The CARE car — Seattle leaders hope to grow the city’s still tiny Community Assisted Response and Engagement effort (Image: City of Seattle)

Seattle leaders including Mayor Bruce Harrell and the new members of the Seattle City Council have promised a new focus on public safety in the city. Thursday night, Harrell will begin an initiative to address crime and street disorder in Seattle with a series of forums including meetings in each of the Seattle Police Department’s five precincts where the mayor says he is inviting the public to hear “his vision for creating a safer Seattle.”

“Public safety is not just our first charter responsibility as a City, it is the top issue for our community today. I look forward to meeting with neighbors to hear their concerns and ideas, and to share the actions we are taking,” Harrell said in Tuesday’s announcement of the Thursday night forum.

It’s not clear why the Harrell administration provided only a few days notice on the forum. In-person attendance will require registration. The forum will also be streamed live by the city.

Harrell said this week’s session will be followed by additional forums held across the city, one in each of SPD’s five precincts including the East Precinct covering Capitol Hill and the Central District.

The forums come as the city has been touting the early success of its Community Assisted Response and Engagement department. In September, CHS reported on the launch of what Harrell called Seattle’s “third public safety department.” The small, $1.5 million pilot program is hoped to help be the start of bigger changes to how the city responds to mental health and drug crisis 911 calls.

The meetings also come amid efforts to increase hiring and secure a new contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild union. While Harrell has called for the city to boost pay and make SPD a more desirable place to work for officers, the new contract is also hoped to include critical changes to SPD’s accountability systems.

Harrell’s public forums follow a series of public safety meetings held around District 3 by Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth that have touched on everything from gun violence and gunshot detection technology to slow and unsafe 911 response times to day to day issues around theft and vandalism. Those meetings with Hollingsworth have come as the first-time councilmember says she is shaping her office around public safety and communication with 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 said she supports increased spending on public safety including support for hiring more cops.

The Harrell administration says it wants to use the forums to “diversify public response options, address gun violence, and improve response times.”

His office says Thursday’s event will include a conversation between Harrell and moderator Enrique Cerna, followed by a panel discussion with SPD Chief Adrian Diaz, Seattle Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins, CARE Chief Amy Smith, and Human Services Department Director Tanya Kim.

With the packed 90-minute agenda, “in-person attendees will be invited to share their public safety concerns and submit questions for discussion,” the announcement reads.

Thursday’s forum will be held Thursday, March 14th from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at the Seattle Central Library on 4th Ave. You can register and learn more here.

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