For Kathleen Booher and Neil Sheesley, it’s an almost daily occasion to see a drug deal or violent episode outside their North Renton home.

From their front porch or out the large living room window of their house on North Second Street, the couple routinely watch as a known drug dealer does business with cars that park for just a few minutes and then leave again quickly after a visit from their supplier.

“It they were selling sports tickets they wouldn’t have to hide it,” Booher said. “It’s what we deal with everyday.”

Those drug deals, Booher said, occur just 22 feet away from her front door ­— a door from which they now keep a baseball bat within arm’s reach for safety. What they see as a lack of police response to their concerns in North Renton has led them to take the issue directly to the City Council. Monday marked the couple’s third consecutive appearance in an attempt to draw attention to their concerns.

At the Aug. 1 meeting, Booher held up her tape measure from the audience comment podium at the front of the room to try to make the council and administration understand how close to their door these things are happening.

“It’s 22 feet from me to you, mayor,” she said.

Booher and Sheesley, who serve as the newly revised North Renton Neighborhood Association secretary and president, respectively, said she has been calling 911 several times a week since January to tell police what she is seeing happening on her block and in her neighborhood.

This past week, in fact, just before an interview with the Renton Reporter, Booher called the police to report another drug deal happening.

“We watched a woman get out of her car and walk toward (a known drug house),” Booher said.

She said she was put on hold and then disconnected, but called back when they saw the girl return to her car in just a few short minutes. This time, police responded and were at the house in what she estimated was 10-15 minutes, though, she said, when there are potential safety issues the response “seemed like it took forever.”

Booher and Sheesley moved to back to North Renton last year after living in South Renton for about five years. Upon their return they were surprised to find a relatively high level of suspicious activity happening around the home.

“There’s nonstop crime,” she said, adding that when they moved in, neighbors warned them to be on their guard. “When I go outside my house, I expect to see crime.”

Sheesley said there has been an increase in the past year in drug deals, as well as burglary and other property crime issues.

“A lot of stuff happens in the alleys,” he said.

With the advent of the social media site Nextdoor.com, which groups users by their specific neighborhoods, Booher and Sheesley said they learned their concerns were not just theirs, but shared with many throughout the neighborhood.

That was when they decided to get more active.

Booher said there were two “pivotal moments” for her, both involving the known drug dealer in the neighborhood. First, after confronting him during a deal in front of their home, he argued with the couple about it. Though he seems to have moved his main dealing location away from their house, Booher said he still slows down in front of their home from time to time, something that makes them feel threatened.

“I’m afraid I’m a target,” Booher said, adding that they have recently purchased a gun for home protection to go along with the bat near the front door. “I don’t know if any of these people have a gun and if they are going to roll down their window and shoot at me.”

The second moment involved what Booher described as a domestic violence incident between the dealer and a child.

Along with encouraging neighbors to call 911 when they see crimes or suspicious activity, the couple began taking their concerns — and the concerns of their neighbors on social media — to the City Council three weeks ago. They said they believe the Police Department has the best intentions and understand the constraints they are under, adding that they “respect and appreciate their work.” But they said “gaps” in coverage are breaking down trust, which is why they requested a town hall meeting with the administration and police to discuss safety and security.

On Aug. 8, the mayor agreed. The meeting has not yet been scheduled, but the city is actively working with Booher, Sheesley and others to set up a date.

“We have to work together to get to a solution,” Booher said.

North Renton Vice President Diane Dobson is a leading voice on social media in monitoring the criminal activity in the neighborhood. She and others have shared with neighbors and with police specific addresses that are trouble spots or known drug houses.

Dobson, who two years ago first raised these issues before the council, especially dealing with increased criminal activity along the trail near her home, agreed with Booher that there is a disconnect between what they see in their neighborhood and what they hear from the police.

“The city administration does not have a realistic picture of what’s going on,” she said. “There’s a sense of unease.”

She also said that several of the proposed solutions made about the trail two years ago, including increased lighting and security cameras, are not yet in place.

Dobson, like Booher and Sheesley, said they would like to see an increased police presence in the area, particularly bike and foot patrols.

However, Dobson also said the police are put in an “uncomfortable position” because of staffing concerns.

Renton police, like many other agencies in the state, are currently experience a shortage of officers due to a combination of recruiting difficulties and a reduction in funding from the state for the police academy.

Police Chief Kevin Milosevich said this week that he did not have any specific statistics available on North Renton’s crime rate, but called the neighborhood “kind of unique” because of its mix of single-family residences and apartments and economic mix of residents. There are also several properties that are owned by landlords who do not live in the area.

“It’s an ongoing process,” he said.

Milosevich acknowledged that there are a few known drug dealers in the neighborhood, but said there is not a lot the officers can do unless they see a crime or set up an undercover operation to try and purchase drugs.

However, he said the police are also using civil enforcement measures, such as working with code enforcement to clean up several properties and said officers are trying to be more visible, including sometimes even knocking on doors of houses about which they get many calls.

“Sometimes it’s easier to attack it civilly through code enforcement,” he said. “Social contact is sometimes enough.”

Councilman Armondo Pavone, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee cited police staffing as the underlying issue, but agreed that additional emphasis may be necessary in the area. Though he also said there was probably not a single solution.

“There’s no magic bullet,” he said.

He also said he appreciated the folks in North Renton trying to bring attention to the matter.

“I can’t blame people for being frustrated with what’s going on in their neighborhood,” he said. “The more this is on the radar, the more the city has to deal with it.”

Booher and Sheesley said they were encouraged by the possibility of a town hall meeting and while their focus is North Renton, they’d like to see a city-wide discussion on safety and security in general.

In the end, they said all they really want is to be able to go out into their yard and not be afraid of what they may find.

“I don’t want to live in fear,” Booher said.