Public Safety Committee 9/23/2025

We'll come to order.

It's 9.35 a.m.

September 23rd, 2025. I'm Robert Kettle, chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Here.

Councilmember Juarez?

Here.

Council President Nelson is excused.

Council Member Saka?

Here.

Chair Kettle?

Here.

Chair, there are four members present.

Thank you, clerk.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Looking, looking.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Good morning, everyone.

This morning with chair comment, I want to start.

with an issue that's come before us as a city.

And I wanted to note that in the beginning of 2024, I spoke here on the dais to the men and women of the Seattle Police Department and asked for them to give us one year to take action in terms of supporting safety in our city.

Today, I want to follow that up with a note.

And I want to say, attention, Seattle law enforcement.

You took an oath to protect and serve, to keep your family and your city safe.

In your welcoming city, you have been asked to stand up to help us achieve our mission of creating a safe base in our city, to include tackling the worst of the worst public safety challenges we face, such as drug dealers, sex traffickers, and others preying on our neighbors in need.

My call to you is to continue with the mission, the vision, and the plan.

Stay with the Seattle Police Department and fulfill your mission.

I say again, fulfill your mission.

And thank you for your service.

Good day.

Separately, and as you know, two weeks ago we had a meeting, and then we had a council meeting.

Which was difficult at times, and I won't go into that.

But with the events of the next day, I had a comment, a statement that was made.

And I just want to repeat it here, because it's important.

As we have seen in Utah, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere across America, political violence is something we have experienced.

It is also something we must condemn.

And in each instance, we should not provide any caveats.

We must make a clear stand against political violence." That was my statement from two weeks ago. And this is something that we have to think about, because it says Utah, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, and elsewhere around the country. It's not limited to those states. It could very well be the state of Washington, too. That concludes the chair comment for this morning. We'll now open the hybrid public comment period. Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda or within the purview of committee. Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up for today?

Currently, we have one in-person speaker and seven remote speakers with five present.

Okay, let's start with our in-person speaker and then we'll move to remote.

Thank you.

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 60 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers mics will be muted if they do not and their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

The public comment period is now open and we begin with the first speaker on the list.

The first in-person speaker is Mary Gross.

Whichever one.

Hi.

I was looking over this community safety initiative update, and it occurs to me that we have a serious public safety and public health challenge in ICE and Homeland Security interactions in Seattle, that people are afraid to engage with all manner of public safety infrastructure.

And also that at the end of the day, it's the public that's going to foot the bill for any civil rights violation lawsuits that come.

And so I would like to know what laws and rules you can use to protect the public in Seattle from the kind of abuses that we're seeing committed by ICE agents across the country.

Thank you.

Is that the complete statement?

Excuse me?

Is that the end of your statement?

Yes, my statement is a question.

Okay.

Well, this is public comment.

I will say, as you heard from my chair comment this morning, we are addressing issues with federal law enforcement, and that was not the first time we've had chair comments or statements to the like, and we're working with the mayor and the city attorney's office as well on these issues.

At this point, and this is public comment, that's This is usually not a dialogue, but I did want to say because of the importance.

So you still have 40 seconds if you'd like to add to your statement.

Yeah, where do I find the discussions?

Are they online?

Well, there's different events, like with the mayors that made statements and the like, but there's nothing...

This is your chance to make your voice heard, basically.

Okay, well, I guess that's not the right place to ask a question then, is what you're saying.

Is that later in the meeting or is that not at all in this meeting?

It would be in a separate meeting.

Okay.

Which meeting is that?

Different events that we have.

Okay.

Nothing specific then.

This is solely public comment.

Two minutes.

All right.

Thank you.

Normally it's not a dialogue, but given the importance of the topic and given the fact that I spoke to, in a way I spoke to that issue this morning, that's why I wanted to follow up.

So thank you.

Okay.

Let's go remote.

The first remote speaker is Howard Gale.

Please press star six when you hear the prompt.

You have been unmuted.

Good morning, Howard Gale.

Last Wednesday, the 36th Legislative District Democrats unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the Seattle City Council to create legislation Requiring that Seattle Police Officers act directly and affirmatively to protect the Fourth Amendment rights of all Seattle residents and workers.

This resolution outlines specific actions to be taken by Seattle officers and states that, quote, we call on City Council members representing constituents within the 36th Legislative District, Dan Strauss, Bob Kettle, Deborah Suarez, Deborah Juarez, Sarah Nelson, and Alexis Mercedes Rank, to take a leadership role in implementing this resolution In particular, we call upon City Council Member Robert Kettle, a member of the 36th District Democrats and a chair of the Public Safety Committee, to take a leadership role in this endeavor and to report back to the 36th District Democrats." Last week, Mayor Harrell stated there are 50,000 foreign-born in Seattle, when in fact the current number is over three times that. 156,000 people whose lives and families can be torn apart at any moment by the Trump administration. This legislation is urgent, made even more so by last Thursday's chilling comments by Seattle Police Union President Mike Salon, who, responding to President Trump designating Antifa as a terrorist organization, stated, quote, these people are vile and they should be treated as such. Finally, we feel as if our political leaders are calling out these thugs for what they are as domestic terrorists and we're going to see some action, unquote. As we realize that police culture in Seattle has remained fundamentally unchanged, having witnessed 14 people in crisis, brutally killed by Seattle police in 14 years, one of those people just six months ago, we need decisive and clear legislation to direct our officers to protect all Seattle residents as opposed to attacking those who will be labeled Antifa that try to protect our currently most vulnerable Seattleites from being kidnapped.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gale.

Next up, we have Kimberly Noble.

Good morning.

This is my first time speaking.

My name is Kimberly Noble.

And I have a few comments.

I'm going to have to be very gentle.

I understand that Washington State, of which I've lived in all my life, is mostly Democrat.

But I'm going to try to keep from Republican, Democrat.

I do like to add, say that we are not a democracy.

We are a republic.

Does that equate to republic, Republicans, democracy, Democrat?

It might.

But you know what?

We're humans.

We're all sinners.

And we're here trying to do the best we can with our government, of which is Speaking for the people, by the people, and of the people.

And the fact is, the majority of the people in this next four years, believe me, I put up with the last four years, okay?

There were no riots from people like me.

None.

There were no riots this year from people like me.

When somebody was assassinated.

And I'm telling you right now, This is good against evil.

We're all sinners.

But we voted to shut our borders because we need to know who's here.

And frankly, our enemy is our own people.

Because even though I have human rights and I get that, maybe we could resolve and allow illegal immigrants to be here that were here before 2019. And those after that came here with an open border that was done maliciously, in my opinion, a lot of other people have suffered from this.

It's not those families that are here illegally and we have to care for them and they're suffering and this and that.

We're suffering those taxpayers.

Oh, thank you, sir.

And you know what?

God bless you guys.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Noble.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Leah Hall.

Hi.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

My name is Leah Hall, and I'm a resident of Rainier Beach.

I have two small kids at South Shore, K-8.

On Monday, last Monday, or sorry, a week ago, My kids were at the upper playground after school when a teen had fired multiple shots towards the playground from the play field and did not make headlines because no one was fortunately injured.

But my son was in the line of fire.

A parks and rec vehicle had bullet holes in it.

And I understand this is part of a long history that our community has And grappling with, while we have this larger conversation about gun violence in our country, this is an immediate need that we have.

I was speaking with my neighbor last week, a couple days after, who's a social worker, because I needed to know her advice on how to talk to my four-year-old about gun violence.

And then she went to, I had to speak with her after a community center class, and she had to run to her car after class because there were gunshots.

In the parking lot.

And what I'm trying to get at here is there's been an uptick of violence and we know some of the reasons why this is happening.

Hopefully you'll hear from other parents that have been dealing with this.

But we live in a place where we are the key stakeholders and we have the most to lose.

Our kids' lives are at stake.

We have under-resourced community orgs and families that have been doing the work to try to address this problem.

And so when you listen to the RFP presentation today, I'm very pleased to see that action is being taken, but we need more immediate action.

Thank you.

We have a lot more to say.

I'll follow up on written comments.

Thank you, Ms. Hall.

Next up, we have Jessica Hoffman.

Hello, my name is Jessica Hoffman, and I'm here as both a parent and a neighbor of Rainier Beach, and I am addressing the Community Safety Initiative to discuss what we already know is happening, which is repeated acts of gun violence, particularly in and around our school zones.

My son attends South Shore which has a unique play field that incorporates both South Shore, Dunlap Elementary, the Rainier Beach Community Center and the Southlake High School that is there as well.

These are not isolated incidents of Dunn violence.

They are ongoing and they have left deep impacts in our families and our communities and our sense of safety.

Last week, my son, who is a second grader at South Shore, and his dad, along with many of their friends, were on the playground after school when there was gunfire and they had to run to the community center to seek shelter.

For children to be so young and have to flee a playground, which is supposed to be a site of enjoyment, is just so heartbreaking.

And I am urging the Council to really consider this coordinated effort with already trusted organizations like Community Passageways, Rainier Beach Action Coalition, and Urban Family to coordinate with Seattle Public Schools, the Police Department, and Parks and Rec.

I attended a meeting last week of the African American Advisory Council, and the underlying current was that Everyone is strapped for resources.

This RFP could be the start of proactive safety and care rather than reactive responses.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Hoffman.

Next up, we have Genevieve Walker.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Genevieve Walker, and I'm a resident and parent in South Seattle.

I have a comment about the community safety initiative update, just like the last two folks speaking.

My oldest child just began kindergarten at South Shore.

We were at the Rainier Beach Playfields last Monday when the shots rang out just 100 steps away from where my two children were playing.

After this horrifying event, I learned that this was The third instance of shots fired at these play fields during daylight and while families were present.

Maybe if this were a different park, I'd try to avoid it, got other ones or something, but this is literally where my daughter attends kindergarten and hundreds of other students.

There's three other schools at this play field in this area, along with a community center, which we use and where youth gather.

This should be the safest playground that we attend, and so I want to request the council's help with two things immediately.

As mentioned, I think there's a lot of things going on already, but we need change very quickly.

The first is the prioritization of safety patrols in the area, particularly at school drop-off and pick-up times for the three schools in that complex.

Ideally, it looks like a visible security presence.

And then the second is a coordinated response between SPS, SPD, and existing community organizations to address the root causes of this violence.

It sounds like a lot of the community organizations, and it sounds like people know what's happening, that there's enrollment changes for that Alan T. Sugiyama High School there that is placing children in harm's way and making them feel that they need to defend themselves.

And those are the impacts we're feeling, and that has to change.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Walker.

Next up we have David Haynes.

Never trust people who think we have to reimagine public safety where evil criminals are exempted from jail and rewarded with money.

Another shooting in Del Ridge and Chinatown proving mayor is a failure in public safety and council's list of public safety laws and police chiefs tactics are a total failure.

It's revolting.

Yet the racist Human Services Department, who racially discriminates against innocent White House citizens, is completely unqualified to combat crime.

He's taking another ignorant lead on public safety by paying black criminals in food, money, and rent payments as a reward for not retaliating.

How much tax money did Tonya Kim and others use to go on a working vacation flying across the country to copycat failed cities, Baltimore and Oakland, as if they have the answer to public safety?

Why is Seattle doubling down on spreading tax dollars to criminals and unqualified nonprofits with rewards for being involved with gun violence?

Those fools in Baltimore are giving stipends to evil criminals.

They are literally paying people to relocate to a different city.

Yet the racist, untrustworthy human services department in Seattle that's conducting a race war against innocent white homeless citizens are literally giving money to black criminals.

The same thing that defund police did at the county level that are presently being investigated for squandering $1.8 billion on racist nonprofits hiding Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protesters acting expert at community safety lining their pockets.

We already saw how a gang leader got a job at the Boys and Girls Club claiming expert at community safety and gun violence reduction at the Safeway parking lot in Rainier involved in drug pushing and the drive-by shooting.

While data continues to be skewed to mislead on public safety, we need the Department of Justice to investigate Seattle's budgetary spending priorities that exacerbate public safety crisis, the homeless crisis, and the economic deficit crisis.

Tanya Finn is simply using tax dollars to pay community organizers to help the mayor get elected.

It's obvious it's election season.

This city is so corrupt it should be boycotted till we get rid of all the bad spending policies.

Thank you, Mr. Haynes.

And our last remote speaker is Rick Grossman.

Hi, I'm Rick Grossman.

I live at Pride Place at Broadway and Pike.

We have chosen to start calling the neighborhood instead of Pike Pine.

We're calling it Kill Hill.

We have a vulnerable community here of seniors, many of whom have been disadvantaged over their lives.

And we get no support.

We do not get calls of return.

The police do not come when we call them.

We've been told that they discount calls from our building.

We've got major problems going on in Pike and the police to their benefit don't have enough staff, but they also are not aware of what the causes of the problems are.

We live here, we see the causes, we know what can stop the problems rather than be reactive, but the community is not involved at all.

We don't get calls returned or emails returned from any city officials, including our esteemed councilwoman.

We do not get calls or emails replied to by the police.

The community, quote, has been involved by bringing the business community in to develop the local plan, but no residents are involved.

The business community, for the most part, It shuts down at five or six o'clock.

They don't see what goes on here at night.

Residents are not involved in this at all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rick.

Thank you, Mr. Grossman.

Okay.

Our public comment period has expired.

We will now proceed to our items of business and members of the public are encouraged to either submit written public comment on signup cards available on the podium or email the council at at seattle.gov.

I do want to thank our public commenters today, our in-person Ms. Gross.

And as it turns out, you've met with the Community Police Commission, which is usually SPD, but, you know, there's opportunities to have discussions along with Mr. Gale related to federal law enforcement and the issues that we have.

Bottom line is federal law enforcement does enforce federal law, but we need to be doing that oversight and understanding what's happening so when things are done wrong, We can engage on those issues and do so with the facts, and that's what we're going to do.

We're also taking a clear stand on this issue where we are not Allowing the false narratives to be out there.

We've done a lot of work during the term of this council to improve our public safety.

So these narratives that are used to justify different things like National Guard and ICE and so forth, federal law enforcement generally, is based on a false premise.

And that's some of the things that we need to continue to do.

I also appreciate Ms. Noble calling.

with her perspective.

But I really appreciate, too, the public commenters who spoke on gun violence, because that goes to today's agenda.

And the stories of the playgrounds in Rainier Beach is striking.

So thank you.

And also for Mr. Grossman's account, as well in terms of the public safety challenges that we have.

I just wanted to note one last thing.

Our public safety committee is also working the seam between public safety and public health, the seam between public safety and human services.

This is something that we need to do because we need to have success.

We cannot have failure.

And oftentimes, as I've seen from my experience, seams between two areas are a weak point, and that's where we have failure.

So this public safety committee and this council will be engaged As we are today with the Human Services Department, even though it's the Public Safety Committee, because we have to ensure that that scene between public safety and public health, public safety and human services is covered.

So with that said, additional comment after public comment, we'll now move to our first three items of business.

Will the clerk please read items one, two, three into the record?

Appointments 3304 and 3322 of Jennifer Carl, Jeremy Holmes, and Rick Williams as members to the Community Police Commission.

Okay, good morning.

Thank you for joining us, Director Aime, along with Ms. Carl, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Williams.

Please join us at the table.

Again, welcome, Director Ame, Ms. Carl, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Williams.

Please introduce yourself for the record, and we'll start the presentation.

Over to you, Director.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmembers, I am E.C.

Ame, Executive Director of the Community Police Commission.

I'm Rick Williams.

I'm Jeremy Holmes.

Jennifer Karl.

Okay.

Well, would you like to introduce and Basically, the nominations for the Community Police Commission, any background statements, anything that you'd like to do?

Thank you.

Yeah, we'll take it away.

Thank you so much.

It's always a pleasure to see you all in any form that we can, but the greatest pleasure is when we can come in front of you and present to you new commissioners.

These are volunteers that have committed their time to public service and to helping to uplift the voices of their communities, to to city government, to SPD, to the city council, to the mayor's office, to all city departments.

And so this is something that folks don't have to do.

And so we are always so pleased when folks step up in this way and serve alongside of us.

And as you all know, this is the most important time.

I'll just say very quickly that the CPC was created because of the consent decree.

And the consent decree was developed because of the killing of John T. Williams.

And so, in a way, you can say that the CPC was created because of John T. Williams, and we'll get to that a little bit, but it brings me really great pleasure to be able to welcome all of our new commissioners, and particularly Rick Williams, just after the 15th anniversary of John T. Williams' death.

Our appointees to the Commission are appointed by the Mayor's Office, the City Council, and by the CPC itself.

And we're really proud to say that all three of these appointees were recommended to those appointing authorities by the CPC.

We are now in a post-consent decree era, very recently, and CPC is not done because of the consent decree being terminated.

Our permanence was established by the 2017 Landmark Police Accountability Ordinance, and so now we have to think about what it looks like, what it looks like for Seattle to now take accountability back into its own hands.

And to me, it looks like the folks at this table seated with me, it looks like the folks behind me, our staff, our commissioners, and those who are continued to be committed to making sure that community voice is at the table in city government as it should be.

And so with that said, I want to just briefly introduce each of these three folks.

I'll say just a few words about them, but I want to be able to save some space for you all to talk about what you're passionate about and what brought you to the Commission today.

I'll start with Jen Carl.

Jen Carl is an appointee of the Mayor's Office.

Jen is committed to data-driven, community-centered public safety.

And there's so much great things that I can say about Jen.

They were actually, even after I mentioned that Jen would be coming on as a commissioner, I heard from one of our accountability partners at OIG excitement about you joining us.

And they said, wow, you really lucked out.

You got a good one.

So I'm really excited for that.

We have had the chance to experience Jen when we are out in community, and we're so happy that they're joining us today.

Jeremy Holmes is a mayoral appointee and is hoping to bridge the gap between law enforcement and community members that share his feelings of apprehension about law enforcement based on his own experiences with the police.

And I'm really excited for him to talk more about that, but one of the really cool things about Jeremy is that he works as an optician at a small business in Seattle's Capitol Hill and Leshy neighborhoods, and so carrying on the legacy of Reverend Harriet Walden, who was also an optician prior to her retirement.

And last week, I run into Chief Public Safety Officer Natalie Walton Anderson, and she says, I am so excited.

I found out that Jeremy Holmes is joining the commission.

I said, well, you know what, if we have an endorsement From the chief public safety officer in the mayor's office, then I know that we got another good one there, and so I'm really excited to be able to welcome Jeremy Holmes.

And then, of course, Rick Williams is a seventh-generation woodcarver, longtime activist, and internationally recognized peacekeeper.

And the brother of John T. Williams.

So with that said, I'm going to go ahead and let them introduce themselves, say a little bit about themselves, and then would love to engage with you all, council members, about any questions that you have for them.

And so we'll start with Jen Carl, please.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Good morning, council members.

As EC mentioned, my name is Jen Carl.

I use she, her pronouns.

I am here representing primarily the 2SLGBTQIA plus community.

I was kind of called to public safety and serving in this capacity when I was living about 20 minutes or so from Freddie Gray's killing in Baltimore in 2015. Unfortunately, a witness to how that community mourned and then how they were judged for mourning.

And that was my call to kind of change.

I was actually pre-med, going into neurosurgery and switched it up, and now we're here.

I think, really, as a cisgender white human, ultimately it is my duty to use my privilege to fight privilege.

And alongside that, as a woman and as a member of the queer community, as an out lesbian myself, it is also extremely important to me that everyone, regardless of orientation, regardless of gender, regardless of skin color, understands that public safety is for them.

And everyone is able to feel both a sense of physical and psychological safety, regardless of their background.

So that is why I'm here and honored to serve alongside you all.

Thank you.

Mr. Holmes.

Good morning.

My name is Jeremy Holmes.

I'm new to a lot of this.

What I am not new to is the experience of being a black man in America and specifically the Pacific Northwest.

I was raised from a...

My mother grew up in the South, in deep, deep Mississippi, and was always telling me to see the police as more of an adversary than an ally.

And I grew up with that belief that that was kind of how this worked.

for my community.

They're not to help me with anything.

You see a police officer, you go the opposite direction.

If they ask you for anything, you show it to them and you get out of that situation as fast as you can.

Up until recently, I had just assumed that's how this was supposed to work.

And over time, I feel like I've realized that most of my community feels that way.

So as EC was saying, I hope that I can change that.

I hope I can help to, again, bridge that gap, bring people together because There's a lot of pain and suffering that happens in underserved communities and we don't know how to solve it.

We don't know who to call because we're up against crime and police brutality and we're stuck in the middle of it.

And so my hope here today and going forward is to, again, help to bring this around and Again, just be a voice for my community.

Thank you, Mr. Holmes.

Hi, I'm Rick Williams.

I got into this.

What I want to do is to help make a difference with what happened since my brother.

You know, I've been through a lot of How people talk, you know, and that's either the police or citizens.

You know, what I want to do is to join this to help make a difference.

I really don't want to see another family go through what I've been through.

And there's no medication.

There's nothing they can give you to help you because as soon as they give you something and you come down from your medication, it's there again.

And that's what I don't want to see the people go through.

I think I got through it because of my teachings of my grandfather that all these 15 years of watching and listening and how meetings like this, nothing gets done because the police always get away with or the union puts in their baloney and how do you trust them again?

I get that question a lot.

Do you trust the Seattle police?

Not yet.

You know, they kind of yell at me.

I just listen.

I'm not here to fight or argue.

I want to make a difference for the people because I don't want to see any family, no matter what nationality you are, we don't have to suffer like this.

to say what happened in my world.

I lost my sisters, my brother, my mother from this because they gave up.

And that's not me.

I'm not going to stop.

With this lady's help, I'll be able to inject thoughts on what we could do because whatever government or police thoughts they are, they're not thinking human.

They're only thinking this is what we were taught or what we were trained.

They're not going to change my way of life because of full blood.

I'm honored to do what I've done for the last 15 years for my brother and to do what I can to help this lady, what we're about to do.

There's no need to have suffering like this because of the tone of our skin.

How dare you judge me?

Do you even know me?

To teach that to the DOJ that If you're computer smart, I showed them how to pull up my brother, what we accomplished as children as carvers.

But yet, you have all the power.

You made my brother look like nothing on the news because that's your nature.

And you don't see that anymore because I've confronted them and I let them know what I think.

They didn't like it.

Well, I don't like it either.

You keep blaming me.

And I'll tell you something, my friend, I didn't pull a trigger on my brother.

You did.

I really don't want to see another family go through this, so if there's something we can do, Thank you, Mr. Williams.

I'm very, very excited about.

And the commission was meant to represent the diverse perspectives of Seattle.

The commission was meant to uphold and uplift and amplify voices that would not have been brought to the table, would not be considered but for the difference of the CPC.

And so we take this really seriously.

And I just will close with saying that we are not always going to agree.

We are not always gonna agree.

I know as council members, you don't always agree.

As city departments, we don't always agree.

As accountability partners, we don't always agree.

We don't always agree between the CPC and the SPD, but we have a common mission.

We do what we do for the exact same reason.

We want the people of Seattle to be safe.

We want Seattle to be healthy.

We want Seattle to have trust in its accountability system, in its police department, and in its government, and in our commitment to serving them.

And so with that, I will turn it over to council members to please engage with our appointees.

See, what she said here is accurate because when they targeted my brother, he was near deaf and blind.

And if the cops are smart as they say they are, they could see he has a disability, but instead they're barking orders and yelling.

I've been telling them all along, come and yell at me like that.

Yes.

I always go to my Vice Chair first, so Vice Chair Saka.

Sure.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Ms. Carl, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Williams for your devotion and dedication to serve in this manner.

Starting first with Ms. Carl, I appreciate your words, had a chance to review your background, applicant materials, all of your applicant materials, but I appreciate you giving some color commentary around your experiences in Baltimore.

And I'll say here in the city of Seattle, we are lucky to have you and the experience and the perspective that you represent and really want to just commend you and extend my gratitude to you, all of you for stepping up in this manner.

Mr. Holmes, really appreciate you and the perspective that you represent, you know, carrying the The weight of being black in America is something that I think you and I share similarly and our experiences with law enforcement.

But I am very glad that you are going to be on this commission.

Helping to improve the state of accountability and oversight and effective constitutional policing in our city.

And the background is a...

Optitition, right?

Optitition.

Optition.

Optition.

Glasses.

Cool glasses, by the way.

And especially love your volunteer work with Uplift Northwest.

They do terrific work.

Shout out to Uplift Northwest.

In any event, you bring a valuable perspective and welcome you on this commission.

And last, but absolutely, certainly not least, Mr. Williams, really appreciate you.

This is my hometown.

I grew up here.

This is your hometown.

You grew up here.

And unfortunately, because of the tragic death of your brother, You and your family represent the living legacy of your brother.

And my hope for you, sir, is that through all those years, it's been over 15 years now, right?

Through all those years, 15 plus years and more, your family's sacrifice and your tears and your mourning and your loss, I want you to know that It is not in vain.

Our city is better because of you and your specific leadership and your advocacy and your work.

Something my grandfather taught to teach what I know.

And a lot of people don't like it because they say they're not native.

And I comment you're a native of planet Earth, aren't you?

I can only guide you.

Love it, love it.

So I just want you to know that we are better because of you and your leadership.

And unfortunately, something like this had to happen.

But you represent an enduring legacy.

You and your family represent an enduring legacy.

And what happened to Mr. John T. Williams should never happen.

And I think our city has taken good steps to ensure we avoid the mistakes of the past.

And part of this work is to ensure that we continue to improve and we continue to evolve and we continue to get better.

So...

And that thought of what you're saying here, when this happened to John, So many people were angry and irate.

I said, no, I want to share a thought that Grandpa said about being a warrior without violence.

All these years, I still stand, I still carve.

For some reason, they think I hate them.

Can't even spell it in my language.

I get it.

Well, thank you all again for such a beautiful...

Did you carve that yourself?

It's actually a piece of story of my parents when they first got together.

I told her I have this tattooed on my arm in color because of the legacy of my family.

We've been here since like 1925. Right now, I'm working on a 10th generation of family, learning our language, carving, Most of all, they're alerting to stay calm.

Yes.

This was carved by a small pocket knife that is the same size as the one that John T. Williams was carrying when he passed.

He's also carved a huge honor totem that is on Fifth and Broad by the Seattle Center, so you should go and check it out if you have a chance.

It was also carved with a pocket knife.

Wow.

I did all this with just a pocket knife.

Very impressive, intricate detail.

John T. Williams and Boyle Total Project, I promise you, you'll see thousands, thousands of pictures of me carving with just a pocket knife at all.

Love it.

Well, thank you all again.

Really appreciate you and your willingness to serve in such a manner.

And finally, I'll just note that I want to, so we have a mixture of Well, everyone here is exceptionally well qualified.

I'll make that abundantly clear.

But we have a mixture of mayoral and council appointees and just want to thank Chair Kettle and Council Member Juarez for having the foresight and intuition and the courage in a time where And I think that's where you all were at the hearing, where the consent decree was ultimately lifted, to recruit Mr. Williams and make the explicit ask to help, again, continue his channeling So thank you, Chair Kettle and Council Member Juarez, and thank you, Mr. Williams, for being so graciously and accepting.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

And I should note, Council Member Juarez is, I mean, Rivera has joined us, and I see Council Member Juarez.

I was going to go to her next.

Not serving on our committee, Council Member Rivera, but because of public safety is so important in D4 and across the board, so it's always welcome.

And so any questions, Council Member Juarez or Council Member Hollingsworth?

I do.

Okay, Council Member Juarez.

Thank you.

I want to thank you, Council Member Califere, leadership.

So we had a chance to look at the appointment packets and thank you.

I apologize for not being able to be there.

I'm way up north, but I'll be there this afternoon.

I just had a quick question for the director.

Please correct me if I'm not saying it correct.

Is it a May?

Yes.

Thank you for asking.

Okay.

So on the appointment packets, I know we have a mayoral and two mayorals and a council appointment.

I noticed that we don't have the districts listed.

Was there a reason what districts Jennifer's from?

I mean, Miss Carl and Mr. Holmes and Mr. Williams, Miss Rick, my buddy Rick.

That's a great question.

So by ordinance, the commissioners are not required to live in the city of Seattle.

They are required to live or work in Seattle or have significant connection to the communities in Seattle.

And so for that reason, not all commissioners live within a council district in Seattle, but all to serve the Seattle community, work in Seattle, or have significant ties to Seattle.

And so I appreciate that question.

And Council Member Sokka, I just wanted to take a moment to briefly correct the recruitment of Rick Williams.

That actually happened days prior to the hearing and days prior to the 15th anniversary of John T. Williams passing.

The CPC reached out to Rick Williams to offer him consultances and in that conversation asked him if he'd be willing to serve as a commissioner.

And so we appreciate that.

We do work with appointed authorities, but the CPC regularly recommends appointees to them.

Director, I do understand because I was around when this was created about whether or not people would become from districts that they just had to have a connection to the City of Seattle.

I was just wondering if Jennifer Carl and Jeremy Holmes have a particular district or Mr. Williams, that's all.

I kind of operate throughout the city of Seattle, but I guess I'm proud to really claim district three over there with council member Hollingsworth, my kind of home away from home.

Thank you.

Mr. Holmes.

uh i am sorry i reside in the holler lake neighborhood so uh you're d5 yeah that's what i'm talking about yeah okay special treatment now and of course my friend rick rick you're everywhere i've been in that area for about 10 years now just a stone's throw from aurora avenue so you know i've Know a lot about the different things that go on in the in the city of Seattle.

And I work in less shy slash Capitol Hill, so I'm kind of all over the city all the time.

Excellent.

Rick?

So just, I know that Rick has, did Rick hear me?

Seattle.

Okay.

I've been here my entire life.

I guess perhaps eight and nine citywide, I guess.

Again, I'm not asking just because I'm wonky.

It's just we're always trying to get an idea geographically that we have representation because, as you know, and I think that Mr. Holmes stated, I'm very familiar with Haller Lake having lived there for 11 years because we have Police across the city.

We have a lot of crime across the city, and it was unfortunate hearing what we heard at public comment about the shootings in District 3 and Rainier.

And, of course, we have murders and homicides and police conduct and activity and all kinds of stuff going on on Aurora and Lake City.

Recent homicide in an encampment and then another homicide within, I think, two within eight days.

But my point is, But the Committee Police Commission, I understand I've been around for a while, so we were there when they were formed.

I was actually with Mayor Harrell and Rick at John's funeral.

So I'm pretty familiar with all of this.

But what I want to say is for today, kind of echoing and sharing with what Councilmember Saka said, we went through the appointment packets and this looks like a great team that you're putting together and the representation needed.

Reverend Harrell, or Reverend Harrell, I was just going to say, Harriet, Reverend Harriet and her leadership and the things that we've seen come and go.

And you're right, just because the consent decree, the judge granted the motion to To terminate the consent decree doesn't mean that the work is over.

I think Council Member Kettle as Chair of the Public Safety is committed to that as we all are and to continue to go forward about all these issues because they're not going to go away.

And I don't know if you were listening to public comment, but we do live in a very difficult and violent dark time.

I don't think we should always just focus on that.

I think today is the day to celebrate that you have three very qualified, dedicated people who are volunteering to a Much needed critical commission that has to address these issues.

And I think I said this before, Director May, I'll say it again.

The police commission was a long time coming even before John passed.

And we've seen it everywhere forever.

And so this is just one step in the direction of not only constitutional policing, but having a different type of police officer that is indeed there to protect and serve.

I'm a 21st century police officer.

That is what we need in this city, not the officers of the old days and certainly some of the culture.

And I know a director that you were there when Judge Robart talked to Chief Barnes and asked, I thought, a very profound question, which is unusual for a federal judge to sit there and ask these kind of questions, which was I loved it.

Like, what is it going to do to change the culture of the Seattle Police Department and how do we do that?

And I thought Chief Barnes' answer about changing the culture and the language and lifting up and awarding behavior that is positive and that actually enriches the community and makes the City of Seattle safer.

So with that, I will be supporting all these appointment packets.

And thank you, Director.

Thank you, Jennifer, Jeremy, and my friend Rick.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Any additional questions?

No, good.

I just wanted to note, in summary, first, as Vice Chair, Oh, Vice Chair's got a hand up.

He snuck it in.

Vice Chair?

Snuck it in.

Just to quickly say, I appreciate the clarification, Director.

My comments were based off of what I heard and also what's clearly indicated on the applicant packet, which is that this is a City Council appointment.

That said, Credit and praise is an infinite, uncapped resource, unlike dollars.

And so I appreciate your prior phone calls and encouragement to Mr. Williams and recruitment of him to join.

No different than I also appreciate my colleagues' efforts who personally recruited.

It's a team effort, team effort.

Appreciate your involvement in getting us this exceptionally well-qualified slate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

I just wanted to conclude by saying for Ms. Carl, thank you for being here and thank you for Thank you for noting Freddie Gray in 2015. I've had multiple tours in DC, spent time in Baltimore, Baltimore, and recognize the challenges faced in that city.

So thank you, particularly because 2015 with Freddie Gray, George Floyd 2020, and of course John T. Williams in 2010, and the lessons have gotten us to where we are in 25, which is a very different place, and particularly for us here in Seattle.

So thank you for highlighting that.

Also not mentioned, and I want to say thank you for coming in some way through from Buffalo as well.

Born and raised in Western New York, I have to give a shout out to Buffalo.

Ms. Carl, so thank you for bringing that experience.

And you can tell everybody here that winners are really mild here.

I was about to say you should thank me for not bringing the snow.

Exactly, exactly.

But most importantly, I just wanted to note your point about use privilege to fight privilege.

And I think that is a standard.

I think that's what we look to do.

That's what I look to do.

I recognize in my background To include talking about federal law enforcement, National Guard, given my background, to use The privilege of this seat to speak to these issues and to highlight the inconsistencies and the like and to move our city forward on that front.

So thank you.

Mr. Holmes, thank you.

I did not know that Chief Public Safety, Ms. Natalie Walton Anderson, had given her blessing.

I work with her closely and the fact that she's done so, Director Ameh, thank you for highlighting that.

But of course, your work at Uplift Northwest already had me sealed on your nomination.

And so thank you for your work there.

Because I've worked with Ms. Hall.

I've been to various locations in Belltown, Uptown, different locations within District 7. And the work that Uplift Northwest does.

So thank you for your work there.

And I can see that this is a continuation of your public safety.

So thank you.

And then finally, Mr. Williams, I really valued the opportunity to sit with you throughout that consent decree meeting with Judge Robarts, with Council Member Juarez on the other side of you.

And in the discussion that we had during the course of that hearing, that judicial meeting, And you talked about, you know, listening to your heart.

And so thank you for listening to your heart and to continue your service to our city and to build on, as mentioned, the legacy, you know, the moving forward that we've had.

One of the things I've said in a statement I've said many times, you know, the ending of this consent decree was a milestone.

And it reflects a lot of the work that happened in the previous dozen plus years.

But it's also a stepping stone because we're going to continue it moving forward with the help of Seattle Police Department and others.

But your coming to this commission represents so well the idea that this is a stepping stone moving forward and that we'll continue that work.

So thank you because A, the work you're going to do in yourself and also what it symbolizes because of your connection and the loss of your brother, John T. Williams.

So thank you.

Okay, I'd like to add, I move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 3303, 3304, and 3322. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

Are there any final comments?

Seeing none, hearing none.

Will the clerk please call the roll and the recommendation to confirm the appointments?

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Saka?

Aye.

Chair Kettle?

Aye.

There are four in favor and none opposed.

The motion carries and the recommendation that the appointment be confirmed will be sent to the City Council.

Thank you so much for coming, Ms. Carl, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Williams.

Thank you.

And thank you, Director Ame as well.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Have a good day.

We will now move on to our fourth, fifth, and sixth items of business.

Will the clerk please read items four through six into the record?

Council Bill 121079 an ordinance relating to the city's civil infraction code conforming to the Seattle Municipal Code with changes in state law and making technical corrections.

Council Bill 121080 an ordinance relating to the city's criminal code conforming to the Seattle Municipal Code with changes in state law and making technical corrections.

And Council Bill 121081, an ordinance relating to the city's traffic code conforming to the Seattle Municipal Code with changes in the state law and making technical corrections.

Thank you.

Welcome Mr. Kenney from the City Attorney's Office and Mr. Johnson from Council Central Staff.

Mr. Johnson, can you give a background from the central staff perspective related to these three pieces of legislation?

Yes, I'm happy to.

Good morning, Chair Kettle, members of the committee, Councilmember Rivera, Tommaso Johnson from your Council Central staff.

I understand that we'll be taking these procedurally and in order, bill by bill, and voting on them bill by bill.

So I'm just going to make a couple general comments that apply to all three pieces of legislation and then describe a summary of the details of each bill.

So these ordinances are part of a routine annual or semi-annual process by which the City Attorney's Office sends down changes to Seattle Municipal Code that are a combination of technical corrections, technical fixes, as well as implementation of changes to Washington State law.

Washington state law, broadly speaking, already applies to residents of the city of Seattle, particularly in the context of criminal code.

What these changes do then are not subject the citizens of Seattle to new laws per se, but they allow our Justice system, our court and city attorney's office, our city prosecutor, to fully implement the laws, particularly in the criminal context as they apply to misdemeanors, being able to enforce those, implement those laws, and allow the Seattle Municipal Court to adjudicate those matters and those fines as well.

As well.

So that's just by way of background.

The Seattle Police Department already has the authority to investigate and enforce state law changes.

This just gives our other justice system partners in the city the ability to fully implement those.

So I will start out with Council Bill 121079, which is our civil infraction ordinance.

This has two components.

Firstly, it makes changes to the City Harbor Code.

This is a technical correction rather than a state law change.

This designates a minimum penalty for Harbor Code violations.

by designating them as Class II civil infractions with a $125 base penalty.

The second change regards the City Littering Code, and this is in response to changes to the Revised Code of Washington made by the legislature earlier this year.

This would increase the default penalty amount for littering from $50 to $125 by designating those violations as well as Class II civil infractions.

Thank you.

I think we'll speak to all three, and then we'll vote individually.

If we can go through the other bills.

So thank you.

And by the way, colleagues, what we're highlighting here is a theme for us in this committee over the course of this year, and that is to really promote a functional criminal justice system.

And that, in this case, is bringing the City Attorney's Office and the Seattle Municipal Court into play, as Mr. Johnson noted, particularly with misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and the like.

Because as you know from our briefing, it's not by accident that we had King County Day here earlier in the summer.

The King County prosecuting attorney is going to be working felonies.

And so in terms of the misdemeanors and the gross misdemeanors, it's really about having alignment between the RCW and the SMC, the Seattle Municipal Code SMC in this case.

So thank you.

So next one, please.

So moving on, the next bill is the 2025 Criminal Law Ordinance.

That's Council Bill 121080. As I mentioned previously, Seattle Police Department already has the authority to investigate and make arrests on state law crimes.

This bill would allow the City Attorney's Office and the Municipal Court to prosecute and implement those crimes that are being added as misdemeanors.

So there's a number of substantive changes here, additions or changes to municipal code, criminal code, as well as some technical corrections.

The first is the crime of hazing, a crime that currently does not exist under Seattle Municipal Code, but has existed for a number of years under the revised code of Washington.

The crime of hazing was revised during the 2022 session by the state legislature.

And in brief, hazing would be a misdemeanor Gross misdemeanor that includes elements related to initiation acts into a student group that cause or are likely to cause bodily danger, physical harm, or serious psychological or emotional harm, and this applies to a postsecondary educational context.

Next, there are various firearms and weapon restrictions that are being implemented, brought into Seattle Municipal Code.

Most notable of these changes were a series of bills in 2023 and 2024 that were passed by the state legislature to restrict and further regulate a category of weapons known as assault weapons.

These assault weapons are defined with Reference to both specific types of firearms as well as characteristics of firearms.

And this would prohibit the import distribution or sale of these weapons.

It would also create a civil infraction in the amount of $1,000 for failing to report the theft of a firearm within 24 hours to SPD.

The bill would also add libraries, zoos, and aquariums.

And transit stations to the existing list of places where weapons are prohibited.

Next, vehicle prowling 2 would be added.

This bill would adopt the RCW crime of vehicle prowling in the second degree, which is defined as unlawful entry into a vehicle other than a motorhome or boat with the intent to commit a crime.

And this would be a gross misdemeanor.

Additionally, there are some new criminal categories related to catalytic converters.

The legislature passed these changes in 2024, state legislature did, to respond to increasing theft of catalytic converters.

So this would require that catalytic converters that are removed from a vehicle be marked with a partial VIN number and create new gross misdemeanor for the removal of such marking or the sale of unmarked catalytic converters.

This bill would also adopt 2025 Revised Code of Washington changes that expand the existing misdemeanor related to disorderly conduct on buses.

It would expand that to ferries as well.

Next, this bill would add 2025 RCW change to municipal code related to impersonation.

The legislature this year expanded that category of crime to include distribution of a forged visual or audio likeness of another person with illegal intent.

The criminal impersonation code of crime already exists in Seattle Municipal Code, and this would adopt that additional change.

Criminal impersonation as it exists in Seattle Municipal Code can include the crime of impersonating a law enforcement officer, among other things.

And that is it as far as the substantive changes for the Criminal Code ordinance.

There are a number of technical changes that largely relate to removing unused sections of code or correcting references within Municipal Code.

And then Council Bill 121081. Council Bill 121081 is our traffic code update ordinance.

This would do three things.

It would expand the license plate Requirements currently existing in Seattle Municipal Code.

This is another recent change to state law, which was passed last year in 2024. This would essentially prohibit the use of license plate covers.

Folks may be familiar with the tinted sort of convex license plate covers that you see, which are intended to Obscure the plate, either from law enforcement or to defeat automated traffic camera enforcement or tolling enforcement, and this would change the law to make those illegal.

The other thing it would do is implement a 2021 state legislative change that would increase the response time that The time that folks have to respond to a traffic ticket, essentially from 15 to 30 days.

And finally, it would establish new offenses related to negligent driving with a vulnerable user victim in the first and second degrees.

Vulnerable user of a public way is defined to mean a pedestrian, a person riding an animal, or a person operating a wheeled vehicle other than an automobile in some, and this would Have new penalties associated with negligent driving that also includes the death or serious bodily injury of such a vulnerable victim.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

I appreciate the rundown.

Obviously, I've reviewed these and thank you for that because it really goes to what this is really about.

Mr. Kenney, from the city attorney's perspective, anything to add?

Good morning, Chair Kettle and members of the committee.

I'm James Kenney, a Deputy Chief in the Criminal Division at the City Attorney's Office.

These are updates to follow the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions.

One of the largest items out of those three sessions from 2023, the Council has already addressed with possession of controlled substances back in 2023, the ordinance adopted by the City.

And so this, the The city has an obligation under state law to be responsible for all gross misdemeanors and misdemeanors occurring in the city.

So this catches the city up on its obligation to keep up with the state RCW crimes.

And it gets up through the 2025 legislative session.

Thank you.

Any questions, Vice Chair?

Any others from the committee or Council Member Rivera?

Vice Chair?

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Kenney for your presentations and sharing your thoughts and perspectives with us today.

Mr. Johnson, just curious, on these three bills, so all we're doing at a high level is implementing recent changes to state law, aligning city code with recent updates to state statute.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

That's correct, Councilmember.

The only thing that I would add is there are some technical fixes as well that are not, strictly speaking, state law changes, but the primary thrust is updating Seattle Municipal Code to align with RCW.

Sure.

Got it.

And with respect to these state law changes, And the fine amounts where applicable for each of these three bills, do the state impose fine amounts reflect the floor or just the bare minimum of what must be charged in terms of fines or penalties?

Or do they also reflect the ceiling as well in terms of like preempting and capping our ability to exceed that in any case?

Maybe I'll let Mr. Kenny address that.

Yes, for the fine amounts for traffic infractions, they have to be the same as the state amount.

And so when you see the infraction level, that's both the amount and essentially the minimum and the maximum.

That's the set amount.

It does not include any additional fines and fees that are add-ons under state law.

Or city law regarding assessments, I guess is a better word.

That's the base fine amount.

Select $125 that we've mentioned a couple of times or as mentioned in the materials.

That's the base amount.

Got it.

Essentially a mixture of both at a high level, both the floor and the ceiling in certain cases, but it does leave room for local flexibility to tack on assessments where applicable.

Is that correct?

Yes, that would be possible.

It's particularly possible in local ordinance.

So the Harbor Code change to the $125 amount, that's entirely a City of Seattle ordinance.

You could set that at any amount.

The littering amount is set by the RCW, so you would not be free to change that other than to the $125 the legislature has set.

Got it.

Okay.

Thank you.

And final question is, so to the extent there is flexibility to add on for any of these fine amounts, does a city attorney have an office, have a point of view on if there should be any Local variants to account for unique local Seattle specific conditions.

Maybe, for example, we want to set a signal in a particular area or we suffer more from a particular problem set in terms of challenges unique here to the city of Seattle relative to other parts of the state where the lower fine amount might be appropriate.

Just given the city attorney's office an opportunity to comment on the adequacy and sufficiency of these fines across these three bills, to the extent there is flexibility for adjustments.

Well, the City Attorney's Office thinks that the proposed amounts are fair.

The assessments, particularly for the traffic code violations, the fees almost double the base amount.

So when we're talking $125, we get close to $250 on the total amount to the person who's fined.

That starts to become significant.

Really, the only flexibility for the city is on the Harbor Code, potentially the violation there, because you have total control over that.

But we believe that $125 is a fair amount for that.

Of course, it is up to the council's discretion.

And then, we've been touching on infractions, but of course, we have a number of criminal law changes.

Um, misdemeanor offenses have $1,000 maximum penalty, financial penalty in addition to 90 days of jail, and the gross misdemeanors have $5,000 as a penalty with a maximum of 364 days in jail.

Uh, there are no mandatory minimums set on these.

It would be possible for the council to potentially Set some kind of mandatory minimums.

We believe that leaving that in the discretion of the municipal court, the judicial discretion to set its discretionary sentencing, it can be anywhere on a misdemeanor up to 90 days and $1,000 or on a gross misdemeanor, 364 days and $5,000.

For these crimes listed here and these proposed changes, we believe leaving those in those ranges for the judiciary to decide on those in any particular case based on particular facts would be appropriate.

Thank you.

No further questions, Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

I see Councilmember Juarez had a question.

Councilmember Juarez.

You're on mute.

Okay, there we go.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

On item number five, so all six of these are all gross misdemeanors to be heard in Seattle Municipal Court, correct?

Item number five, you're referring to the criminal law changes, Councilmember?

Yeah.

Yes.

All six.

One, two, one, oh.

Yes.

Correct?

Yes.

The crimes that are being added are a combination of either misdemeanors or gross misdemeanors, and passing this ordinance would allow them to be heard in Seattle Municipal Court.

Okay.

Thank you.

And then on item number six, I'm going to need a little help on this one.

The negligent driving with a vulnerable user victim.

So I see that you have it down as a gross misdemeanor with no jail time.

You just have a first degree 1000 mandatory 90 days suspended license.

Is this a mix of criminal and civil or how does this work?

This is matching up with state law, which took negligent driving with a vulnerable victim user, which was an infraction and is currently an infraction under the Seattle Municipal Code and divides it in two for first degree being a crime.

It's a gross misdemeanor.

And that's if there is a death involved.

Negligent driving and a death equals that crime of negligent driving with a vulnerable victim user in the first degree.

Separate is second degree, and that maintains the infraction currently, which has a $1,000 minimum penalty.

And that involves negligent driving plus substantial or serious bodily injury, but not death.

So there's that dividing line.

So taking negligent driving, death is the first degree negligent driving substantial bodily harm, second degree infraction, mandatory minimum $1,000.

So when we're talking about death and everything, I'm wondering why it's just why it isn't in King County Superior Court is a felony.

I mean, can you just help me here?

What is a vulnerable user victim?

Are you talking about people on scooters?

So the vulnerable user victim definition is, it's essentially a pedestrian, but broader than that, right?

It could be someone on a scooter.

It could be someone in a wheelchair.

It could be someone on a bicycle.

And Mr. Kenny can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the type of Conduct that could subject someone to this traffic infraction could also subject them simultaneously to criminal prosecution for another crime that may be a felony or may not be.

Actually, I think that would be unlikely.

For vehicular homicide or vehicular assault, which would be felonies that the King County Prosecutor's Office would handle.

These crimes, well, initially the infraction and now the gross misdemeanor crime and the infraction are designed to fill in a niche area where there was nothing.

There was either a vehicular homicide or vehicular assault or nothing, maybe like some type of small infraction.

So the legislature now has divided these in two based on death or serious harm.

to at least make the death piece a crime.

But it's not designed to, it doesn't replace in any way vehicular homicide, vehicular assault.

Those still exist.

It's just those have a slightly higher standard of proof, particularly related to the mens rea of those crimes, and so the mental intent of the driver.

And so this is designed to have some type of consequence, particularly if If somebody dies, that there is something that can be done.

Currently, under Seattle City Code, that's an infraction.

The legislature has now expanded that to be a crime if there's a death, maintaining an infraction if it's only serious injury.

And so it just kind of fills this niche area.

The first review, the way these typically come to us, these are referrals, drop-downs from the King County Prosecutor's Office where they refuse to file vehicular assault, vehicular homicide, and so they come to us, and before it might be a speeding infraction or a left-turn violation, whatever it is.

Now we have something that is a little more serious.

It fills kind of a void, I should say, that we can at least do something.

Mr. Chair, can I have a follow-up, please?

I apologize for being so dense this morning, but driving with a vulnerable user victim, again, what is the fact pattern that we're trying?

What does that look like if someone's charged with this?

Give me an example.

Again, when I brought up the scooter, they're on the sidewalk, they're on the street, they hit people.

Is that what the state was getting at and then the city is adopting or aligning itself to this conduct to stop the behavior?

So a good example is making a left turn and hitting a bicyclist and killing them.

And not intoxicated, not driving too fast, just didn't see them turned, needed to...

You needed to, making that left turn, you have to yield, didn't yield, didn't see them, hit them, killed them.

Could also be a pedestrian.

Generally, this is going to be either pedestrians, somebody walking, somebody running, or somebody on a bicycle.

Okay, so now I get it.

Now I understand.

So you are protecting people on bikes, pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, like in downtown, when people take a hard left or a right, and they don't look, and they do it all the time.

Got it.

Thank you for indulging me.

Thank you, Council Member Boers.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And that's something that we've seen about 10 years ago, maybe 12 years ago on our streets with a dump truck hitting an individual, which is part of the initiation of all the work that we've been doing, like protective bike lanes and all the other things that we've been doing, the different lighting systems to do that.

But as you noted, these things can still happen.

So thank you for that.

We have multiple of these cases in the city attorney's office for filing.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Rivera, quick question.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for always, even though I don't sit on this committee, letting me participate by asking questions.

I appreciate your leadership.

And thank you both for being here.

My question is about the...

Here.

The expansion of places where weapons are prohibited.

So we're expanding to libraries, zoos, aquariums, transit stations, and facilities to the existing list of places.

The weapons are prohibited.

Is that concealed or unconcealed?

Does it matter?

I just want to get clarity on which weapons are being What's the definition of weapons in the context of this law?

Generally, we're talking firearms.

And it would expand, essentially, those no-weapon zones that are currently, like the city council space here, the Seattle Municipal Court, the jail, all areas you can't take weapons.

It would expand that.

State law controls those areas.

They preempt the field, so the city is not allowed to add anything to it.

It can only go as far.

As the state's willing to go, and the state is adding libraries, zoos, aquariums, transit stations to it, so.

Which I fully support, and I hope, and I don't know, are playgrounds already part of that law?

Do you know?

Either of you know?

I do not believe so, no.

They're not, so we didn't add playgrounds to that.

That is a miss, in my opinion.

OIR list for we can work with the Olympia delegation.

Great.

Thank you, Chair.

But it doesn't specify concealed or not.

So does that- That's true.

Regardless, you can't- So you cannot at all.

Okay.

Great to hear on that.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for clarifying.

All right, thank you, Mr. Kenney and Mr. Johnson.

I really appreciate this opportunity to walk through this because it is, it's simple and straightforward and we can't, as you know, it's a copy paste from RCW to SMC.

So it's really a technical generally, but to have this discussion and your point about some type of consequence is really important.

It's about bringing accountability to these pieces.

Our plan talks about permissive environment.

The challenges that we've created is permissive because we don't hold accountability.

And to your point, there wasn't some type of consequence.

So colleagues, moving forward, I would like to move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121079. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

Any final comments on Council Bill 121079?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 121079.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Aye.

Council Member Sokka?

Aye.

Chair Kettle?

Aye.

Therefore, in favor and none opposed.

Motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill passed will be sent to the City Council.

Moving on, I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121080. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

Are there any final comments on Council Bill 121080?

Seeing, hearing none.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 121080?

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Aye.

Council Member Sacca?

Aye.

Chair Kettle?

Aye.

They're in favor, none opposed.

And the motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill passed will be sent to the City Council.

And finally, Council Bill 121081, I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121081. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

Are there any final comments on Council Bill 121081?

Seeing hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 121081.

Council Member Hongsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Aye.

Council Member Sacco?

Aye.

Chair Kettle?

Aye.

There are four in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill pass will be sent to City Council meeting October 7th.

Thank you so much, Mr. Kenney and Mr. Johnson for this.

Clerk, will you please move item number seven.

Council Bill 121064, an ordinance relating to removing the city residency requirement for judges pro-temporary in Seattle, amending section 3.33.104 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

Mr. Johnson, don't go anywhere.

We had Residing Judge Crawford Willis here with us.

This is related to allowing judges pro tempore, pro temp judges to reside outside of Seattle.

I am moving that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121064. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

Are there any final comments on Council Bill 121?

We still have Mr. Johnson in chambers.

This is pretty straightforward, but I just wanted to ask that question.

Any questions?

Okay, excellent.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

I already said that.

Council Bill 121064. So will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 121064.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Juarez.

Aye.

Council Member Sacco.

Aye.

Chair Kettle.

Aye.

There are four in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill pass will be sent to the City Council meeting October 7th.

All right.

Thank you very much, colleagues, for that cleaning up some business, which allows us in some respects to get to our second main event after the first agenda item.

We'll now move on to our last Committee item of business.

Will the clerk please read the item into the record?

Community safety initiative update.

Thank you for joining us, Director Kim from HSD.

We have a full group here to include Ms. Pablo and Mr. Kafez from HSD, the Human Services Department, and Dr. Lee Hunt from the Seattle Police Department.

Director Kim, can you please introduce yourself for the record and then let's have the rest of the panel also introduce themselves and then over to you, Director Kim, to start the presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm Tonya Kim, Director of the Human Services Department.

Good morning.

I'm Erica Pablo, Safe and Thriving Communities Division Director with the Human Services Department.

Good morning, Lee Hunt with the Seattle Police Department, Executive Director of Crime and Community Harm Reduction.

Owen Caffes, Research and Evaluation Manager at the Human Services Department.

Before we begin, I do want to note that we submitted a corrected deck, and I'll point out what the change is, especially for the viewing public.

You do have a handout in front of you, council members, and for the viewing public, we'll just share.

There's two corrections.

One is there is a different slide six where we point to the auditor's report on gun violence, and then the second correction is on slide 14. You'll note in the original slide there was an asterisk.

What it was pointing to was the date when the data was pulled, and that got lost on the bottom when we submitted it, and so I apologize.

Thank you for that.

So I take it September 12th, for example, on that.

Correct.

So the asterisk was there.

The date fell off.

I apologize.

But it's important to know as of what date that data is referring to.

And so with that, I will proceed.

Chair Kettle and committee members, thank you for having HSD and our partner SPD here at today's Public Safety Committee.

We heard you loud and clear about having seamless services and making sure that departments and also other entities outside of the city work better together.

And we are here to demonstrate the improvements with our work.

With that, we're going to begin the agenda here is we're going to begin with the mayor's one Seattle restoration framework where really that tone and that framework is setting the pace for all the departments.

We're going to share details of the new community safety model and the request for proposal.

We'll close, of course, with questions.

You know, we're happy to entertain questions as they come up.

I would recommend that perhaps we go through the deck and then follow up because we are layering information, but I'll yield to

Director, I think that's a good idea, particularly because although we caught up pretty quickly through some of those items, you know, we don't have tons of time.

So yes, I think that's for the reasons you said, but also to ensure that we do have time to do questions because we don't want to get bogged down throughout the briefing.

Of course, we'll follow up with any questions that any member has as well, if we run out of time.

And with that, I do want to provide a little bit of context.

We were here, boy, it feels like just yesterday when we were talking about the audit, we had many departments around the table and we promised that we would come back.

And I joked that Dr. Hunt will join us.

And it became real.

And I joke because we do have, and you will see, a more formalized relationship and it's data-informed.

And so what better way to have representation of that is for Dr. Hunt to be at the table and speak directly to the work and how it's influenced our model in RFP.

I noted that.

Thank you, Director.

Thank you.

We hear you.

And so with that, let's start with the Seattle's, the Mayor's One Restoration Framework.

So as you know, and there was an extensive presentation here at Committee and with Council of this framework, and so I won't go into further too much detail, but for the viewing public and for grounding I want to thank the mayor and chief public safety officer for their leadership in setting the vision for the city.

It's comprehensive and it's clear.

And safety, as you know, is the mayor's top priority, and he's asked departments to align and show results.

I know you've seen this framework.

For the viewing public, I'll read the citywide vision because it's important.

The One Seattle Restoration Framework is a comprehensive approach to creating a safer Seattle.

It sets the city's North Star as safety for every person in every neighborhood and charts an actionable path to address the very real challenges we have through investments, innovations, partners, and new and expanded programs.

You could see a sprinkling of HSD throughout all of them.

Of the six strategies that you see on the right-hand side, the Human Services Department really has a nexus to number one, reduce gun violence.

Number four, confront the opioid crisis with a public health and safety approach.

And number six, tackle the root causes and impacts of violence.

For today's briefing, because we're here to talk about community safety, we're going to lean into number one and number six.

Now, we know gun violence remains a public health crisis with disproportionate impacts across age, race, and place.

We know through SPD data that a relatively small number of individuals are causing the most harm in communities impacted by significant gun violence.

And from my readings, this is also true across the nation.

This means we focus, this means we must focus our investments on the right people with the right strategies to make meaningful impact.

Now, I know that you've heard from Chief Barnes a lot and under his leadership with his new team, including Dr. Hunt, we worked quickly to align efforts.

The chief has said that he and the mayor, quote, share a vision that crime prevention and community safety is a shared responsibility, and that every community member plays a role in keeping Seattle safe.

HSD shares in this vision, and we're here to do our part.

As you know, HSD provides major investments in community-based organizations, and we value the community's work in this effort as well.

We've done our homework.

We've listened to community.

HSD and key partners of the mayor's office made site visits to Baltimore and Oakland.

And I'll just say through the magic of technology, one of those was physical and the other one was through virtual conversations and deep dive virtually.

So addressing the commenter's earlier point.

Two cities that have seen great impacts, Baltimore and Oakland, we did a deep dive.

But we also researched other cities who are using successful community engagement strategies, such as Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago, DC, and New York City.

We've done extensive community engagement with young people and their families, local leaders, and providers who are currently doing this work.

So in preparation for this new model, HSD has expanded our data and evaluation expertise by hiring an in-house researcher, so we have more subject matter expertise.

Actually, Owen is relatively new, too.

in his capacity.

We've partnered with Seattle IT.

We're developing a dedicated database to track our performance and referrals.

And we have dedicated funds now for an external evaluator.

I know that there's been a call for that.

We are strategically partnering, not only with SPD, but the Department of Education and Early Learning, Seattle Public Schools, the individual schools, and many others for shared analysis, referral processes, and coordination.

At the end of the day, we want to make sure that a young person or their family who needs our services are able to quickly and successfully access the care and support they need.

We're increasing our accountability by requiring providers, I think this is important, we're increasing our accountability by requiring providers to have common measurable outcomes and workforce standards which require ongoing training and in some cases certifications.

So I won't go through this in more detail, but we got some advice to offer just at a glance.

What is our current state of our contracted portfolio?

What does that currently look like?

And what is the change that's gonna occur in 2026?

We'll go over the timeline.

We'll talk about the strategies in more detail, but the current state is the contracts that we currently have, the model that we're currently overseeing.

And then the reason why I say 2026 is because the RFP is released this year for the contracts to begin in 2026. And so just grounding us in why the 2026 change.

So first, I want to highlight improvements of quality.

And I alluded to some of these things before.

The city will support a cohesive network of services and a seamless referral process.

So I want to underscore that word seamless, Councilmember Kettle, or Chair Kettle.

Our current contractors are not all aligned and have, for example, different ways in which they do intakes, for example.

In addition to the structure, the actual network, we expect consistent high-quality services, and again, we'll offer those workforce development opportunities.

In other words, for example, and Erica will go into this, but what one community neighborhood experiences with case management should be the standard level of case management services felt elsewhere.

Second, accountability.

All selected providers have the same North Star, thank you, Mayor Harrell, with the One Seattle Restoration Framework.

We're committed to external evaluations, and so this will evolve.

And we will provide an extra layer of accountability and continuous quality improvement.

You will not see a stagnant set of providers and contracts over the next four-year period.

We will be a learning environment and happy to report on what we learn.

Third, we are getting focused.

And this is a call that the City Auditor's Office has asked for, too.

But I want to caution that focus doesn't mean one strategy for one population.

It really does mean that we need to have data-informed, place-based services.

And so the part of the focus and being current with current data is that we will continue to work in central, southeast, and southwest neighborhoods, and we are going to expand to the north side.

That is new for us.

In addition, the selected providers will provide an array of different types of strategies, and that's embedded in the intervention, school safety, and supportive services.

Erica will go in further detail.

So in short, the request for proposal, which was released this morning, it's live on our website, will offer an RFP process that will ensure that our contracted providers are committed to a shared model and vision, as opposed to right now what we have is a little bit more of a disparate collection of providers.

Now I'm gonna do, this is a quick review of the new slide, so this isn't attached to the agenda.

This is, in short, just a brief high-level overlay of some of the city auditor's recommendations on gun violence and where our department has aligned.

And I know in Council President's Committee, she was asking, can you just tell us where you've aligned on that?

And so we wanted to be a little bit more explicit.

So again, there was a call for us to learn from peer cities.

And in fact, it's listed Baltimore and Oakland.

In fact, we also reached out to John Hopkins and the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform.

She, I'm saying she because it's Claudia, we have been working with the City Auditor's Office for years, even before we had our current set of investments under previous models of the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative.

They've done extensive research and recommendations on outreach and other components of that.

So just wanting you to know that one of the themes has been setting aside dollars for an external evaluator, which we have done.

We are, again, utilizing place-based interventions and the expansion to North Seattle.

And one of the examples that they advised us to take a really strong look at and potentially expand are programs like Rainier Beach, a beautiful safe place for youth.

That is an example of a place-based strategy.

And then finally here, highlighting that we will have an approved systems coordination with community providers.

So again, we're moving away from a few agencies or one agency working with the young people or families that they have relationships with or in the community that they're with, But we'll have a coordinated response where to you, to the public, we will know how to make the referrals and we will be able to track those referrals and ensure that folks get the services that they need.

We're going to work closely with SPD.

We're identifying where we need to be and learn from the data and where we might need to pivot.

And of course, the mayor's office public safety team under chief public safety officer, Natalie Wharton Anderson and others with the restoration framework.

So just wanting to point that out that we have aligned and are doing the work.

So with that, what is the RFP?

Let's go to, I'm gonna give you a high level overview of what the community and the general public are now seeing on our website.

We have available funding of up to 14.7 million.

The priority population that we'll expect to work with, and this is general, but I want to emphasize that there is going to be a majority focus on prevention and youth, and we'll explain through the strategies.

But the general ages are up to 35, so generally 10 to 35. We don't exclude people, but that's our focus because that's what the data says, and their families impacted by and or involved in gun violence in Seattle.

And because of disproportionality, there is an emphasis in also ensuring that services are provided to our Black, African American, African descent community members.

And again, here are the place-based areas.

The expansion is into the north side.

And then rounding out some critical information that you'll want to know at a high level of the RFP is the investment areas.

I think community safety cannot be achieved through a single approach or a single activity, if you will.

So we're investing in three different strategic areas.

That is guided by evidence-based practices.

And so there's intervention services.

These are the intensive.

We'll explain that, place-based.

Number two is the school safety services.

We've actually been here and we've talked with committee and the general public about our school safety services.

Nothing has changed.

We're just expanding it to ensure that all 11 schools receive those services through this process.

And a great emphasis on supportive services, which is a bulk of our investments around prevention.

And you can see the outcomes.

At the end of the day, we need to see decreased involvement in gun violence.

We're therefore going to see an increased sense of safety and wellbeing, and for the school-based, students will report feeling safer at school.

So that's what we expect to see.

And so with that, I'm gonna hand it over to Owen, who is going to get a little bit nerdy and talk about the model and the strategies themselves.

Go ahead, Owen.

Thank you, Director Kim.

Not nerdy.

Nerdy isn't a compliment.

I appreciate that.

I will own the nerd title.

Today, I'm going to walk you all through a high-level model of HSD's approach to addressing gun violence and community safety.

Before I start, I just want to recognize that what you're going to see on screen is very much a simplification of a very complex issue.

But this model is helpful context for understanding our approach.

In our model, we have four states that people can be in regarding gun violence.

First you see here, folks who are free from gun violence, those who are not involved or impacted by gun violence.

Second, we have those who are at risk of gun violence involvement, people who are at risk of either committing or being a victim of gun violence.

Third, we have those directly involved in gun violence, people who either commit or are a victim of gun violence.

And last, we have folks that move on to post-gun violence involvement, those who have previously committed, been a victim of, or closely connected to someone involved in gun violence who is no longer at risk of continued involvement.

People can move between these states.

People who are free from gun violence can become at risk.

An event can instigate violence for someone who is at risk of involvement.

Since gun violence involvement predicts future involvement, people can get stuck in a cycle until something interrupts it.

That interruption can move people onto post-gun violence involvement.

We also have this path at the bottom that we'll focus on with many of our investments, which is to move people from at risk to post-gun violence involvement by intervening before violence occurs.

To decrease gun violence in Seattle, we want to move each of these in the direction shown on screen.

We want to decrease how many people become at risk, increase intervention of violence before it happens, and interrupt cycles of violence.

This shaded area is where some of the most high-impact work happens.

In our research, both with literature and talking with our peers in other cities, as well as looking at data locally with our partners at the police department, we know that a small number of people in cities are responsible for a majority of the gun violence.

Communities that have focused on this area, targeting intervention services and resources to that relatively small number of people, have been successful at decreasing gun violence in their cities.

By implementing these learnings here in Seattle, we can move the needle on the problem here, too.

This work is vitally important, but it cannot stand alone.

To be successful, focusing on this area must be part of a larger ecosystem of strategies that increase community well-being, spanning the continuum from prevention to intervention to restoration I want to note something important here is that there's a lot that lives on the left side of this diagram.

HSD's work to support community wellbeing that goes beyond what we're talking about today is crucial for the success of addressing gun violence in Seattle.

If we fade that framework into the background here, we can see how the three strategies of this RFP span this continuum.

Our intervention services most clearly overlapping with that high-impact intervention, working with that small group of folks with the outsized impact.

Though it is important to note that that's not the only strategy that will be within that area, as our student safety work will have both prevention and intervention elements.

We also have a re-entry work, which is currently contracted and will be RFP'd at a later date, that is more on the restoration side.

And then all of this work will be bolstered by a safety network coordination and workforce development initiative to ensure that our entire continuum of providers is coordinating efforts.

This will also be RFP'd at a later date.

And with that, I'll pass it to Erica, who will provide more detail about these strategies.

Thanks, Owen.

I'll next talk through our investment strategies for this RFP.

Our three strategies are, one, intervention services, two, school safety, and three, supportive services.

Next year, we will focus on making sure our network of providers are supported, coordinated, and have the workforce training for even greater impact and long-term effectiveness.

These three strategies are focused on a public health approach.

Much like how addressing diabetes involves both immediate medical interventions, like insulin, and prevention efforts, like education and addressing food access.

This model supports both time-sensitive intervention after violence and long-term prevention efforts to stop violence at the root level.

Intervention services, our first strategy.

It's specialized in individualized services focused on people involved in the majority of gun violence in Seattle with potential referrals from the safety network providers, SPD, self-referrals, and the broader community.

We plan to focus on this work through three sub-strategies, which you see on your left in the blue box.

Hospital-based intervention, intensive individual services, and place-based interventions.

So I'll first talk through a story of John.

So John lives in Southeast Seattle.

John's close friend is shot outside his home and transported to Harborview Medical Center in serious condition.

At the hospital, John expresses a strong desire for revenge, setting off a series of interventions.

John is immediately connected with a conflict resolution team in Southeast Seattle to help him work through his anger.

He's also connected with a therapist who provides ongoing mental health supports as he continues to process the shooting.

And a case manager provides assistance with food, housing, and other basic needs so John can maintain stability in his life at home and at school.

Our intervention services, as I mentioned, have three sub-strategies.

So I'll walk you through an example with John and his friend.

So first, hospital-based intervention.

We currently fund Harborview to offer bedside support, a comprehensive needs assessment, provide advocacy with medical staff and families, and many other critical supports for survivors and their families.

We will continue to direct contract with Harborview in 2026 and beyond.

For this sub-strategy, we're investing in services to ensure Harborview has dedicated partners too, so that recovery is the focus upon discharge.

So for example, John's friend is not only receiving vital medical care to save his life, but upon discharge, his recovery can be the focus.

He's able to relocate and given two months rent at a place he feels safe.

He's provided with share ride credits to make his physical therapy appointments on time.

And he's connected to and decides to meet with a therapist, beginning to process the heavy weight of the trauma and grief he just experienced.

Next is our intensive individual services.

So best practices learned from both Baltimore and Oakland.

Oakland runs their ceasefire lifeline program where they focus on a small percentage of individuals that are involved in majority of the community gun violence through longer term intensive social services delivered by staff trained in cognitive behavioral health therapy.

So for this sub-strategy, providers will provide one-on-one or group-intensive social services for up to 18 months through mentorship and coaching with therapeutic approaches.

So also following John.

John's referred by both the Harborview and Southeast Seattle team, our place-based interventions, with a case manager through an intensive individual services program, not only for his anger, but to support John in starting the long journey of processing the trauma and grief masked by that anger.

It takes John a few months of concentrated outreach to him and his family, but he enrolls in the 18-month program.

In this program, caseworkers will work closely with John as he continues to process his shooting and start understanding and addressing underlying circumstances that contributed to his friend's shooting.

And last sub-strategy is place-based interventions.

Through site visits and literature review, majority of cities like Oakland, Baltimore, and Chicago utilize a place-based strategy centered on communities with historical disinvestment while also experiencing a disproportionate amount of gun violence and equipping them with trusted adults, resources, and connection.

For this RFP, place-based interventions focus on neighborhoods identified through SPD gun violence data combined with the city's racial equity index held by our Office of Planning and Community Development.

Services include outreach, conflict interventions, hotspot remediation, and incident recovery.

For example, the Harborview Violence Prevention Team refers John to the Southeast Seattle Conflict Resolution Team.

SVD also follows up with the team regarding the shooting to offer place-based interventions.

While the intensive individual services team begins to reach out to John about long-term support, the Conflict Resolution Team makes sure John was connected quickly with a professional to work through his anger.

The team's next priority is to deescalate.

to reach out and connect with all the parties impacted by the shooting.

They work diligently within the community, relying on trusted relationships to make sure that the shooting to John's friend doesn't actually take someone's life.

Our second strategy is school safety.

So this is focused support for students at selected Seattle public high schools and middle schools.

Very similar to Oakland's model, this strategy offers on-site safety teams for conflict mediation, safe passages, case management, and family resource fund that you see on your left in the blue box.

So now I'll talk about a story about Paige.

So Paige attends one of the 11 schools that partner with the city on school safety.

At school, a safety special helps mediate a spiraling conflict between Paige and another student.

That worker also gets Paige extra food to take home over the weekend and connects her to after-school activities.

The safety specialist will continue to work with Paige, seeking to support her and to work through the struggle she's having at home.

Her grandmother, who cares for her, is experiencing some health issues and is a few months behind on rent.

Paige is referred to the Family Resource Fund, where they are able to get caught up on rent and no longer fear eviction.

A teacher also tells Paige about the Safe Passages program, and she and a friend check in with the safety specialist and other students from the neighborhood once they arrive on campus.

And I'll mention here in the mayor's announcement yesterday, we had a few speakers.

One of them was Dr. Hart, a principal at Garfield.

So Dr. Hart shared what a strong impact these supports are having on the students and the student community.

He talked about the shared partnership, shared resources with Deal, the county, between HSD and SPS.

And I wanna emphasize the most important data point that I took from his really powerful speech.

But what he named, there were no shooting incidents on Garfield's campus over the past year.

And then last, I'll talk about the third strategy, supportive services.

So informed by Baltimore, Oakland, and DC models, supportive services is comprehensive support that is based on community relationships and social services.

Some examples include mentorship and coaching, peer support, legal aid, therapy, resource navigation, and food and rent assistance, and more.

So I'll talk about a story about Jamie.

So Jamie's a young adult who lives in a neighborhood impacted by gun violence.

He doesn't have a weapon, but some of his peers do.

He has considered obtaining a gun for protection.

Jamie has a close relative who survived a shooting and is struggling.

Supportive services will help Jamie maintain a sense of stability, build a self-understanding and confidence, connect with peers and trusted adults, and thrive instead of becoming involved in gun violence.

That concludes our three investment strategies for this RFP.

Next, I will pass it over to Dr. Hunt from SPD.

As Director Kim mentioned at the beginning, we held a day-long retreat this summer with Dr. Hunt, our HSD colleagues, and key mayor's office staff to gain alignment, share data, and inform each other of our different perspectives.

Dr. Hunt will share a map of the recent 2025 data on shootings and shot fired incidences.

Thank you.

Erica, thank you.

Good morning, counsel.

I've been now with the city six months and so I'm relearning the city after not living here for 30, 35 years ago I lived here so I'm re-acclimatizing myself and I'm happy to be back.

But over the 35 years since I've been here, I have been successfully employing evidence-based practices to mitigate violent crime in five other police departments.

Those evidence-based strategies include violence intervention programs, interruption programs, focus deterrence, cognitive behavioral interventions with wraparound support, Violence reduction councils, homicide review commissions, changing environmental risk factors for violence, things like SEPTED and smart growth, which we do here in the city, and asset-based community development.

All of those are examples of evidence-based strategies.

And we need these because police cannot do this work alone.

We cannot arrest a way out of a problem.

And we need these partnerships.

We need the partnerships with the community and community problem solving.

We need to be building the trust in those relationships so those children that are at risk have their resources and the support not to pick up a gun or be influenced to pick up a gun.

I mentioned that yesterday's Press conference that our data this year identified one 13-year-old that was stopped and arrested with a gun on them and two 14-year-olds.

The question I asked yesterday was, what is it that requires a middle school student to feel the need to carry a gun?

What is the environment that requires them or they think they are required to carry a gun?

Community violence intervention is evidence-based, and it's demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing gun violence and people's continued involvement with firearms.

And there's nothing more critical than keeping our children from picking up those firearms.

Now, in front of you on the slide, shots and shootings are not evenly distributed in Seattle, nor in any city, based on land use, zoning, parks, a myriad of different combinations of factors.

We see concentrations of firearm use.

And this slide is now showing for, up through last week, 456 reported shootings and shots fired in the city.

And the shaded areas that you're seeing are the micro-community policing plan neighborhoods.

This allows us working in close coordination with Seattle University to understand the neighborhood's concerns about crime and safety at a small level within the city.

The darker blue areas, the higher the number of reported shootings for this year.

And listed on the slide are several of those policing, micro-community policing Neighborhoods with a higher number of incidents.

And so what we do is start with this high-level analysis that guides the application of intervention strategies.

And the following slide shows the four areas of the city built off this high-level analysis, the four areas of the city that have been identified for investment in firearm harm reduction.

And I'll let Erica continue to explain this slide.

Thank you, Dr. Harn.

In addition to the 2025 gun violence data Dr. Harn just shared, we also utilize historical data from SPD, hospitals, and from the city's racial equity index in order to expand and continue to refine our three investment strategies.

So as Dr. Harn mentioned, in the green circles is our intervention services that are place-based.

These services are for Southeast Seattle, Southwest Seattle, Central District, and now expanded to North Seattle.

Second, our flags here are listing the 11 focus schools that will be receiving school safety services.

And as Dr. Director Kim mentioned, continue to receive school safety services and to expand.

And the third is a dotted line surrounding the entire map of Seattle.

So this is preventative and sometimes more specialized services are offered citywide in their time of need and when they need it.

So one example of this is Paige's friend.

Paige's friend is referred to a job readiness employment program once she graduates.

So the offer is not dependent on where she lives, what school she goes to, but meeting her when she needs it upon graduation.

And then our last approach that I'll speak to, but the plan is to implement in 2026, is our safety network coordination and workforce development.

And this is really the underlying model that guides, informs, and shapes our investment strategies for this RFP.

This was developed through our outreach and coordination efforts mentioned earlier.

As a reminder, we plan to implement this in 2026, tying everything together for maximum impact.

Safety network coordination is the glue that holds all the other strategies together, ensuring providers receive standardized training, share information on available services, and respond effectively using best practices with a focus to professionalize the workforce.

So the scenario tying all of John, Paige, and Jamie together.

So working to keep Seattle safe, have training, certification, information sharing, referral support, and technical assistance to professionalize the workforce.

This holistic approach also means that each mentor working with John, Paige, and Jamie know what resources their families have access to and whether further supports are available through our other funded agencies.

And second to the last slide for you all is our RFP process and timeline.

So as mentioned here, HSG reserves the right to change any dates in this timeline.

Any changes will be posted on the RFP website.

We released the RFP this morning, so September 23rd.

Application information is posted and technical information is provided on how to complete an application.

We will hold two info sessions, one in person at El Centro on Tuesday, September 30th, and one virtually on Thursday, October 2nd, also listed on the webpage.

The RFP closes on Wednesday, November 12th at noon, so just about eight weeks for folks to review and apply.

Applicants must submit a completed application by that deadline.

For the rating review period, applications will be scored using a standardized matrix outlined in the application rating criteria posted on the webpage.

The rating panel will consist of subject matter experts with expertise in education, public safety, academia, and young people.

Raters are not applying for the funds, so there is no conflict of interest, and all raters are required to review and sign off on a conflict interest form.

Raters will rate, compare scores, and make recommendations on awards.

And recommended awards will be reviewed, and final awards are planned to be announced on January 26, 2026. And lastly, contract start dates are to begin on April 1, 2026. Next, I'll pass it to Director Kim.

So really with that, we wanna make sure that we can answer any questions that you have.

And so we yield the floor to you.

Thank you, Director Kim.

I really appreciate the presentation from all four of you.

And as noted in the beginning, I'm really appreciative of the fact that you're here in the Public Safety Committee and the idea and the acknowledgement of addressing SEAMS.

Before moving on, I did want to note two things.

One, Council President has joined us.

She's been here for the entire briefing.

And also my Vice Chair, Council Member Saka, has just departed.

So, and given, you know, talking about the SEAM, and again, you're here in Public Safety, I wanted to go first make the commitment that I'm gonna be working with Council Member Juarez as Chair of Housing and Human Services on this.

And with that point made, and given that my vice chair isn't here, Council Member Juarez, did you have any comments or questions related to the briefing?

Sorry to put you on the spot.

It was a lot.

Yeah, 17, 18 pages.

It was a lot.

It was a long time coming.

And I want to thank Director Kim because we've met with her as well.

I'm particularly excited that we have our recognizing or that we have a couple schools, Bob Eaglestaff, I understand, and Ingram are the two schools up in D5 and the Aurora shootings.

I'm still just taking an ovation and you did kind of catch me on the spot.

Mr. Chair, I am a paper person, so I was still flipping through the papers and I was off one page.

But anyway, I'm okay for now, but thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

I do open it up for other questions or comments from my colleagues.

Okay, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

And I'll be brief.

Thank you, Director Kim and team for this great presentation.

I will just say one thing.

I really appreciate it and I'm doing a deep dive and I know that we've had We've had presentations before about gun violence.

I know that Council President hosted an audit in her meeting in her committee about gun violence, and we've had other presentations throughout the year.

The one thing that I will highlight that I saw the recurring theme, which I really appreciated, is the fact that the providers, the direct correlation between food insecurity and gun violence, and I've tried to And I've researched it and I've tried, there's people that have, you know, have found direct correlations between it, but I don't think it's been expanded and studied on enough.

And the fact that a lot of the young people that are young folks and then ages between 18 and 25 where we're seeing an increase in gun violence are food insecure.

And the stress that that has on young folks and kids.

And then that's depression.

That's anxiety.

There are so many things that build up.

And then you pair that with what they see on social media and all these things.

And then on top of that, then they're trying to navigate their feelings when someone is, you know, in front of them.

And what does that do?

And all these things compile.

So I see the direct correlation.

I couldn't be more grateful.

In us leading with making sure kids and families have food, the one thing that I thought was great was seeing that the provider provided food over the weekends, you know, three square meals a day, especially over the weekend.

When I'm talking to social workers, family support workers and teachers, they see an uptick of kids agitated on a Monday.

It's because they haven't eaten over the weekend and they come on Monday and then it takes some time to settle during the week and to be able to have those resources at school.

And so there's just a direct correlation there.

And when I'm looking at the map and seeing the gun violence in Southeast Seattle and North Seattle, we know that there are food deserts there.

South Seattle has one food bank.

Yes, one food bank.

A lot of people, meal programs, food banks, and food access, they're all different.

Food banks is where you can access food from snap or get benefits from the state because you're a registered.

And shout out to Rainier Valley Food Bank.

Great resource hub now, and I'm incredibly excited about that.

And hopefully we'll see a difference.

But I just wanted to highlight that because that was the common theme I saw on every provider saying, hey, we're going to make sure people have food and resources, especially over the weekend.

And I know that this council is really taking that on about food insecurity and people access to food.

So I just wanted to highlight that that was one of the common themes that I saw.

Thank you.

Chair, may I respond?

Yes, of course.

Briefly.

Thank you for your comments.

It's a good reminder for me to underscore that this presentation and this investment area is to reduce gun violence, but that HSD as well as the Office of Sustainability and Environment, Department of Neighborhoods and others, we provide services beyond this that speaks to exactly what you're talking about.

So folks do have access with the Family Resource Funds, in particular with the schools, to make sure that those needs are met.

And they have access to the web of services that we also provide and lean heavily into.

And I'll be back at Select Committee to talk more about those enhanced investments, too.

I do want to also underscore, because I know that on the dais there's been a lot of talk about what is violence prevention, and a lot of times it's those pro-social activities.

What's not included here, but that still is an investment in our department, as well as other departments like Parks and Rec deal, is our significant investment in prevention and working with young people.

And I got a figure this morning from my budget manager that even outside of this, in addition, we do have About 7.5 million for youth and young adults, and that's through our direct programming and our youth employment program.

I know that you had, I think, some interns on your floor, as well as our contractor providers to do youth development and other types of services.

And so, again, this is laser-focused on reducing gun violence based on data and best practices, but we have an array of services to go upstream and address those other root cause issues, and so thank you so much.

The last point that I'll make is we've got a wonderful manager now over our research and data, and we're hiring the external evaluator.

I'm curious if we have an opportunity to maybe dig in and see if there is that correlation that we're looking for.

One of the things that I think we sell ourselves short on but we need to invest in is that we are funding organizations and people and expecting outcomes to be a learning environment.

I'll borrow from SPD and the mayor is also being transparent with what's working, what's not working, and so we can replicate the things that are working and being really clear about that.

And so that'll help inform future policy and budget direction as well.

So thank you so much.

Awesome.

And Chair, if I may, just one more quick comment.

And also looking at the 18 to 25-year-old, that range, I think that gets, because when I hear people say young people, I know people think 18 and under, but I consider people that are 25, they're still young people.

And I know we've seen gun violence within that range and them having opportunities of the trades, the, you know, Internships that are available and just feeling supported in that way, that investment needs to continue to happen.

So thank you.

And I'm done talking.

Thank you, Council Member Hollings.

We're a foot stomp at that point because as we now know with brain science, 25 is the real number.

And of course, insurance and everything else, there's a reason for that 25 number that, of course, I've passed decades and decades and decades ago.

Council President Nelson.

Thank you very much for this presentation.

As you know, I've been focused on this issue for a very long time, and you nod knowingly.

And I do appreciate, I think it was on page eight, you recognizing the gun violence audit and you're laying out what you are planning on doing that came from that audit.

And so my question has to do with things that are outside what's on that page.

You just mentioned that the mayor is committed to transparency about what's working and what's not working.

And I really appreciate that.

And also you talked about these are evidence-based.

What is working and what isn't working right now that what we're doing and what is going to be changing?

You don't have to go into detail about what's not working or anything, but this is the lens I'm looking at it through.

What are we doing now that is new and why are we doing it instead of what we've been doing before?

We really need to make sure that we're getting it right, I guess is what I'm going to say, because too much violence, too many lives, et cetera.

And I'm going to stop talking now.

So can you address any of that, though?

Let me start with the latter part.

The request for proposal, we are mandated to do this every four years, the Human Services Department.

And when we do an RFP, it is the time to reset, where we look at data, we do thorough engagement, and we can then procure for contracts.

to apply for our vision and what we're asking for.

And so what I will say about the research that we've done, and I'll lean on Erica and Dr. Hunt to chime in about what is working and what are we gonna apply moving forward, is that And it's still a little bit breathtaking to think about, but we had a pandemic.

And then we had George Floyd.

We had a lot of call to action.

And there was, at the time, a movement to say, this is what we need right now.

And some of our contracts are a result of that period of time.

In addition, there was good work.

There are glimpses of good work, but what's challenging about our current lay of the land is that we don't have a cohesive model.

There are some organizations that work closely together, even just as simple of having agreements and doing referral services.

But other agencies that were funding that fell outside of those contracts that were providing services for the group of people that they wanted to provide services for, they've identified needing additional supports.

And so that isn't working for the city.

We need to make sure that we're really clear about who is most impacted by gun violence and focusing our investments on that group of smaller handful of folks who are creating the most harm.

And that's one of the changes.

But, you know, it's been a long time coming.

Here we are.

We have new leadership, both in the mayor's office as well as SPD, soon to be in the school district, And we've had some changes at HSD, too.

And so with all of that, the timing is now, and all I can do is look forward, and we've arrived.

And I will say that it's not a perfect iteration, and that's the whole point of the evaluation and being committed to having that transparency, because this will continue to change.

One of the things that we've noticed too with the research is that some of the things, and this is what the auditor's office was alluding to in their recommendations, it might have good intention, but it may be causing harm or further harm.

And so I believe that other cities who are ahead of us have learned a great deal, and we're implementing some of those best practices.

So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Erica and Dr. Hunt to talk about what is working and what are some of those elements that we're bringing forward in the RFP.

I'll add two things to that.

Thank you, Director Kim.

So currently we do invest in place-based interventions and place-based strategies.

So we're continuing that but expanding, right?

A lot of the best practices that we've learned and even from the audit and from council is following the data.

So we're expanding up to North Seattle as something new as a part of this process and still being deep rooted in the other neighborhoods that we are currently in.

And then secondly, I mentioned our partnership with Harborview Medical Center.

So we've been informed by them and have regular meetings with them of who are the folks that are being injured and experiencing gun violence in their hospital and following that data and making sure that they're resourced not only when they receive medical care inside but upon discharge so that they don't You know, come back again.

And so some of that we've been looking at broader ages as well.

So up to 35, and what does it look like to provide those resources?

But I'll mention, I think a big shift with regard to this RFP as a whole is instead of having disparate portfolios and contracts throughout our team, what does it look like to have all the network of providers under one umbrella so that it's coordinated, so that referrals are happening?

And so I would say that's the biggest shift that we have under this RFP.

But I'll pass it to Dr. Hunt, because I think Director Kim mentioned there's also a focus on a smaller group of individuals that are involved in majority of the gun violence, and I think Dr. Hunt can speak to that really well.

Yes, thank you.

As I mentioned at the top of my remarks, I listed off seven evidence-based strategies, and the idea is to apply those seven evidence-based strategies where appropriate to the age group that it's associated with, so 17 and younger, 18 to 24, 24 and older.

Each of those three groups have different needs that need to be addressed in different ways with those programs that work.

One of the things that I'm most interested in and have tasked my team with doing is understanding the level of involvement we have with firearms, particularly those 17 and under.

And the question is that I raise and ask in every place that I've worked at, how many people are currently out right now actively pulling triggers in the City of Seattle?

And when you actually look at the numbers, it's not that many.

It's less than two dozens.

And the question is, can we array the resources and the partnerships right now to intervene with two dozen people to stop them from pulling triggers right now?

And then can we begin to build that network so that the hundred people that they're influencing are also deterred from getting involved?

And the answer is yes, it can be done.

But to do so, and I think the biggest change in the time that I've been here and talking with the Director Kim is that as we move forward and that we've spent the time at the retreat that we had a month or two ago now, is we want to make sure we get this right.

Because once we as a city and as a community recognize that this is how we're going to do business, we're going to support those that are at risk, We're going to build all those partnerships within our city departments, as well as our services, our community organizations, and nonprofits.

Those partnerships are absolutely key, and once we start embracing those children, we can't stop doing that.

This is how we're going to do business moving forward.

We can't start supporting people and then drop them a year or two later.

So I want to make sure that those two dozen kids have the success that they need and the programs in place that make them successful.

Thank you, Dr. Hunt.

Just to close, I understand that other people have their hands up.

This is a long presentation, and I do appreciate you pointing out the specific of age brackets.

I think that is a new and important thing to highlight and go forward with.

I am a question I have is I am concerned.

I don't know if concerned is that hard is is the right word.

I do know that there have been requests for evaluation of the of the services already in our portfolio.

And it's unclear from this presentation how this RFP is going to shift what we're already doing necessarily from our current practice.

But without really looking at what we're doing now, measuring the performance of those investments, to me it seems like it's difficult to know what to, What to shift away from.

And I'm not going to go into the whole I asked for this audit and then it was cancelled and et cetera, et cetera.

But we there have been requests for for really detailed information or just an overview of what is what is missing and but really reflective.

And so maybe you have that at your retreat.

I would hope so.

But the public needs to know.

That they need the competence to know that we have really looked at our outcomes so far.

And where there are gaps, these new investments will fill them in.

Yeah, thank you.

What I'll say to that is, since we're doing the procurement process, we didn't evaluate our disparate collection of contracts.

I think that would be difficult to evaluate, is that we're moving towards evidence-based best practices that have been evaluated, and we are committed to evaluating the work.

Moving forward.

And so I can't do a comparison because, you know, we don't have the evaluation on our 30-some individual contracts that many of whom, again, are not under a cohesive model.

That in itself is problematic.

And so we are making that shift and we're committed to moving towards what has worked in other communities and will apply the valuation.

Happy to report on our findings then.

And that evaluation is also, again, external.

So although we're increasing our own internal capacity, we know that we need to have an objective third party to evaluate the work, and we're open to it.

What is also problematic is spending money on things that aren't working.

And so when you're talking and so continuing to do that, just driving my point home, we know if we know what's working in other in other cities, we also should know what is working here and then how how we're shifting.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

And to that point, I remember being in a meeting I think a year ago with Deputy Mayor Washington and Chief Public Safety Walton Anderson, yourself and others.

And to be frank, as I say all the time, keeping the press on, keeping the pressure on, keeping the engagement.

And I think that that process, which has been continually throughout the year in different ways, Results to being here today.

And I think that shows the moving forward, recognizing Council President's points, but also recognizing the process that, at least in terms of my involvement, that I've seen over the course of the year.

And I appreciate that.

Council Member Rivera.

Chair, I think Council Member Juarez had her hand up and she has somewhere else to be, so I'm happy to wait until after Council Member Juarez if she does have a comment she'd like to make.

Thank you, Council Member.

Thank you, Chair.

I did, but it got answered, so I took my little hand down.

And thank you for that.

And I'm going to listen offline on my phone, but I got to leave it.

Thank you, Director Tim and people.

And thank you, Chair.

And I'll see you all in a bit.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Warehouse and shifting to your phone.

Appreciate it.

Okay, Council Member Warehouse.

We still have quorum, by the way, just for the record.

Thank you, Chair.

And I always like to wait till all the current committee members ask their questions before I ask mine, since I don't sit on the committee, but always so appreciative to join you, Chair, in these conversations.

Okay, so one thing I will note is, Thank you all for being here.

I'm really happy to hear that you're working with SPD because this is a joint effort with all the city departments, including SPD.

That's how we are going to Make inroads in this issue and for our kids.

And I've been working with Director Kim for many years now and she knows my interest in serving the kids across the city.

And this is something that I feel really passionate about and actually why I ran for office to begin with.

And I'll say it again for people watching not knowing.

I was a mom at Ingram High School where there was a school shooting and a child died in my girls' school.

Both of my kids were in the school at the time.

So I will say before that experience, I cared very much about this.

This is something for my entire career of over 30 years, I have placed focus on as education and kids and what kids need.

And then that experience just further, you know, cemented my wanting to really make sure that we are addressing the issues that kids are facing as regards gun violence.

And the more recent, it seems to be more kids involvement in gun violence, whether it's just being a victim or being impacted in some peripheral way.

I understand you saying it's a small number actually with guns, but it has a huge impact across the entire city, the entire school community.

And I will say that though there are schools that you have identified on the north end, which I'm very pleased about in terms of doing investments too, we also need to look at those kids live in neighborhoods like Magnuson Park, which also need investments because the kids don't stay in the schools.

So I will say that.

I will say in terms of the RFP being mandated every four years and so every four years doing a level set, I would encourage the department, since now you're doing more robust evaluation it sounds like, that perhaps we don't wait till four years because if we need to make a change, let's make the change before.

Because four years is a long time to wait.

And sometimes after a year or two, we have some data by which we can make a change.

Let's make sure in those contracts that the expectation is we're going to fund this, but if it's not working in a year or two, whatever is appropriate.

I'm not here to say a year is appropriate, but we know that probably before four years, we have some information by which we can make tweaks to contracts.

Let's give ourselves our flexibility with those CBOs to make sure if a tweak is needed that that is allowable rather than having to wait to four years.

I think that's really critical.

The other thing I'll say, Chair, if you'll indulge me is that, oh, and I would love to see the 11 schools listed because I didn't see they're not listed here.

That would be really helpful.

I do want to say Last year, Council Member Moore, who was representing the D5 at the time and myself, had extensive conversation with you, Director Kim, and the Mayor's Office about the situation on the north end.

And I will just say in the last three weeks, by way of example, We had a 17-year-old get shot at Cowan Park and then we've also had a fight at Magnuson Park involving four or five teenagers where one also got very badly beaten and injured and wound up in the hospital.

So that's just two examples that I'm I'm not going to go into all the examples.

So this is something that is really an issue on the north end.

Last year when Council Member Moore and I came on, we were very surprised to learn there was no services from HSD being provided on the north end.

And so we gave focus to that.

We had a lot of conversation.

I was also surprised to hear that we didn't have what you were calling a north safety hub.

I understand that's not a place, that's a strategy, but we didn't have one on the north end.

So after extensive conversation about the fact that there really weren't organizations on the north end, Council Member Moore and I We decided, you know what, we are going to give HSD capacity to establish a north end hub.

So we actually, I sponsored, which my colleague at the time, Council Member Moore, co-sponsored a position.

So you could start that north hub because I understand you need to do, and I've done outreach my whole life, so I know about this part.

You have to do outreach with those organizations, just because there are youth organizations on the North End doesn't mean that they're doing this type of work or in this particular way.

So that person was going to establish those partnerships to start the North Hub.

I just found out yesterday that that position is getting eliminated.

The council put it in last year as a priority item for the North End.

It's needed based on data because the data showed that the kids Most involved with violence was the North Precinct had the highest incidence of kids involved with violence and gun violence.

So that's why we gave focus leading with the data, which I always say is what we need to do.

So I will express publicly my disappointment that that position is now being cut.

As part of this budget that we're getting today from the mayor, we still have a lot of needs on the north end.

I'm glad to see that this effort is being expanded on the north end, but my concern, which I know I shared with you yesterday, Director Kim, and thank you for the conversation, is that Nothing has changed in terms of last year we didn't have the organizations that were doing this work.

I don't see how those organizations would be successful in an RFP that's really targeting.

You have to have experience doing this work.

So I'm going to be really transparent.

I don't know any other way to be, and I have concerns about that.

So when you say expansion to the North End, I want to make sure that we really are working with, that those organizations have an opportunity to be part of this RFP process.

They're serving the kids on the North End.

And I want to make sure that this is really robust because kids on the North, the demographics in this city, I will also say have changed.

So I don't know how more recently the racial and social equity index has been updated.

I don't have information about that, but I do know and I see from Being at the school with my kids how things have changed and so I want to make sure that there are kids on the north end that need these investments and that they're getting these investments as well.

So just wanting to say that publicly I have concerns about this RFP in terms of that and so I would really want to make sure that we are When we are expanding to the north end, including organizations from the north end that are working with these kids, because I know they exist, though they may not be doing checking the boxes on this type of work.

Let's make sure we're working with them so they can provide that service because they know their kids on the north end.

And we need to make sure that when we're doing these RFPs, Often they're built in a way that doesn't give opportunity for new organizations to also participate and I have concerns about that because those organizations have the very kids that we're trying to help and we want to make sure that they have opportunity to be included in this RFP process and I am looking forward to hearing how with the elimination of this position that was supposed to help these organizations be competitive for these type of RFP processes, how we're going to do that work with the elimination of that position.

And then Dr. Hunt, I'm so happy you're at SPD and I would welcome a one-on-one conversation about how to best help these kids on the north end because They do need help, and I want to make sure that they're getting the help that they need.

So, Chair, in the interest of time, I'll leave it there.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Thank you for the opportunity to make my comments.

I feel really strongly about this, and like I said, I'm really disappointed that position got eliminated when we just put it in last year to serve a function that was missing on the north end.

Thank you, Chair.

Director Kim, briefly.

Okay, briefly.

I'm going to have a rapid-fire close.

Okay, rapid-fire, rapid-fire.

I'm going to have a rapid-fire close after you answer.

Okay.

There were many components, and I always appreciate your frankness.

It's the way that we improve, so thank you.

We could take it.

A couple quick things.

It's not a budget presentation, but I will share what I said yesterday, which is we are committed to fully staffing the expansion to be successful in the north end.

It is a position, you know, we had to look at her budget and see where we can make some efficiencies.

And so essentially, at the end of the day, we're using our existing budget and our existing staff with actually some set-asides we might grow with subject matter experts to provide that coordination.

While technically in the proposed budget, we talked about that reduction of the FTE, there's a significant investment that we're actually, it's a net gain.

So I'll talk more at budget for that.

I guess for a couple other things, we do have the 11 named schools, but happy just to remind you, happy to rattle it off if you'd like for the viewing public right now.

We'll share it again.

None of the schools have changed.

I want to underscore something that you said is really important.

Just in general, you're right that it's a minimum of four years that we do RFPs, but we are held to a high standard of monitoring contracts.

And so that is a time mid-year, year over year, we can make changes.

And I'm not shy about doing that.

And so if we have concerns, we will work with agencies either to pivot, discontinue, reduce.

We need to be good stewards.

And so I just want to concur and not leave out there that we do these changes every four years.

That's actually our job in terms of administering.

It's when we do major shifts.

But there's a level of continuity that's also important.

And so it's a balance.

So it's a balance to make sure that we don't have a gap in service.

And then finally, a couple of things.

One thing that I neglected to point out from the auditors, not her most recent report, but there are footnotes linking to other audit reports with HSD around street outreach and youth violence prevention initiatives.

I do want to note that there is 2015, starting in 2015, where Claudia did raise a couple recommendations, and this investment really is to reduce gun violence.

Of course, young people are frequently involved, young adults rather, and she did say that she thought we should consider, particularly with street outreach, Making sure that we have services for those most at need, regardless of age.

And so I wanted to just underscore that, although we are grounded in the data, but that's why you see some of the shifting of the age.

The concentration are for youth and young adults, but the victims or those who are involved are creeping up to be a little bit older.

And then finally, with regards to what we're currently doing and what is coming online that is evidence-based, I wanna underscore the primary change aside from the coordination is that we're focusing on that small group of people.

We're not doing that right now.

And it's not a by-name list or anything, but we know through the work of SPD, we know that there's a small group of people, and we're going to make a concerted effort to wrap services around those individuals to intervene.

And this is a long-term commitment.

It's not going to happen overnight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Director Kim and for Councilmember Rivera.

Once the mayor brings the budget down, then it's our budget.

So because this comes up in a couple of other areas, also on Aurora and the north end, but I won't go into that.

So rapidly, can you bring up slide five?

This is going to be rapid fire.

This is such an important slide and what's key here, and I'm not sure if this is into the culture.

We talk about SPD culture.

Well, we have city government culture too and embracing the idea of lessons learned from the world I come from that is intrinsic and it is brutal, but it's there and you do it.

We have to bring this on.

I love the slide.

I love the changes and we have to continue with that lessons learned and that process and really take it on as a culture.

Can you go to slide 10?

Okay, the bottom piece there, coordination, working with these folks, working with these organizations.

What we cannot have is what happened with King County coming out of that audit.

So, and that's our job too, in terms of oversight, which may not or may have happened there at the county level.

But what we cannot have is what happened coming out of that audit that came up King County Council on that level.

And so working with these groups, not just on like what, hey, are you organized?

Do you understand how to run a nonprofit?

Do you understand how to ensure that you're on the right side of the law or best practices, whatever it may be?

Can you go to slide four?

14, I'm sorry.

Thank you again.

It's really important for SPD to be here.

It kind of highlights what I was talking about.

The key here is reported shootings and shots fired.

We had Ms. Hall, Ms. Hoffman, and Ms. Walker.

I think Hall and Walker were talking about the same shooting incidents that was not reported.

So this idea that these Coming from the intelligence world, you know, data and this, that, whatever, garbage in, garbage out.

So if it's incomplete on the end, it's gonna be incomplete on the out.

And we have to ensure that we get these things right and get the, and I have a Beltown example of this where, oh, nobody reported it.

It was found out for another means, but, You know, this is so important to foot stomp on that.

And also a highlight and to validate the comments came out of public comment with those three ladies.

It was really important to do that.

And I just wanted to close really quick, see rapid fire, is Mr. Holmes from CPC.

I don't know if you were here for the CPC with Mr. Holmes joining the commission, and he talked about how he was brought up and his view of the police department.

You know, we, building on the Freddie Gray, George Floyd, you know, and especially here in this context, John T. Williams, we need to build on what we've been doing with the consent decree.

And engaging, having SPD engage in this set, you know, the Friday night basketball, all those pieces that we've lost over the last five-plus years, we need to bring that back.

The public needs to know before the badge program, going to these communities before they become officers and then get that kind of relationship so they understand who they are.

I've been to numerous African-American Advisory Committee Council meetings, It was so important to have the recruits there, never mind the officers.

And we need to build on that.

And bottom line is we need to build on the consent decree of that work and cement it because it is just a stepping stone.

It's not just a milestone.

And to close on the report, I think Council Member Juarez was talking about with Judge Robarts and Chief Barnes, the culture piece.

It takes time, but we have to push it, and part of this culture goes into what I was just saying, and we have to attack it.

We have to change the points that Council Member Hollingsworth was talking about, the engagement, the north, just the culture within our city government that Council President was talking about, the audit process and so forth.

We just need to continually depress on these things.

And I'm optimistic because I love the briefing and I love the direction that we're moving.

So on that case, thank you for joining us, Director Kim and the team.

And I think we've reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

Thank everyone for being here.

And is there any further business, I have to ask this question, to come before the committee before we adjourn?

I'm hearing seeing none.

So hearing no further business come before the committee, we are adjourned.

Thank you.

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