More than 250 "Safe Places" to stop gay hate crimes

Marissa Brent-Tookey • Feb 6, 2018

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>More than 250 "Safe Places" to stop gay hate crimes</h1>
                <h2><p>Officer Jim Ritter of the Seattle Police Department has launched the Safe Place program on Capitol Hill in an effort to combat the recent rise in hate crimes against gay residents. Businesses with the Safe Place decal in their window report incidents and offer protection to victims. KING 5 reports</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/marissa-brent-tookey-crosscut-com/">Marissa Brent-Tookey</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://avalancheghost.one/content/images/sites/default/files/images/article/gallery/safe_place_spd.png" class="kg-image" alt="A" loading="lazy" width="190" height="290"></figure><p>Officer Jim Ritter of the Seattle Police Department has launched the <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/spd-safe-place?ref=avalancheghost.one">Safe Place</a> program on Capitol Hill in an effort to combat the recent rise in hate crimes against gay residents. Businesses with the Safe Place decal in their window report incidents and offer protection to victims. <a href="http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2015/07/13/spd-safe-place-program-achieves-success-growth/30073719/?ref=avalancheghost.one">KING 5 reports</a> that the neighborhood program is so popular that it has spread beyond its 250 or so participating Capitol Hill businesses; Ritter has started sending decals to other cities. (For a look at the problem as it was emerging, check out this <a href="http://crosscut.com/2014/08/capitol-hill-deweirds-lgbtq-hate-crime-takes/?ref=avalancheghost.one">Crosscut report</a> from last summer.)</p>
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Officer Jim Ritter of the Seattle Police Department has launched the Safe Place program on Capitol Hill in an effort to combat the recent rise in hate crimes against gay residents. Businesses with the Safe Place decal in their window report incidents and offer protection to victims. KING 5 reports that the neighborhood program is so popular that it has spread beyond its 250 or so participating Capitol Hill businesses; Ritter has started sending decals to other cities. (For a look at the problem as it was emerging, check out this Crosscut report from last summer.)

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By Marissa Brent-Tookey

Marissa Brent-Tookey is an editorial intern at Crosscut. She holds a B.A. in French from Seattle University and now studies film production at Shoreline Community College. In addition to crewing a doz