Wallingford Businesses Form Private Security Team
- Shop owners in Wallingford are banding together to hire private security after repeated thefts and safety concerns. - Organizers say multiple businesses will share costs and schedule patrols during high-traffic evening hours. - City officials and residents express mixed reactions about privatized policing on neighborhood commercial corridors (patch.com).
Wallingford business owners in Seattle are organizing a shared private security patrol after a run of break-ins hit shops along the neighborhood commercial strip. (king5.com) KING 5 reported April 22 that Seattle police data shows burglaries in Wallingford are up 14% this year and 30% over the past two years. Owners said they are discussing pooling money for patrols during evening hours, when foot traffic is high and stores are still open. (king5.com) Changes Bar and Grill owner Floyd McIsaac told KING 5 and FOX 13 that thieves broke in on April 8, stole about $1,000, and left thousands of dollars in damage after prying open a metal door and back gate. McIsaac has owned the bar for 37 years. (king5.com) (fox13seattle.com) The Sock Monster was hit three days later, on April 11, after a burglar smashed through the front door, according to FOX 13 and KING 5. Owner Kelly Tremaine said merchandise, computers and cash were taken, and the store closed for several days to complete inventory. (fox13seattle.com) (king5.com) The immediate fix under discussion is not more police officers assigned to Wallingford, but a private patrol that several businesses would pay for together. Tremaine told KING 5 that owners are considering “a private security team that we can all chip in on,” while McIsaac said a shared patrol for “a few hours” could be affordable. (king5.com) That plan lands in a city where Seattle has also expanded public aid for damaged storefronts. The city’s Storefront Repair Fund reimburses up to $3,000 per incident for up to three incidents, but it does not replace stolen merchandise or erase the cost of hiring guards. (seattle.gov) Seattle’s 2026 adopted budget also added funding for 127 net new police officers, with the city projecting about 1,184 total officers funded in 2026 after a record 165 hires in 2025. That means Wallingford merchants are moving ahead with a private option even as City Hall says it is rebuilding police staffing. (seattle.gov) Residents and officials are split on what private patrols would mean on a neighborhood business street. Supporters cast them as extra eyes and ears for shopkeepers; critics worry that routine safety work on a public commercial corridor is shifting toward whoever can afford to pay. (patch.com) (komonews.com) For now, the Wallingford effort is still at the organizing stage, with owners talking through costs and schedules rather than announcing a signed contract. The next test is simple: whether enough neighboring businesses decide that a few paid patrol hours are worth adding to already rising break-in bills. (king5.com)
