(Image: King County Prosecutor)
Reported shootings by agency jurisdiction in the first half of 2021 (Image: King County Prosecutor)
Seattle officials have responded to a weekend of deadly gun violence in the city with a focus on community-led programs and the police department’s budget, forgoing, so far, past efforts like announcements of emphasis patrols and greater on the street presence of officers. Meanwhile, the Seattle Police Department continues to work as part of federal-led task forces dedicated to reducing gun violence and getting illegal firearms off the street.
Mayor Jenny Durkan responded to the weekend shootings, promising “a multi-prong strategy in our region to take guns off the street” including an effort to “invest in community led solutions,” while, Monday, Police Chief Adrian Diaz, complained about staffing problems and a reduced budget which saw city leaders make a 20% cut to Seattle’s $400 million in annual police spending.
“We continue to see a rise in Seattle’s deadly gun violence, and the Seattle Police Department has worked to address this violence while the number of SPD officers available to respond to these crimes is steadily decreasing,” a statement by Diaz sent to media Sunday reads.
Diaz isn’t campaigning but next week’s primary election will be important for his job and the department. Serving on an interim basis since the resignation of Chief Carmen Best, Diaz will need to win the favor of the city’s next mayor if he wants to keep the job.
“The violence is all over Seattle, from Roosevelt to Belltown, from Pioneer Square to the Chinatown/International District, to Capitol Hill, to Lake City,” Diaz said Monday. “The bloodshed is proof. Criminals with guns are not someone else’s problem. This is a citywide crisis that impacts everyone of us.”
In total, five homicides were reported in separate shooting incidents across the city over the weekend. A Sunday morning shootout near Cal Anderson Park sent one person to the hospital.
The gun violence is part of ongoing incidents this summer and part of a regional and nationwide trend. The King County Prosecutor’s office says the first half of 2021 brought a 33% increase in incidents of gun violence and a more than 60% increase in reported victims. 42 people, meanwhile, have died across the county this year in shootings.
Mayor Durkan, meanwhile, is faced with managing the larger than Seattle, long-term problem in her final months in office.
Sultan Ujaama was shot and killed at 23rd and Jackson in June
“While gun violence existed before the pandemic, we are seeing a nationwide increase of violent crimes across nearly every city in America including Seattle and our region,” Durkan said in a statement Sunday.
“This level of gun violence in Seattle and our country cannot become our new normal, which is why we are moving forward with a multi-prong strategy in our region to take guns off the street, invest in community led solutions, create a comprehensive support system for young people at risk of gun violence, and appropriately hold individuals accountable for acts of violence,” Durkan said.
Durkan and police officials have so far held off on public announcements that have often followed outbreaks of gun violence with promises of stepped up police presence and emphasis patrols. The emphasis efforts were part of city hall’s public response in recent summers following shootings including Capitol Hill in 2014, and the Central District in 2019. It is difficult to measure the efficacy of the efforts beyond reports of seized firearms.
This summer, the administration is instead pointing to programs like $10.4 million in grants being awarded for BIPOC public safety organizations as a key component in addressing larger issues around the violence. Durkan’s office says the funded organizations “span a range of services and focus areas, with some agencies receiving city funds for the first time and other programs expanding existing services.”
Last week, the city also announced its contribution of $2 million for the King County Regional Peacekeepers Collective pilot program “to address the steep rise in gun violence using a public health approach.”
Meanwhile, there is the likelihood federal-led task forces will also play a major part in quelling the violence. Though it won’t be part of new federal Firearms Trafficking Strike Forces set up to address “violent crime in key firearms trafficking corridors: New York, LA, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento Area and Washington, D.C.,” Seattle Police has continued to work with federal programs like the ATF-led Regional Gun Crime Task Force and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force in past years to seize firearms and break up gang activity.
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