospital Open DPS
Trespass 2007-00402 07/21/07 - 04:40 07-21-07, 0440 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Drug Violation 2007-00401 07/21/07 - 03:48 07-21-07, 0348 Vista Garage Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00411 07/20/07 - 08:07 07-17/20-07 1 East Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00400 07/19/07 - 13:04 07-19-07, 1245 8th Avenue Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00398 07/18/07 - 06:45 07-13/18-07 4 West Clinic Closed DPS
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00397 07/17/07 - 09:59 07-17-07, 0959 3 West Clinic Open DPS
Burglary 2007-00395 07/16/07 - 06:16 07-13/16-07 12 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00393 07/15/07 - 10:18 07-15-07, 1018 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Assault 2007-00394 07/14/07 - 19:40 07-14-07, 1940 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00390 07/14/07 - 16:33 07-14-07, 1633 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Theft 2007-00388 07/13/07 - 09:21 07-12-07 3 West Clinic Open DPS
Assault 2007-00385 07/12/07 - 02:50 07-12-07, 0250 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Vehicle Prowl 2007-00391 07/11/07 - 22:58 07-11-07, 1400/2200 Vista Garage Referred to SPD
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00383 07/11/07 - 06:28 07-10/11-07 7 East Hospital Closed DPS
Theft 2007-00380 07/10/07 - 13:40 07-09-07 2 West Hospital Open DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00381 07/10/07 - 13:40 07-03/08-07 9 East Hospital Open DPS
Harassment 2007-00378 07/10/07 - 06:50 07-10-07, 0650 1 West Clinic Closed DPS
Harassment 2007-00376 07/09/07 - 09:35 07-06/09-07 2 West Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00374 07/08/07 - 12:02 07-08-07, 1202 Psych. Emerg. Services Victim Declined Action
Assault 2007-00372 07/07/07 - 20:10 07-07-07, 2010 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00371 07/07/07 - 00:24 07-07-07, 0024 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Harassment 2007-00369 07/06/07 - 08:50 07-06-07, 0850 4 East Hospital Open DPS
Harassment 2007-00368 07/03/07 - 23:23 07-03-07, 2323 Basement West Hospital Open DPS
Violation of Court Order 2007-00365 07/01/07 - 09:20 07-01-07, 0920 1 East Hospital Open DPS

June 2007
Theft 2007-00364 06/30/07 - 08:48 06-28/30-07 Emerg. Room Open DPS
Assault 2007-00363 06/30/07 - 01:10 06-30-07, 0110 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Harassment 2007-00357 06/26/07 - 00:15 06-26-07, 0015 Emerg. Room Closed DPS
Telephone Harass. 2007-00355 06/25/07 - 11:40 06-25-07, 0830 Ground East Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00352 06/24/07 - 15:26 06-24-07, 1526 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Theft 2007-00351 06/24/07 - 08:05 06-23/24-07 1 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Trespass 2007-00353 06/23/07 - 21:10 06-23-07, 2110 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00349 06/22/07 - 13:03 06-22-07, 0800/0930 1 East Clinic Closed DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00348 06/22/07 - 08:55 06-21/22-07 Vista Garage Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00346 06/20/07 - 13:02 06-20-07, 1302 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Harassment 2007-00345 06/20/07 - 08:30 04-30-07 2 West Clinic Open DPS
Theft 2007-00344 06/19/07 - 19:25 06-19-07, 1911 1 East Hospital Open DPS
Theft 2007-00343 06/19/07 - 10:45 06-17-07 9 East Hospital Open DPS
Theft 2007-00341 06/18/07 - 11:08 06-18-07, 1108 Ground East Hospital Open DPS
Telephone Harass. 2007-00350 06/18/07 - 10:20 06-13-07 9 East Hospital Open DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00338 06/18/07 - 04:50 06-18-07 Ground East Hospital Open DPS
Liquor Law Violation FIR #00080 06/15/07 - 13:52 06-15-07, 1352 2 West Hospital Closed DPS
Theft 2007-00337 06/14/07 - 19:15 06-14-07, 1845/1900 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00336 06/14/07 - 13:30 06-14-07, 1330 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00335 06/13/07 - 10:49 06-13-07, 1049 Psych. Emerg. Services Closed DPS
Theft 2007-00334 06/12/07 - 16:50 06-12-07, 1650 Cafeteria Closed DPS
Theft 2007-00330 06/12/07 - 11:58 06-12-07, 1158 Cafeteria Closed DPS
Harassment 2007-00332 06/12/07 - 10:49 06-12-07, 1049 2 West Clinic Closed DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00329 06/10/07 - 18:00 06-10-07, 1800 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00328 06/09/07 - 23:38 06-09-07, 2338 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00327 06/07/07 - 04:37 06-07-07, 0437 Emerg. Room Open DPS
Theft 2007-00326 06/06/07 - 16:00 06-05-07 Research & Training Bldg. Open DPS
Harassment 2007-00325 06/06/07 - 10:05 04-2007 Basement East Hospital Open DPS
Indecent Exposure 2007-00323 06/05/07 - 19:23 06-05-07, 1923 Ground West Lobby Referred to SPD
Harassment 2007-00322 06/05/07 - 15:45 06-04-07 1st fl. Pat Steel Bldg. Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00321 06/03/07 - 16:15 06-03-07, 1615 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD

May 2007
Theft 2007-00319 05/31/07 - 10:00 05-30/31-07 1st fl. Fire House Open DPS
Burglary 2007-00318 05/31/07 - 07:21 05-30/31-07 1 East Hospital Open DPS
Arson 2007-00317 05/31/07 - 03:31 05-31-07, 0331 5 West Hospital Open DPS
Theft 2007-00316 05/30/07 - 14:20 05-30-07, 1420 3 West Clinic Open DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00315 05/30/07 - 09:05 05-30-07, 0905 Ground East Hospital Open DPS
Burglary 2007-00314 05/30/07 - 01:30 05-29-07 7 East Hospital Victim Declined Action
Assault 2007-00313 05/29/07 - 14:25 05-29-07, 1415/1420 Ground West Lobby Victim Declined Action
Malicious Mishcief 2007-00312 05/29/07 - 05:30 05-29-07, 0530 Ground East Hospital Open DPS
Trespass 2007-00311 05/29/07 - 01:25 05-29-07, 0125 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00310 05/28/07 - 17:15 05-28-07, 1715 9 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Intereference w/ a Health C 2007-00309 05/28/07 - 09:53 05-28-07, 0953 2 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Malicious Mischief 2007-00308 05/28/07 - 03:30 05-28-07, 0330 Emerg. Room Open DPS
Trespass 2007-00307 05/28/07 - 02:25 05-28-07, 0225 4 West Hospital Referred to SPD
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00306 05/27/07 - 22:27 05-27-07, 2227 Ground West Hospital Referred to SPD
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00304 05/25/07 - 22:15 05-25-07, 2205 7 East Hospital Closed DPS
Theft 2007-00302 05/24/07 - 22:10 05-24-07, 1800/2210 6 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00301 05/24/07 - 16:15 04-20-07 7 East Hospital Open DPS
Theft 2007-00300 05/24/07 - 12:25 05-24-07, 1225 Cafeteria Closed DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00299 05/23/07 - 23:00 05-23-07 Ground East Hospital Open DPS
Sex Offense 2007-00298 05/23/07 - 20:52 05-23-07, 2045/2052 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00297 05/22/07 - 07:42 05-22-07, 0642 Cafeteria Closed DPS
Assault 2007-00294 05/21/07 - 16:21 05-21-07, 1610 Ground West Hospital Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00293 05/21/07 - 11:34 05-21-07 1st fl., R&T Building Open DPS
Trespass 2007-00292 05/20/07 - 07:13 05-20-07, 0713 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00290 05/18/07 - 06:41 05-18-07, 0611 2 West Hospital Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00288 05/15/07 - 11:05 05-15-07, 1103 3 West Hospital Referred to SPD
Burglary 2007-00286 05/15/07 - 10:45 05-13-07 Engineering/Facilities Bldg Open DPS
Assault 2007-00285 05/14/07 - 20:20 05-14-07, 2020 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Theft 2007-00284 05/14/07 - 16:54 05-14-07, 1350/1650 2 West Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00283 05/13/07 - 12:45 05-13-07, 1245 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00282 05/10/07 - 06:45 05-10-07, 0030/0100 2 East Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00281 05/10/07 - 02:45 05-10-07, 0245 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00279 05/09/07 - 07:11 05-09-07, 0711 Cafeteria Closed DPS
Burglary 2007-00275 05/07/07 - 16:33 12-06/05-07-07 6 East Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00274 05/07/07 - 10:35 05-07-07, 1035 2 East Hospital Victim Declined Action
Vehicle Prowl 2007-00273 05/07/07 - 08:15 05-06/07-07 Vista Garage Referred to SPD
Drug Violation 2007-00271 05/05/07 - 18:45 05-05-07, 1845 1 East Hospital Closed DPS
Assault 2007-00270 05/05/07 - 16:45 05-05-07, 1645 Emerg. Room Open DPS
Assault 2007-00269 05/05/07 - 01:50 05-05-07, 0150 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Assault 2007-00267 05/04/07 - 04:50 05-04-07 0450 Emerg. Room Open DPS
Theft 2007-00266 05/02/07 - 07:15 05-02-07, 0715 Cafeteria Referred to SPD
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00265 05/02/07 - 01:30 05-02-07, 0130 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Malicious Mischief 2007-00264 05/01/07 - 12:45 05-01-07 Boren Garage Open DPS

April 2007(4/12 through 4/30 only)
Theft 2007-00262 04/30/07 - 18:00 04-30-07, 1500/1800 Basement West Hospital Closed DPS
Theft 2007-00261 04/30/07 - 07:53 04-30-07, 0745/0753 1 East Clinic Referred to SPD
Malicious Mischief 2007-00260 04/30/07 - 07:50 04-30-07 Basement West Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00258 04/28/07 - 22:06 04-28-07, 2206 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Theft 2007-00256 04/28/07 - 07:15 04-28-07, 0715 Basement West Hospital Closed DPS
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00257 04/27/07 - 17:55 04-27-07, 1755 Ground West Hospital Closed DPS
Assault 2007-00249 04/20/07 - 11:19 04-20-07, 1119 2 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Malicious Mischief 2007-00248 04/19/07 - 13:22 04-19-07, 1322 Ground West Clinic Closed DPS
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00244 04/17/07 - 23:22 04-17-07, 2322 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Harassment 2007-00243 04/17/07 - 16:23 04-17-07, 1620 CPO Bldg. Open DPS
Telephone Harassment 2007-00239 04/16/07 - 01:30 04-16-07, 0130 Emerg. Room Closed DPS
Inter. w/ a Health Care Faci 2007-00238 04/15/07 - 09:11 04-15-07, 0911 3 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00236 04/15/07 - 00:40 04-15-07, 0040 2 East Hospital Victim Declined Action
Theft 2007-00234 04/13/07 - 11:34 04-13-07, 1125/1130 Ground West Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00235 04/13/07 - 10:00 04-06-07 Emerg. Room Open DPS
Sex Offense 2007-00245 04/12/07 - 10:00 2002/2004 10 East Hospital Open DPS
Sex Offense 2007-00245 04/12/07 - 10:00 Sept/Dec, 2006 10 East Hospital Referred to SPD

March 2007(Not available)
February 2007
Assault 2007-00124 02/26/07 - 14:05 02-17-07, 0001 Emerg. Room Victim declined action
Malicious Mischief 2007-00123 02/26/07 - 12:50 02-06-07 1 Basement East Clinic Open DPS
Assault 2007-00122 02/26/07 - 01:49 02-17-07, 0001 Emerg. Room Closed DPS
Burglary 2007-00118 02/23/07 - 08:30 02/22-23/07 8 East Hospital Open DPS
Theft 2007-00116 02/21/07 - 09:08 02-21-07, 0903 1 West Clinic Open DPS
Vehicle Prowl 2007-00115 02/20/07 - 23:30 02-20-07, 1600-2330 Vista Garage Referred to SPD
Harassment 2007-00112 02/19/07 - 20:30 02-19-07, 2030 2 West Hospital Closed DPS
Burglary 2007-00110 02/19/07 - 16:20 02-19-07 1 East Clinic Open DPS
Assault 2007-00106 02/17/07 - 00:01 02-17-07, 0001 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Burglary 2007-00100 02/13/07 - 20:00 02-13-07, 1700/2000 3 East Hospital Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00099 02/13/07 - 11:05 02-13-07, 1105 Cafeteria Closed DPS
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00096 02/11/07 - 01:13 02-11-07, 0113 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00091 02/07/07 - 10:35 02-07-07, 1035 Ground West Clinic Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00089 02/06/07 - 12:16 02-06-07, 1216 hrs Lobby Bistro Closed DPS
Counterfeiting 2007-00088 02/06/07 - 08:05 02-05-07 Vista Garage Referred to SPD
Malicious Mischief 2007-00087 02/05/07 - 22:30 02-05-07, 2230 1 West Clinic Open DPS
Assault 2007-00086 02/05/07 - 15:40 02-05-07, 1540 3 West Clinic Victim Declined Action
Malicious Mischief 2007-00084 02/05/07 - 05:30 02-05-07 1 East Hospital Open DPS
Assault 2007-00083 02/05/07 - 03:26 02-05-07, 0326 Emerg. Room Victim Declined Action
Assault 2007-00082 02/05/07 - 01:45 02-05-07, 0145 Emerg. Room Victim Decined Action
Assault 2007-00081 02/04/07 - 15:40 02-04-07, 1540 Emerg. Room Closed DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00078 02/04/07 - 11:12 02-04-07, 1112 Psych. Emerg. Services Open DPS
Forgery 2007-00079 02/04/07 - 10:10 02-04-07, 1010 Ground East Hospital Referred to SPD
Assault 2007-00077 02/03/07 - 23:45 02-03-07, 2345 Psych. Emerg. Service Victim Declined Action
Theft 2007-00074 02/02/07 - 07:30 02-02-07, 0720 Cafeteria Open DPS
Assault 2007-00080 02/01/07 - 21:35 02-01-07, 2135 Psych. Emerg. Services Closed DPS

January 2007
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00072 01/31/07 - 18:30 03-13-07, 1830 Emerg. Room Closed DPS
Theft 2007-00071 01/31/07 - 14:50 01-31-07, 1445/1450 Gift Shop Open DP
Theft 2007-00070 01/30/07 - 11:26 01-30-07, 1126 Cafteria Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00069 01/30/07 - 10:36 01-29-07 2 West Hospital Open DPS
Theft 2007-00068 01/30/07 - 07:15 01-30-07, 0030/0700 2 West Hospital Open DPS
Disorderly Conduct 2007-00066 01/30/07 - 06:11 01-30-07, 0611 Cafeteria Open DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00065 01/29/07 - 19:58 01-29-07,1940/1950 Emerg. Room Referred to SPD
Malicious Mischief 2007-00060 01/27/07 - 18:13 01-27-07 1 East Hospital Closed DPS
Assault 2007-00061 01/27/07 - 14:20 01-27-07, 1420 Psych. Emerg. Services Referred to SPD
Theft 2007-00058 01/25/07 - 13:30 01-24-07 Terry Ave & Terrace St. Open DPS
Malicious Mischief 2007-00057 01/25/07 - 01:58 01-25-07 Cafeteria O