District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth will be joined by officials from the mayor’s office and the Seattle Police Department at a community meeting next week on Capitol Hill to discuss ongoing efforts to address public safety concerns.

The Tuesday, February 20th meeting follows a session held last month in the Central District as Hollingsworth has pledged to host monthly community gatherings around the district to address concerns ranging from deadly gun violence and drug overdoses to day to day property crime and street safety.

“Most of the email we get in from our email box is public safety,” Hollingsworth told the Central District crowd last month as the first-term councilmember and her office staff fielded questions and concerns from attendees, tried to offer some information and solutions, and pledged to continue listening to the issues.

The meetings come as the first-time councilmember says she is shaping her office around public safety and communication with planned open office hours, newsletters, and regular community meetings. “People are hungry” for transparency and communication in the district, Hollingsworth told CHS earlier this year as she began her term. Hollingsworth has also said she supports increased spending on public safety including support for hiring more cops.

As part of the efforts, Hollingsworth’s office has rolled out new social media accounts including a new @CMJoyHollings on Twitter and a twin @CMJoyHollings on Instagram.

A topic at last month’s meeting was SPD response times in the East Precinct.

“We only had ten patrol officers on the East Precinct at a given time,” Hollingsworth said. “The officers that are serving us are concerned, too.”

CHS reported last May that it now takes more than an hour for an East Precinct cop to show up for low priority calls across District 3. According to a report for the first quarter of 2023 through March, the East Precinct stood at 69 officers assigned to 911 duties managed by nine sergeants. Those totals were down from the summer of 2022 when SPD reported a dozen sergeants in East along with 71 officers and reflect what the report describes as a slow effort by Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office to implement a new marketing and hiring initiative.

CHS reported here on the efforts hoped to grow the police force by 1,500 officers by 2027. Harrell and Chief Adrian Diaz won wide support over concerns Seattle police officer staffing levels had reached what the administration said was “their lowest in more than 30 years” in the wake of the COVID crisis and 2020 Black Lives Matter and anti-police protests.

Hollingsworth has said she will support the 1,500 initiatives.

Next week’s meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 20th starting at 6:30 PM in the Seattle Prep Great Room at 2400 11th Ave E in North Capitol Hill.

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