SEATTLE—
People who live and work in Seattle's Belltown district walk the streets in an effort to take back their neighborhood.In the last couple weeks, a series of violent crimes has hit Belltown, including a beating, a drive-by shooting, a stabbing and a murder -- all within a few blocks of each other.
Tonight while a dozen volunteers for the group "Belltown Citizens On Patrol" cruised the streets they came across another violent situation: a man on the ground and another on top of him, apparently the tail end of a street fight that broke out seconds earlier.
The patrolling volunteers, determined to clean up the neighborhood, snapped photos with their cell phones, called 9-1-1, and waited for officers to show up.
It's not just the fights and the violence this group wants to stop.
They're also sending a message to drug dealers and gang members: they're not welcome here.
"We don't want fights. We don't necessarily want drunks or loud noises," says one of the group's leaders, David Levinson. "We just want people to come down and enjoy themselves. There's great restaurants, great food."
The first responding officer on the scene, is a face that 's familiar to Seattle residents. It was Britt Sweeney. She's the Seattle police officer who survived the fatal police shooting of fellow officer Timothy Brenton on Halloween evening.
After a backup officer arrived to help sort out the disturbance, the group continued its patrol. Volunteers handed out flyers to appreciative owners of local businesses.
The flyers made the group's presence known.
Earlier this week, the city of Seattle announced a new late night public safety initiative that puts an extra 20 police officers on downtown streets at bar-closing time.
The increase in police patrols begins this weekend.
