Submitted by Shawna Marie Pederson.
Something very frightening is happening all around us. Something very dangerous is utilizing our Police resources while other crimes await a response. Something very illegal and reckless is infiltrating our neighborhoods, our streets, and our cities. I am talking about street racing.
Last night, Saturday, February 5 into early this morning Sunday, February 6, street racers once gathered in several places in Tacoma and then made their way into our beautiful City of Lakewood. The gatherings had multiple police officers scrambling all over but, as usual, they all scattered to their next stop to perform more outrageous activities.
Our residents are living terrified. The weekend prior, these street racers invaded a neighborhood at 84th and Park Avenue, setting a couch on fire, while residents watched in horror. They threatened violence on some residents and some say they now want to move out of the area for their safety. How fair is this? People who have made this area their home now having to relocate because some irresponsible, lawless people are acting out the video games they grew up playing. This is not Grand Theft Auto or Need For Speed. This is our safety I’m talking about.
As I laid awake in bed late last night, I could hear it loud and clear. They had made their way to Lakewood. Right up the street from me. I could hear the loud mufflers, the screeching of tires, and then, the sounds of police sirens. The sounds lasted for what seemed like forever. So, I turned on my police scanner and I listened. More police resources attending to them and more calls pending while these criminals take up time that it needed elsewhere for serious crimes.
They were at 112th and Bridgeport Way, a street that many of us drive quite often. They had the streets blocked while they carried out their senseless acts, not giving any consideration to the innocent people around them, just trying to make it home to their families. It is very clear: they don’t care.
They had already been in 8 different places in Tacoma and they were now here, in our City. They are out to cause fear and to intimidate all of those near them. And, even people in their homes, trying to sleep. They have made it known that these are not our streets, but their streets. And, they have no plans to stop.
There were guns involved the past two nights, too. One of those incidents was a resident who has had enough and had armed himself.
Is this what it’s going to take to stop this?
Is this what our Cities are becoming?
When are we going to say enough is enough?
And, more importantly, are they ever going to see what they are doing to the rest of us?
Will they ever even care?
One can only hope so.
If not, I’m afraid that we are heading for disaster.
They are destroying our Cities.
This is not some video game.
This is REAL life!
This has been out of hand for awhile. In my west Tacoma neighborhood, they were racing from the Narrows Bridge to N Narrows Drive and Vassault towards the Zoo. The incident on the bridge last year tamped it down, but I still hear them occasionally. The selfishness is astonishing. The danger is real.
The Powers that be need ti establish a legal spot for them to race without endangering others!!!
Carolyn that is a great idea.
This is why so many including myself are relocating to other states that have laws and they are enforced. Police don’t have their hands tied. It’s time for Washington State lawmakers to wake up to the reality that their feel good policies do not work.
I live on N Vassault St in Tacoma, very close to the Pt Defiance Zoo, 20yrs ago I asked the City Engineer to set up a speed box and set it for the max speed it was able to record. This street is posted @ 30mph, its average after this speed test is 45mph, even today, the highest was over 120mph. So from 2002 to 2022 nothing has changed, no Police enforcement because what a officer told me was they don’t have the people to cover this area 24-7. There’s a man up the road from me that went around with a petition for any home owner or renter to sign to complain about all this speeding, he then went to our past mayor of Tacoma and pleaded his concern’s with all these resident signature’s, this was 2019, nothing has happened to stop these people. I feel for all you folks, its plain nuts. Just call 911 everyone,until the Police go nut’s and do something about this growing problem all over Lakewood and Tacoma.
This is a result of many years in which children have grown up never being held responsible for their actions. What would cause them to think of others now?
Yes Karen I agree with you, also to add, sometimes the very rich parents work way past normal work times and come home late to meet deadlines or in some cases to keep there job, so to show there love to there children they buy them any car they want, regardless of the 300 to 700 horse power under the hood, there kids now think mom & dad are super hero’s. When I went to Lakes High School back in the late 68 final yr. some of my classmates had such parents and the cars back then in the muscle car area averaged 300 to 400 plus horse power in a 2500 lb. to 3200lb car, just nuts, and a 17 to 18 yr. old young adult driving like crazy, some of the guys did drive safe, others acted like drunken monkeys. Some of these cars that go over 100mph by my house in a 30mph zone are big buck go faster’s, expensive car’s in the 40 to 60 thousand range, I can never get a plate number because there going to fast. I tried to cross my street this past summer to chat with my neighbor, darn near got hit by a go faster, scared me to death. Every Cop that I can talk to know’s about the North end speeding problem, they don’t have the option to patrol the area’s that are the Hot spots, they go where the boss say’s so. So if we all call 911, we might get one of them or a bunch of them arrested. Pray for some peace, and I hope they all get stopped!
Who voted for the politicians that made the laws and hired the policing agency?
Our Tacoma Mayor has his or her wish list of what they want done, taken care of and what makes the office of the Mayor look good. Sad to write about this but that’s coming from many different cop’s on patrol, motorcycle cops and cops patrolling in car’s. I tried for a few years calling 911. I started worrying that maybe I could be upsetting the police department because I was calling at least 3-4 times a day back in 2002, and about 2-6 times every year since, the 911 operator always had this to say back, no patrol car’s available to respond @ this time, I will forward this information to the officer in charge of dispatch. When the high speed racer’s crash the cop’s then have units available to investigate the jumble of whats left of the car and driver. 20yrs the cars are more in number out my way and faster. Once or twice a year I’ll see maybe 4 patrol car’s slide over from complaints, but they never hit the weekends here when the weather gets nice and the madness begins.