Public Safety Committee Meeting 7/22/2025

The committee meeting will come to order.

It's 9.35 a.m.

July 22, 2025. I'm Robert Kettle, chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Present.

Council President Nelson.

Council Member Saka.

Here.

Chair Kettle.

Here.

Chair, there are three members present.

Thank you.

Council President Nelson may be coming while we're in the meeting.

And Council Member Hollingsworth is en route and currently with us online.

And as people know, we're down one since Council Member Moore has resigned her position on the council.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted, hearing and seeing.

No objection.

The agenda is adopted.

For chair comment this morning, I just wanted to first welcome our guests from King County.

This is a little bit of unique council meeting, but I welcome the representatives from King County because it's important, as I've stated often, You know, about our criminal justice system, and I think it's helpful for the people of Seattle to know of the links and, you know, some of the pieces where there's, particularly where there's overlap between the county and the city.

And separately, for my main chair comment is, Pillar six of our strategic framework plan is engaging the county and the state on public safety issues.

But we also have now a lot of federal challenges, particularly with federal law enforcement.

And I think it's important for us as a city to know, in my engagement with the Seattle Police Department and the Mayor's Office, And to make these points, and this kind of builds on the conversations I've had here in the dais with Chief Barnes and the idea of being professional, professionalism, professionalism with our local law enforcement, but also with federal law enforcement.

And as noted to me, SPD policies and protocols require officers in uniform or plain clothes to identify themselves, show their identification, and explain the reason for an arrest.

Officers are not permitted to hide their identity by covering their faces.

If there's any indication that a subject might resist arrest or that arrest could be problematic and if circumstances permit, uniformed officers should be summoned to be present during arrest.

So for stops and detention policy, when reasonable and as early as in the contact of safety permits, the officer making contact with the subject, the contact officer, will inform the suspect of the following.

The officer's name, the officer's rank or title, the fact that the officer is a Seattle police officer, and the reason for the stop, and that the stop is being recorded with either in-car or body-worn video.

And separately, when taking the suspect into custody, sworn employees will identify themselves, inform the suspect they are under arrest, and state the reason for the arrest as early as practical.

It should be noted, too, that a sergeant or above approves administrative arrest warrant service and a lieutenant or above approves dynamic or high-risk arrest warrant service and high-risk operations.

If any high-risk factors are present, the lieutenant will consult with SWAT.

And Seattle PD, SWAT is the designated unit to serve high-risk warrants and conduct high-risk arrests.

I cover this to kind of baseline us as a city regarding what is Seattle Police Department policy and the fact that we're going to be professional in carrying out this.

What has been part of the give and take and discussions related to Chief Barnes' confirmation.

But further, our work here on the committee and our oversight of Seattle Police Department.

This is about being professional.

And I would say this is about being varsity.

And so this is the baseline.

And by the way, this applies to federal law enforcement too.

If they want to be professional, if they want to be varsity, This is what they should be doing too.

And if federal law enforcement does not do this, if they can't hold the standard that the Seattle Police Department is being held, then to be frank, they're junior varsity, they're JV.

And I know a lot of law enforcement, every law enforcement officer wants to be considered as being a true professional of his craft, of his profession.

And so my charge to the federal law enforcement is to be that varsity law enforcement entity, to be that varsity law enforcement officer, to meet the standards, to include the standards that the Seattle Police Department falls under.

And with that chair comment, I just want to say, Thank you again for everyone attending and we'll now open the hybrid public comment period and public comments should relate to items on today's agenda or within the purview of the committee.

Clerk, how many people do we have signed up today?

Currently we have three in person and one remote speaker.

Okay, each speaker will have two minutes and we'll start with the in-person speakers.

Can you please read the public comment instructions?

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 end their comment within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

The public comment period is now open.

We'll begin with the first speaker on the list.

The first in-person speaker is Cole Soley.

Hello.

To start off, I want to thank the Council for taking my comment.

Just a quick question.

I just wanted to see where the committee is at and if they can provide insight into the staffing model for paramedics for the City of Seattle.

Currently, there's about over 800,000 people that live in the city.

There's eight paramedic units that are staffed within the Seattle Fire Department.

We know through Other people that work in the fire department or the fire industry and noted articles that have been written in the past that during public events units will be browned out and we down to potentially only three medic units for 800,000 people.

An interior response that's I think like suboptimal and as someone that's got a young child about to be born in a couple In two months, I'm obviously looking for ways that can protect my family, and just what is the plan for the council to resolve the issue of these reduced staffing limits during these events, and if they feel it's appropriate to prioritize for-profit events over citizens of the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Steve Rubstelow.

Today it looks like you're going to be talking about the top of the iceberg.

I'm talking about the lower part of the iceberg, the people that don't see any interaction with crimes that are committed.

One of the big differences I've noticed over the last, oh, 40 years or more of dealing with the city is when I was younger, the numbers We're usually pretty good.

Matter of fact, when we got some change in policy with the city many years ago, the only thing that changed on the report was we recommend or we change what we do.

Nowadays, I'm not as sure about those numbers because I have seen Assaults written down to nothing.

Like, why the heck did they ever call the police?

I see that numbers are achieved not by action, but by not really reporting.

And this bothers me.

Horrendous decisions have been made in the past, even with good reports.

But at least you were working on honest information.

I see the city right now, when it's going in a direction or protecting itself, writing reports that do that rather than look very carefully at what really happened or what really didn't happen.

My hope is you can reach out and do much, much better on that.

People need to be encouraged to do it right.

Not just to protect the backside.

And I hope that that will be done.

Thank you.

Last in-person speaker is Mr. Michael Bell.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Praise God.

I'm here to support security.

I used to do security.

The point is, we need to invest our tax dollars in security.

I think if we invested our money in protecting each other, then we better off.

We don't always have to invest in the human factor, because the human factor we know is flawed.

We're not perfect.

But the point is, we got something to help us be better at protecting each other, which is technology.

So I think if we invest our money, our tax dollars in technology, we'd be better off in the long run.

Praise God.

I hope you guys enjoy your lives, enjoy and protect yourself, and have fun in your lives.

That's all I wanted to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The first and only remote speaker is David Haynes.

Please press star six when you hear the prompt.

You have been unmuted.

Thank you, David Haynes.

I've had 20 bikes stolen from me in Seattle.

And yesterday I heard Deborah Juarez say she didn't want to put a bike deep in jail, as if she's still sympathizing with criminals.

She was in charge and the council president as society continued to implode with representing crime numbers and 9-1-1 refusing to even process crimes.

And they created the racial equity toolkit.

It was nothing but a bunch of racist skin color misjudgments that want to ignore the fact that there's criminals that are conducting uncivil war on community and they're deemed the most vulnerable because they don't know any better.

The sad part is you all are manipulating the statistics When it's incredibly unsafe, it's like if there's 100 gunshots in one incident and no one was killed, the prosecuting attorney thinks, and everybody else in the progressive side seems to think that that's an improvement in public safety because nobody died and it was only one incident instead of like 10 incidents with 10 gunshots in different areas.

It's a real concern.

Spare us the bogus statistics that are based on the prosecuting attorney refusing to refer a crime as a crime.

You all are manipulating the statistics and self-promoting that you're having success, yet it's still unsafe based on record levels of public safety concerns.

One thing is for certain, Seattle progressives are not tough on crime, yet are racist, always blaming the white man while sympathizing with the black and brown drug pushers as if they're the most vulnerable.

They get prioritized for housing and services while the innocent homeless get racially discriminated against and subhuman mistreated, while businesses Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

There are no additional registered speakers.

Thank you.

The public comment has expired.

I do thank everyone for coming.

I am aware of the paramedic issue and something I've had discussions in terms of recruitment, and so I'm aware of the issue, and we're engaging with Seattle Fire.

Always working neighborhoods, safety issues, Mr. Rostello, and technology, Mr. Bell.

We got some things coming up for you in the next few meetings, some more technology, so don't worry about technology.

So we will now proceed to our items of business.

By the way, members of the public are encouraged to either submit written public comment for sign-up cards at the podium or email the council at council at seattle.gov.

Okay, we will now move to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item number one into the record?

King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office overview and 2025 updates.

Ms. Mannion and team, please join us and introduce yourself.

Good morning, counsel.

This is on.

Can you hear me?

Yes, and maybe pull it up a little bit closer so then you don't have to stretch it out.

Is it?

Is this on now?

There it is.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with counsel today and to share information regarding our, I believe you called it, our holistic criminal legal system or criminal justice system.

So thank you, Councilmember Kettle, for the invitation.

I'm just going to share some information that I get asked a lot about when I'm out and about in community.

The thing I get asked most about is the state of crime in both Seattle and King County, so I'm going to walk through some statistics.

I will say the overarching trends are encouraging.

Overall, felony crime is decreasing in Seattle.

And to be clear, and I will repeat this, I do not think that that means we are yet crime-free.

It does not mean that we don't have more work to do, but it does say that The numbers are trending in the right direction, and I attribute that to the partnerships from the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, with the Seattle City Attorney's Office, with municipal prosecutors and police in all parts of Seattle and King County.

So from 2019 to 2024, we saw Seattle adult felony referrals drop by 36.7%.

And when I speak to referrals, I mean, those are the cases that are sent to us by law enforcement for a potential charging decision.

In 2019, we had 3,925 referrals.

That number is at 2,485 for 2024. We're also seeing encouraging trends in all Seattle crime categories.

Adult burglaries, both commercial and residential, referrals are down 38%.

In 2019, the referrals were 439, which resulted in 2019 filings of 324. In 2024, that number decreased to 272, and the number of corresponding filings, case filings was 245. During the pandemic, we saw referrals peak in 2020 at a rate of 622. Oops, sorry.

With regard to serious assaults and violent assaults, referrals were down 15.2%.

In 2019, referrals were 693 with a corresponding number of filings of 542. The 2024 referrals were 588 with a corresponding number of filings in 354. And during the pandemic, we saw pandemics peak in 2020 at a referral rate of 719. Adult domestic violence has also down.

Referrals are down 29.3%.

In 2019, the referral number was 634 with corresponding filings of 382. In 2024, that number decreased to 448 and filings were 299. During the pandemic, we saw referrals peak in 2020 at 593. Auto theft referrals are stable.

They're up less than 1%.

In 2019, there were 262 referrals with corresponding filings of 194 cases.

In 2024, that number increased slightly to 264 and the number of filings increased to 224. During the pandemic, we saw referrals peak in 2022 at 373. Because we know that Seattle does not exist in a vacuum and we have to look to our broader community, I also want to report that overall felony crime in all of King County is also decreasing.

From 2019 to 2024, adult felony referrals in King County dropped by 25.3%.

Adult felony burglaries, the referral rate in 2019 was 854. And the corresponding number of filings, 641. In 2024, that referral dropped to 612, with a corresponding number of 490 cases filed.

And during the pandemic, we saw referrals peak in 2020 at 1189. In King County, serious assaults and violent assaults are down 13.4%.

In 2019, the referral rate was 1,834, with a corresponding number of case filings at 1,299.

In 2024, those referral rates dropped to 1,589 with corresponding number of cases filed 919. And during the pandemic, they saw referrals peak in King County in 2020 at 1,959.

Adult domestic violence referrals have stabilized in King County.

In 2019, the referrals 1,714 with corresponding number of case filings 1,141.

In 2024, the number of referrals Increased by two cases, 1,716, but the number of filed cases also decreased to 1,076.

During the pandemic, we saw referrals peak in 2020 at the rate of 1,828.

Overall, in King County, unlike City of Seattle, adult felony vehicle theft cases are down 7.7%.

In 2019, there were 939 law enforcement referrals with a corresponding number of cases filed at 693. In 2024, there were 867 law enforcement referrals and 654 cases that were filed.

And during the pandemic in King County, we saw referrals peak in 2022 at 1,108.

We also have encouraging numbers to share with regard to gun violence.

King County just experienced the safest start to a new year that we've had in five years, and we're starting to see evidence that our efforts to combat gun violence with law enforcement and community is gaining traction.

My office is the only office in King County which provides quarterly and annual reports on gun violence in King County.

And we've not only recently seen positive progress, but we are seeing that sentiment emerging amongst the public and the media.

I've made it a top priority in my administration to hold people who use firearms and cause harm in our community to hold those folks accountable.

We have also partnered with law enforcement to solve non-fatal shooting cases, and we are strengthening our partnership with police and community to intervene in the lives of people where the data shows us that they are close to gun violence but have not yet perpetrated or become victims of harm.

On this point, we are making particular inroads in the city of Kent where we are partnering with Kent Police Department and two local nonprofits to offer wraparound services to individuals close to gun violence who haven't yet committed crimes or become victims of crime.

I also have a dedicated deputy prosecuting attorney who coordinates on gun violence policy and case referrals to the prosecuting attorney's office.

Compared with 2023 and 2024, there was a 29 decrease in the number of fatal shooting victims in King County, a 13% decrease in the number of non-fatal shooting victims, and a 6% increase in the overall number of shots fired incidents.

And the latest slides show actually a sustained decrease in gun violence.

In Q1 of 2025, the data is the strongest evidence yet that King County is experiencing a sustained decrease in gun violence that began in 2024 compared to any other first quarter in the past five years.

Q1 of 2025 showed that homicides were down and injuries due to firearms reached all new low points.

Year over year, the first quarter of 2025 saw a 35% drop in homicide fire victims, a 36% drop in non-fatal shooting victims, and a 32% drop in total shots fired incidents.

In South King County, the overall numbers were actually better.

In Kent, South King County, we saw that gun violence reduced with 50% fewer shots fired incidents in Q1 of 2025 compared with Q1 of 2024. And again, as I repeated at the start of this presentation, we are making progress.

We are not declaring victory.

We must increase our efforts to increase safety in Seattle and King County.

Not all of the reduction in gun violence is felt equally.

In 2024, we noticed that 394 of the shooting victims, 82% were male, 26 were between the ages of 18 and 22, and 76% were people of color.

Youth gun violence remains high, and the number of shooting victims in 2024, let's see, The number of shooting victims between 0 and 17 represented 15% of total shooting victims compared to 9%.

Let's see.

When I think about the overall health of our holistic criminal legal system and the things that we are doing, we can't just look to crime stats.

We also have to look to what the priorities are and the areas that support victims of crime.

As we know, there has been a sharp decrease In the amount of funds dedicated to crime victims, and we daily in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office work to support crime victims as they navigate our legal systems.

Our advocates work each day to help crime victim survivors understand the complexities of the criminal justice system, their rights as a victim, And the resources that they may have access to to address the adverse impacts of victimization.

Our deputy prosecuting attorneys and legal service professionals fight for justice on behalf of victims each day in court.

And our entire prosecuting attorney's office team works diligently to enforce victim rights.

I recently hired a new director of victim services who will help enhance the coordination of the services that we offer as a system and to work with victims who are experiencing contact with the criminal legal system as victims.

In a year of across-the-board constraints, I made funding for crime victims and crime victim survivors my top priority in this past legislative session.

On February 3, I testified in support of Senate Bill 5362 and House Bill 1487, which would have stabilized statewide funding for crime survivors that are administrated through the Department of Commerce's Office of Crime Victim Advocacy.

These funds have decreased by 90% since 2017. And while I have urged the federal government to fulfill their obligation to crime victims, we have not seen a lot of action on that front.

And if they fail to act, it is imperative upon our state to step in and fill that gap.

While the bills that I testified for did not become law, I'm going to continue these efforts in future sessions.

Among my other legislative priorities that did become law, we did close a loophole gap in our hate crime statute.

Where we are now able to hold people accountable for hate crimes when their actions were motivated in whole or in part by bias.

We've seen through our trial work that juries have become more confused by the previous statute.

And this important change helps us hold those who perpetrate hate and harm people accountable.

One thing that I'm engaged in is a statewide listening tour to get to the heart of the changes that are necessary in our statewide involuntary treatment at court.

This is work that is unfunded.

I have built a multidisciplinary team where we have law enforcement, people with lived experience, direct service providers, public defense, NAMI, prosecuting attorneys at the table.

Completed our listening session in Spokane and also in Whatcom County.

We are now moving to the Columbia Basin.

As we continue to prepare those themes that are emerging from the listening sessions, we will be sharing those more publicly and with our state lawmakers.

And I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you very much for the presentation, and I just wanted to note too, Council Member Hollingsworth has joined us in person from being remote.

Thank you.

And as always, well first, thank you very much for the briefing, and I'll ask questions, but I always go to my Vice Chair first, Vice Chair Saka.

Hello, Council Member.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Prosecuting and Attorney Mannion for being here today, taking the time to share out some of this important data and the work going on at the county level to address our shared priorities and concerns, and really appreciate all the work that's been done It's clear that the data is trending in the right direction, and I would agree with your assessment that it's the result of a lot of collaboration at the various prosecuting attorney's offices with our judicial partners.

And importantly, Friendly Amendment is that because all this, as Chair Kittle noted earlier last week, all these positive trends, It didn't happen by happenstance.

It's also, I think, a direct result of some intentional policy choices and decisions that have been made at all levels of government.

I can really just speak to what we've done here in Seattle, passing at least 20. I forgot the total tally at this point, Mr. Chair.

But the total tally of public safety investments and pieces of legislation that we've passed here.

And we've done things to bolster and boost our fire department, including our paramedics and the hiring and recruitment of those, supporting our Seattle Police Department and helping to increase and expedite and streamline the hiring process, making sure they have the tools and resources they need to be successful.

Because we can't just hang our hats on police and fire alone.

In the city, we've expanded significantly our new care department, a really first-of-its-kind alternative civilian-led response to really address some of those high-acuity incidents that really just don't require police or, in some cases, fire.

And so that with the technology.

Bills to help supplement and augment everyone, all the work of our three public safety departments here within the city.

So it's really not just one thing in my view, it's an amalgam of things in all of us working together.

But as you aptly noted, prosecuting attorney Mannion, There's plenty more work to do.

And it doesn't mean we're crime-free.

And far from a moment where we can slap each other high fives and pat each other on the back and say, attaboy, because crime still exists.

But it does, to your point, provide a glimmer of hope.

Curious to better understand So a lot of the encouraging trends and data shared about crime, most of it seems to involve adults.

And you mentioned at the end of the presentation that That with respect to juveniles, shootings, particularly shooting victims, doubled essentially since 2019. Where are we at with, so that remains a huge opportunity for all of us to better get a hold of that and address that.

Where are we at with, At a high level, at least, with crime data pertaining to juveniles outside of the gun violence context.

Sure.

At a very high level, I think every single juvenile gun violence case is concerning to all of us.

It's unlawful for juveniles to carry firearms, and when juveniles carry firearms, we should all be concerned about that.

With regard to overarching juvenile crime, we in the juvenile justice system have not reached pre-pandemic levels.

We are close to pre-pandemic levels so far in 2025. We have 500 cases filed, and those of course are driven by police referrals.

So we're below 2019 levels, but what is concerning is that the ratio, that the number of young people whose first brush with the criminal legal system is a serious violent crime or homicide, that ratio, that number has increased.

But overarching juvenile crime, the overall total numbers, have not reached pre-pandemic levels yet.

Got it.

Thank you.

And with respect to the juvenile Gun violence challenge, the ongoing one that we face, it's getting worse.

In my view, I think we need the best response is prevention, and I think we need more programs and services and mental health opportunities for our youth and continue to invest in those things at all levels of government, city, county, state, federal.

And also, I do personally see a A non-trivial tie and correlation between some of the violence that we're seeing now in juveniles to a protracted school closure period during COVID.

And when schools were opening up around the state and country, we made the best decisions we could Here in Seattle, but it still required an order of the governor of the state of Washington to get schools back four days a week for two hours a day in person.

So in my view, part of what we're facing now is a direct consequence of that.

I have a question about

Before you move off of juvenile gun violence, can I talk about a couple of things that are promising practices?

So in the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, we have launched a safer schools initiative where we and the Prosecuting Attorney's Office serve as a direct liaison between school officials and juvenile court staff, and we are sharing notes on an individual's safe return to school.

A lot of young people who enter the criminal legal system, even when their cases are adjudicated, We want to make sure that that return is as safe as possible and that we are sharing information about young people in a way that is helpful and designed to increase protective factors.

Under our state law, it currently takes five adjudications before a young person caught unlawfully carrying a firearm.

Faces sanctions that are greater than 30 days.

I did work with our legislature in an attempt to change that law.

Those efforts were unsuccessful.

That being said, within existing resources, which are scarce in my office, we are launching a pilot project to see if we can seek juvenile extreme risk protection orders.

In appropriate cases where juveniles are caught carrying firearms, those juvenile ERPOs are a civil action.

The records are sealed and they are served on families and parents in hopes that we can remove juveniles' access to firearms.

So those are a couple of things that we are doing to combat juvenile gun violence.

Thank you.

My next question, Just curious, intrigued by some of the public comment today, reference to all of it so far with the exception of one, and I'll do it now.

So crime is trending in the right direction again, initially, far from a mission accomplished moment.

But we know at least some of the crime that happens throughout the city, throughout our region does go unreported.

And so just curious, in your view, roughly how much crime goes unreported across the county?

And in your assessment, how does that compare?

A certain amount of crime has always gone unreported.

But in your assessment, how does that compare to like historically?

I have no way of measuring unreported crime in City of Seattle or King County.

What I do count and what we keep track of are law enforcement referrals.

When people are afraid, when they believe a crime has been committed, they contact law enforcement.

We in the state of Washington cannot file cases without a signature from a police officer investigator on our certification of determination of probable cause.

So we pay close attention to the cases that police bring to us.

We review every police referral individually on a case-by-case basis.

With the eye of charging the crime that is appropriate in light of the evidence in the investigation presented.

But in terms of cases that are not reported, I just have no way of measuring that.

Fair enough.

Thank you.

Final question.

In your view, how can the city, our city, or cities across the county be better partners to address some of our shared challenges and concerns pertaining to crime?

Well, I believe, honestly, the partnership between the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the Seattle City Attorney's Office has never been stronger.

It really makes a difference and has a positive impact when we are sharing information.

Not just on the folks who are routinely causing harm in our community, but also the folks who are cycling in and between some of our treatment options.

It's important to trade notes on addressing root causes Because if someone who has been presented to the City Attorney's Office has tried, say, Option A in treatment, we in the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office don't want to go back to Option A. We'd like to try something new and offer like an Option B, right?

I think also the increase in law enforcement has been really helpful.

As I said, you know, we cannot file cases without the partnership and the important work of our law enforcement partners.

And when we look to serious violent crime, sexual assault, gun violence, I think we can all agree that we need police to respond to those important 911 calls, to those crime scenes, to do the important work and the important investigations necessary so that we in the prosecuting attorney's office Can review those referrals and file appropriate charges for necessary accountability.

I think also the work that we are doing to address root causes, the fact that we have LEAD, that we believe that we can hold people accountable but also get to the root cause of substance use disorder and mental health disorder.

Those two things combined have a positive impact on our community.

Thank you.

And just close by thanking you again, Prosecuting Attorney Mannion, for being here today, all of our partners at the county government level.

Appreciate your work and your partnership in addressing these shared challenges.

Thank you.

No further questions or comments, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

I wanted to note, too, Council President Nelson has joined us, and as always, this committee always welcomes non-committee members to join us, so Council Member Rivera has also joined us, so welcome, Council President and Council Member Rivera.

I'm looking at my screens, by the way, for those who don't know, seeing if there's any hands raised for any questions now.

Council Member Kendall.

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks always for letting me attend your meeting.

I feel like an honorary member.

So thank you for that.

Thank you for being here.

And I really want to underscore something you said about the partnership between the city attorney's office and the King County prosecutor and the partners at Seattle Police Department and other folks at the city.

I could not agree more how the importance of that relationship.

And I want to say that I, for one, have been very grateful to your team for the constant flow of information about things happening related to North Precinct, which is a precinct that services the district that I'm in.

You and I have chatted as well.

And so I feel really, I just really wanted to thank you for that.

And also to underscore the importance of that because without the partnerships and without the information, it does make it harder to look at policy considerations and how to approach the work better and how to do better for our residents in general and how to know what are the best solutions to some of these very difficult problems.

Including, but not limited to, the youth piece.

And as you all know, because you've only heard me probably say it a hundred times in the year and a half that I've been here, my kids have been impacted by gun violence in the schools.

So that's something that I really care deeply about.

I'll be reaching out to your office to learn more about the Safer Schools Initiative, because that is something we should be in close contact, I believe, about.

And just know the information so we're able to communicate it to our constituents as well.

So, Chair, not a question but more a comment about the importance of these relationships.

And so the public knows we are in constant communication.

It's not just today.

It's not just a presentation.

And how important it is and has been to the district I represent to have that point of contact.

And the last thing I'll comment I'll make is that your folks have been really great about communicating with folks in my district with the constituents that I represent.

And that's been really important and critical just so that the public knows they can talk to your office directly and get the information that they're seeking about the things that are happening in the districts.

That is really important too.

So I wanted to thank you for that and underscore Again, the importance of that.

So I look forward to the continued relationship and to learning more.

I'll reach out on the Safer Schools pilot.

And thank you again for being here and for all you and your team are doing in partnership with the city.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you so much for that feedback.

Thank you for those comments.

It is extremely important to me that the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office share the data behind our work and the rationale behind our decision-making.

I have been remiss in introducing David Baker, who is with me today.

David is the Director of Data Analytics in the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

He is the magic behind our public-facing data dashboard.

We were the first prosecuting attorney's office in the state and we're among a select few in the United States that has a public-facing dashboard.

We also every month push out a report that shares with leaders in all of King County The cases that we have filed involving gun violence and we communicate with each council district with regard to crimes coming out of each specific precinct and district.

If you're not receiving those updates from us, please let me know because we try to push those out proactively.

Thank you.

Can we give a little shout out to Casey McNerthy from your office who's been a really great partner.

And all of this.

And he regularly reaches out to give us updates on arrests that have been made in the district to me and to constituents, like I said, directly.

So, and he always attends the North Precinct Community Council meeting.

So, I mean, advisory council meeting.

So thank you.

Casey is fantastic and he is beloved.

Yes.

Yes, Mr. McNerthy.

I think all council members know him and his involvement.

It almost feels like he works for the Seattle City Council.

KC and I chat all the time.

He knows how to reach me at any hour of the day or night, yes.

But don't worry, we won't poach them.

So thank you.

I just wanted to, you know, I was making some notes to myself and to kind of follow up kind of like what the vice chair was saying with technology.

We had a public comment, or I always like weaving in public comment when we can.

And the technology piece, you know, I note different pieces.

You noted, you know, like our, you know, the auto theft.

You know, in the past year, we put in ALPR, Automatic License Plate Reader.

So we've been bringing in technology, so what Mr. Bell was talking about.

Automatic License Plate Reader, ALPR, CCTV, and the Real-Time Crime Center.

And we just saw an example of how that plays out with a pistol whip and fire shots fired in Aurora in District 5. And can you speak?

See, part of me, I see intrinsically some of the The benefits of these technology pieces, but can you speak to when you get the data set, the video and the different pieces that come from technology and how that aids your ability to prosecute these crimes and to get a better

Sure, sure.

It's an important part of the great police work that we see in City of Seattle and also all parts of King County.

When police go out and gather video evidence and present that to us, it allows us to see a crime scene more fully.

It allows our deputy prosecuting attorneys when reviewing a case or a referral to go frame by frame, to analyze exactly what they are looking at so that we can make the appropriate filing decision.

Excellent.

One area of interest, you know, it's interesting for me at the city level, here on the council and the public safety committee, but also, you know, the challenges the county faces and then what happens in Olympia, what happens at the state.

You mentioned different parts of your Your briefing about the state and how it impacts or doesn't impact your points about legislation.

And speaking of legislation, one big piece was the Blake fix.

And that really shifted in terms of the drug felonies.

Basically went from felonies to misdemeanors.

And I would argue that our fix to the Blake fix was problematic.

But overall, How do you see the transition?

From the state perspective, I don't think there was a lot of pieces but in play.

We didn't get any additional resources, for example.

And there's little pieces that go into additional felonies, the impacts of pressing forward on a case, drug dealing versus, and you mentioned diversion for those that are solely with substance use.

Can you speak to the transition That Blake Fix brought to us as a county and a city and how that interplays and some of the factors that people don't necessarily know about in terms of, you know, decisions, you know, prosecuting decisions or the partnership with the city attorney's office, you know, the misdemeanor.

How does that work from your perspective?

Well, it's my understanding that when our state lawmakers changed drug possession to a misdemeanor crime, I don't believe any jurisdiction in our state received additional resources.

Not at the felony level, that would make sense, but I have not heard of any municipality that received additional resources.

In King County, we have misdemeanor jurisdiction only in the unincorporated parts of King County and along the I-5 corridor.

So we don't see the level of drug possession cases that any municipality sees.

So yeah, like I said, I'm not aware of any resources that were passed from the state lawmakers to any municipality.

And speaking of I-5, drug trafficking and the higher level pieces,

Yes, drug dealing and drug trafficking are felony crimes.

We file those charges in the prosecuting attorney's office.

We routinely work with law enforcement.

They do a really good job of seizing hundreds of pounds of fentanyl and more pills than we could possibly keep track of, unlawful guns, and cash.

I believe I have shared with this council and others the picture of the drug detection canine that is sitting in front of a table that is piled with fentanyl powder, pills, cash, drugs, and the dog is smiling because it's my understanding that for a job well done, the dog gets a hot dog.

So those are very compelling photos, and that happens routinely in our community.

We regularly file those cases, yes.

Okay.

Yeah, and that's very important, the upper level stuff, and there's elements of Seattle PD, or they're working at the trafficking, the dealing, whether there's a violent piece to it, or even when there's not a violent piece, because the impact on our neighborhoods is such, I mean, we can go through all our neighborhoods, and even if there's not a violent piece, What's happening like in Belltown, you know, in 3rd and Blanchard or 3rd Pike and Pine in downtown and the CID.

The challenge is so hard that this is definitely an area where, as I always talk about, keeping the press on, pressing.

And so my ask is to keep the press on this area too, even though in terms of the Blake Fix pieces, but on the felony trafficking, the dealing side, that we keep the press on.

Because this combination That's what's going to start making a difference on our streets.

Right.

That, I think, speaks to the partnership that we've been chatting with.

And also, like I said, drug dealing is a felony crime.

And we take that seriously and we file those cases.

Yes.

One thing that we passed—actually, we had an audit on organized retail crime.

That was part of your briefing, and that's also been a challenge for our city.

Obviously, violent crime is key.

By the way, it's easy to get the true data sets, but property crime is really a challenge for us.

There's the retail crime, but then the more broader property crime.

Anything along those lines that you can speak to?

You had the slide about the retail crime, but in terms of the broader property.

Sure.

I will email this council the specific numbers, but I have a dedicated retail crimes prosecutor in my office that works with retailers directly.

They're a member of WAL ORCA.

They work directly with law enforcement.

And by having a dedicated retail crime prosecutor, the number of cases filed went up dramatically.

And I will share those numbers.

I just don't have them right off the top of my head.

Dedicated resources make a difference.

Having trained law enforcement makes a difference.

The partnership between law enforcement and retail organizations is key.

But again, we need police officers to sign that certification of determination of probable cause.

So their partnership is vital to these efforts.

Just quickly finishing up to piggyback on that, because one of the things I noted in your briefing is felony referrals from law enforcement down 36.7%, Seattle and county broadly is 25.3%.

One could argue, since we're down so many officers, you're just not Being able to get these felony referrals.

And I think we just passed 100 hired for the year, calendar year 25, for the Seattle Police Department.

And bringing these officers online, bringing the different elements back online, aided by technology that, you know, the felony referrals will more accurately relate to felonies being committed as opposed to being impacted by the shortage of officers.

So it's interesting to see the briefing and have these pieces.

I think we have to continue to watch that number.

It has been important for Seattle Police Department to add officers to their ranks.

I think we all agree on that.

So that has been encouraging the addition of officers and the decrease of referrals.

That is kind of like what we're really hoping for.

So continuing to watch these numbers.

We'll continue to reflect on the state of public safety in our community.

So absolutely, always happy to share information.

All right.

Well, usually I go last, but I'm going to go to Councilmember Hollingsworth.

But to close for me, I wanted to say thank you for having a slide and your work related to the Involuntary Treatment Act listening tour.

I think it's very important.

I think it's really important for people like yourself to say it.

I've been saying involuntary commit because the sad fact of life is we're at this point now with all the investments that we're doing that we're in a situation where there's some individuals who are just not competent to make the decisions.

And because of reform from previous abuses, the pendulum came too far.

And we need to find a center because what's happening is people are being hurt because They remain on the street.

And the Involuntary Commit Treatment Act piece is really important.

And service providers will say this quietly to me.

But they don't say it publicly.

So I think it's really important to show leadership from the county level and from the city level.

So I just wanted to say thank you.

Well, thank you so much.

And when I launched the statewide ITA Listing Court, It's work that is unfunded.

That is work that I am convening with a multidisciplinary team, a group of folks who are volunteering their time.

But there wasn't a single person who said things were perfect, leave it as is.

And there wasn't a single person who tried to take this project away from me, so I kind of thought I was onto something.

But the work is important.

I think we can all agree that when folks are faced with mental health and behavioral health challenges, And they are brought to a treatment assessment for harm to self-others who are gravely disabled.

The right outcome should be how do we get that person help in the least restrictive means possible before they become victims or perpetrators of harm.

That's, I think, what we're all collectively working for.

And having mental health treatment early and upfront will benefit all of us as well.

Thank you.

And thank you for the kids who've joined us.

Usually they come inside, but they just stayed in the antechamber there.

On a regular basis, we have school children come into chambers.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Chair Kettle.

That's a great segue into my next question.

Just a point.

Okay, so do I say the full thing?

King County Prosecuting Attorney Mannion.

Oh, you can just call me Lisa.

Okay.

I always wanted to be proper.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for being here and all the work that you do and just echoing what Council Member Rivera said, just like the communication with your office and just the transparency has been great.

So thank you so much.

Really appreciate that.

One of the points I wanted to make, and it's not necessarily a question, it's just kind of like a little alarming, is on page 17 when you all broke down the stats.

And thank you, it's Mr. Blake.

Was that your last?

Okay, you gave me the side eyebrow.

Baker.

Baker.

Damn.

I'm sorry, Baker.

I knew it was a B.

My bad.

He gave me the side eyebrow, too, when I said that.

The camera did not get that, but I just wanted to point that out.

So the one thing that I think is alarming And you all pointed out that out of the 394 shooting victims, that 26% were between the ages of 18 and 24. And then the youth part, 15% are between zero and 17. And if you add those up, that means that 41% of gun violence victims are under the age of 24. If I'm adding correctly.

And usually when someone comes to your office or they get to that point or you all are prosecuting folks or whatever that is, I know that we as a society have just failed in general.

Whenever I see a kid shot or something, I'm like, We've just failed as a society.

What are we doing?

And so the question I have for you all, because you all are kind of at the end of the process, not at the beginning when we're trying to deter people and stuff, and when they get to you, you know, it's like, okay, what can we do better?

From your expert opinion for the victims that you've seen come through your office or you all examine or the shooters or any of the crime and all this, And I think Councilmember Sokka asked the question about what can we do better as a city.

What can we do better for our kids that you think, the programs that are working, the investments that we need to make?

We have a levy coming up.

I think we just need to be making more investments in our kids and just go wildly crazy at the money that we're throwing at that to make sure that we have the progressive outcomes.

Where we can deter kids so they can feel safe.

Because I'll always say when we keep our babies safe, we keep our community safe.

And if our kids are safe, then everyone else is safe.

And that's what I think we need to focus more on.

So just from your expert opinions, what programs do you think are working that you've seen from your expert opinion that are positive?

I am really encouraged by the numbers that we're seeing in Kent.

I think a 50% decrease in overall number of shots fired is impressive.

The organizations that the Kent Police Department and the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office are working with is Latino Civic Alliance.

And Project Be Free, which is a domestic violence interruption organization.

But interrupting violence, identifying the individuals who are close to gun violence, who have not yet become perpetrators or victims of harm, offering holistic interventions to the entire family has made a difference.

I'm encouraged by that work.

I think that we can, as a King County region, identify other partners who do that work and do that work well.

I think the renewed focus from the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to solve non-fatal shootings will help remove firearms from our community.

There are certain firearms we know from our analysis that show up at a lot of different shootings.

You know, we can bring accountability to the folks who are causing most harm in our community, but If we can get certain guns out of circulation and certain shooters out of circulation, it improves public safety for all of us.

Those were all my questions, Mr. Chair.

And thank you, Lisa, for highlighting the family piece.

Because I think oftentimes we forget and we're so focused on the kids and we don't think about the family component.

Whatever family looks like to someone, that component, how important it is, and the parent's success, how it's important to the kid's success.

So thank you for that.

And thank you for everything and for being here.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth and Council President.

Thank you for being here, and I apologize for joining late.

Speaking of Mr. McNerthy, and I'll get to that in a moment, in July of 2024, our city auditor produced a report on the concentration of areas where Crime and overdoses are concentrated.

So basically mapping that out and looking at what can be done and produced about, I don't remember if it was nine or so recommendations.

One of them was investigating overdoses as homicides.

And a while back, it was in my first year in office in 2022, Casey put me in touch with two members of King Cities in King County police departments where they were, in fact, I believe it was Redmond and Bellevue, I could be wrong, but in any case, two cities where that was common practice.

And at that point, if you remember 2022, we were still on the massive exodus of officers and it was not even possible to contemplate the work that that might add to So my point is, or my question, and we can take it offline, is, has your, have any of the cities that are doing this taken advantage of the resources provided by, I think it is, Haida?

Regional drug czar's office, I understand that they have training available for police departments that want to do that as well, and what to look for in a checklist of things to look at at the scene of the overdose to see whether or not that is an appropriate avenue of investigation.

Maybe offline we can talk and get somebody in touch.

Happy to have that conversation.

Happy to check in with my homicide prosecutors.

I will say that most often in the realm of homicide, it's not often that we see an overdose as homicide case referred to us.

When that happens, it tends to be the loss Like the child is the victim, the child has died in an accidental overdose.

Those are cases that we see, but happy to chat with you offline, happy to share information that we may have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

And our final question will go to Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Just quickly, would you mind talking a little bit about the children who are involved with gun violence?

Is there a trend or is it sort of ad hoc across the board who's involved?

So, for instance, are these kids who have parents that are involved with gun violence and then You know, there's something there with the...

Or is it, you know, gang-related?

Or is it, do we know?

Or is it how, you know, is there...

Yeah, I don't have that level of detail.

I don't know.

But I will say, overall, we know that when we keep kids in school, it increases protective factors.

Engagement with education at every level.

It is helpful.

It reduces...

Young people's involvement in the criminal justice system at every stage.

So just increasing school attendance is one of the most effective crime prevention strategies that we as a community can take collectively.

And also early education, which is why we went so bold with preschool and childcare in this, you know, at the city in general.

We do that.

We focus on that because we know early Education, that child has better outcomes long term.

But I just wondered lately with this, the kids who have, since there seems to be an uptick of kids, or you were talking about, with gun violence, is there, or associated with gun violence, is there some things that we've identified where we can We target some approaches to try to manage for that.

Yeah, I don't have any easily identified traits, but we're always looking at these issues, always happy to share information as we discover it.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chu.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And, you know, to conclude on that point, I am more, and I'm sure others are happy to work with you.

Our Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Relations On getting fixes, legislative fixes in Olympia.

I can see us partnering with you, with my counterpart, who's my committee counterpart as well, King County Councilmember Jorge Barón and others, and to partner to get these fixes in Olympia to help us moving forward.

So to close, thank you, Mr. Baker, for showing up and for prosecuting attorney Liza Mannion, really appreciate you coming here and kicking us off on what is essentially King County Day.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We will now move on to our second item business.

Will the clerk please read item two in the record.

King County Superior Court overview and 2025 updates.

Thank you.

I want to welcome King County Superior Court presiding Judge Shaw to the table.

Thank you so much for joining us today and following our King County prosecuting attorney.

So welcome.

Good morning.

Thank you, Chair Kettle, for inviting the King County Superior Court to present.

And good morning, council members.

My name is K2 Shaw.

I'm the presiding judge of King County Superior Court.

And I'm just going to cover a little bit overview of what our court does.

I'll try to keep it at a higher level and then be happy to answer any questions and maybe follow up on some of the questions you've already asked.

So as you know, the foundation of our civil society is the rule of law.

And for us, at the court, the bottom line is making our courts accessible to everyone.

It is that unspoken part of our fabric of our society that the rule of law allows us to function civilly.

And at the courts, we often see people, when they have a disagreement, are needing assistance to protect their person or property, Or on an emotional crisis.

They come to us with trust that we will be fair, neutral, and consider all sides of the issue and follow the law before making a decision.

This is the essence of the rule of law.

We as an institution create faith in our society.

When jurors come to our court to serve, I often tell them it is the second most important service they will perform as citizens of our county, the first being voting.

They come essentially volunteering their time to make a decision based on the evidence and the law when a dispute is involved.

So I have this PowerPoint presentation that I put together with some graphs, and I told my daughter the other day that I was putting this together, feeling very proud of my work.

Of getting the data together, creating spreadsheets and the light.

She said, great dad, now you're a beginner plus one and using Excel.

So forgive me for my plus one presentation here.

So what do we do?

Last year we had about almost 60,000 cases filed in our court.

That's about 10% more than 2023. You can see the breakdown here of the different types of cases we do.

Often people talk about our Court is a criminal justice court, which in some respects we are, but more broadly and accurately, we are a legal system that is 90% non-criminal, 10% criminal.

70% of our work is in civil guardianships and family law.

So we really are a justice system.

And here is a graph that talks about our criminal pending cases.

And as you can see, we had a spike in 2020 and 21. That was really part of the COVID pandemic that we all experienced.

And with the support of our executive and county council, we applied some of the Clifford funds to work on that backlog.

And now we have reduced that backlog Substantially, we're about 10 percent higher in cases pending than in 2019, about 4,100 cases pending now versus 3,500 before the pandemic.

And here's a bigger view kind of of the cases pending.

And you again can see the spike in 2020 versus 2024. And that sort of Work towards chipping away at the backlog was in partnership with our friends at the PAO, DPD, and DAJD.

Everyone had to chip in to get that work done.

We still have a high number of serious cases pending.

Today, we have over 200 homicide cases pending.

Before the pandemic, we had about 100 cases pending.

Homicide cases pending.

What we do see is our filing numbers are represented right here, as you can see.

And in this first quarter of 2025, the percentage of homicides has dropped from 2.2 percent to about 1.7 percent.

So we are seeing a reduction there as well.

About 40% of our cases that are pending in our court are violent crimes, homicides, sex crimes, robbery, and assault.

And you can see the breakdown there by percentages of the cases that are filed in our court.

So I wanted to speak about access.

As part of resolving our disputes, our courts must be open and accessible.

And during the pandemic, we were one of the few entities that did not shut down, really nationwide.

We continued to conduct trials.

At first, it was all remote trials, but our staff were coming, the judges were coming into court every day here at the downtown courthouse and in Kent as well.

And then slowly, we started bringing back lawyers and jurors.

And so, as you can see here, this past year, we had about 360,000 people enter the courthouse, about 1,400 per day, and about 450,000 articles screened in the X-ray.

I highlight that 1,400 per day because it is reduced.

We used to have about 3,000 to 4,000 people come in a day, but we changed some of our practices, so we don't call in all the jurors for every case.

We do a kind of remote selection, so people are coming into our court through Zoom, answering the initial stages of questions, and then if they're selected for the jury, they come into the courthouse.

To hear the evidence and hear the trial.

But because of this There has been worry about coming to the courthouse, and we have had kind of tracking the different incidences around the courthouse on third, fourth, and so forth.

And as you can see here, there has been 125 disturbances, couple bomb threats, some violations.

What that really implicates is the safety around our courthouse implicates our We have the ability to attract jurors to come and serve.

We only pay $10 per day, and so really doesn't even pay for parking.

And so we're really in debt to their goodwill, their service to come to our court.

And we want to be that forum where people can resolve disputes.

But a part of that is having jurors being able to come and serve.

You can see here the next slide talks about courtroom alarms and so forth, but the other highlight I wanted to mention to you is our protection escorts.

We have about almost 1,500, and that is we have been requested by staff and jurors to have escorts to get to public transit stations, whether it's a bus stop or light rail or walking to their car if they're parked nearby.

And thanks to the county council, the executive, and as the work of this city council and the mayor, we were able to offer some of these services.

And then there's been an increase in emphasis around the courthouse and the King County campus and the Seattle campus.

The City Hall Park has improved tremendously.

And so we're very thankful that those resources were applied to this area to make our courts accessible.

I think, again, it's critical for our civil society to function, to have courts that are Available to resolve disputes and jurors to be able to come in to hear those disputes.

And we just encourage you to keep investing in those resources to keep this campus safe for everyone to come.

Without it, people who cannot access the court They become, I think, dissatisfied with how government is working on their behalf, and then that's when civil disorder increases.

When people can come, whatever their dispute is, if it's a family law matter, if it is seeking a civil protection order for some protection, if it is a criminal matter, that they be able to come to our court And so I appreciate all of the efforts that you have done to make the surrounding campus safer, and I hope that you'll continue to invest.

Incidences that happen just across the street from the courthouse, 3rd and James, 4th and James.

And there is a lot of coordination that has to happen for the responses to be effective.

Involves the sheriffs, the Seattle Police Department, Metro Transit Security.

And so we appreciate when those partners are coordinating and working together to really address some of these safety issues.

So with that, I'll pause.

I did want to just add, I think there were some questions about, you know, juvenile youth and how do we approach that.

I think one of the things we've been thinking about it as well at the court level, and one of the things we really believe is that there needs to be a continuum of interventions.

From the very beginning, early on, truancy, as Prosecutor Mannion discussed, Sometimes they're at-risk youth petitions and this sort of thing, where it's not really court involvement, but people come to the court looking for assistance.

And so we have some services that are offered, but they're financially challenged right now because the state withdrew some funding.

So we think that early intervention and then interventions throughout the process, whether it's at a misdemeanor level or felony level, Referring them to community resources out to help them provide stability, structure, is a way to try to reduce some of the youth incidences we see here currently.

So with that, I'll pause and answer any questions.

Thank you very much for your time.

Well, thank you, President Judge Shaw.

And before I always go to my vice chair first, but before I go into that, I just want to make a commitment that we are working The public safety challenges, the public safety posture throughout the city, but to include downtown and specifically in the area in and around the King County Courthouse.

That's really important.

That's a responsibility that we have.

And I think we're making progress, but we're not there.

And I will make a separate commitment too.

I'm also working what I call the pit because I don't think that helps either.

But with that, Vice Chair,

Thank you, Mr. Chair and presiding Judge Shaw, Your Honor.

Thank you so much.

Welcome.

We're really excited to have you here.

Same with all of our partners at the county level.

And thank you again for being here today and sharing this kind of initial overview presentation.

I generally agree with your daughter about the proficiency here, but the substance is what matters most.

And from that perspective, it was very helpful.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And please give my warmest regards to your colleagues at the bench, including a few of my close mentors and people who have guided and helped mentor me since I was a baby lawyer.

Now I'm a non-practicing attorney, of course.

Here I am.

But including Judge Leroy McCullough, your colleague.

And really appreciate the work that you all do to play a vital role in our broader criminal legal system, justice system.

And I know as a non-practicing lawyer, I know firsthand the power and impact of this work because, as I mentioned earlier, it really does take all of us.

Really appreciate you all for being here.

I'll say with respect to the King County Regional Justice Center in Kent, I have the honor and privilege today of representing District 1 in Seattle, basically the southwest portion of the city on a map.

West Seattle, South Park, Georgetown, Pioneer Square, and Soto.

But I grew up during my high school years and middle school years in Kent, in the valley in Kent.

And 64th and James in some low-income apartments a few blocks away from the Norma Lang Regional Justice Center where, sadly, some of my childhood friends and high school friends would eventually be housed.

And, heck, some of them I believe were sentenced for their crimes by judges who are now my mentors.

And so, you know, Those experiences, powered by those experiences, that would help.

That's what helps motivate me now from a policy standpoint to address some of the juvenile issues that you talked about.

Prosecute attorney Mannion talked about.

Liza, want to be respectful, he earned these great titles here.

But in any event, I just really do appreciate the work that you all do.

Just one question, and just in the interest of time, What do you think, Your Honor, the City of Seattle can do?

And I'm going to ask the same thing to our final presenters as well in the interest of time.

What do you think the City of Seattle can do and other cities to better support Your work in the King County court system.

And also just be better partners to make sure we can all more effectively address our shared challenges and concerns.

What more can Seattle do?

Other cities across King County do.

I appreciate the question, Vice Chair Saka.

And Judge McCullough is a dear mentor to many of us.

He started a youth forum program down in Renton, and that's been going for 30 years where He volunteers his time on Saturdays, brings in a bunch of community members to give youth a vision of what it means to be in this community, and he brings in all kinds of people, doctors, lawyers, law enforcement, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, and just to give that view of what life could be like for a young person.

That's a great program that our court has invested in and he personally has been involved in.

I think to your question, I really appreciate it because I think we all have a part to play in trying to increase civil society.

And we have that part to play both in the policies we enact but also in the words and rhetoric we use.

And really talking about how, you know, the courts are the place, a forum for Resolution of disputes.

And sometimes we disagree with courts.

We disagree with their decision.

But to recognize it is part of the system that makes us understand how to move, get beyond disputes.

Whatever the dispute is, eventually there's going to be a decision.

You have to move on with your life and still live the rest of your life.

And we need to understand that.

Our society, the way our government works, is intended to help people.

It is intended to be for the good.

And I think we all could play a part in that by the policies we use, partnering, coordinating, but also our rhetoric and our words, being kind of optimistic that this is a place, a process that works, that we can do better.

We're not perfect, but that we can do better.

Thank you.

Really appreciate your response there, presiding Judge Shaw.

With respect to the Youth and Law Forum that Judge McCullough founded, had the pleasure of participating in that for a few years and teaching things like social media law and intellectual property law to youth.

I think it is currently, to your point, it's currently in Renton, but it started, or at least when I was more involved in it, it started at First AME Church.

That's right.

And such a great, highly impactful annual event.

But in any event, thank you for again being here and more importantly, all you do and your strong partnership and collaboration.

Really appreciate you, Your Honor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

All right.

Thank you.

Council President Nelson.

Thank you very much, Judge Shaw, for coming today.

I'm honored to have your honor's presence here.

Let's just say that.

I'm trying to decipher or read into your presentation what I should really be taking away because I noticed that out of eight pages you spend three talking about External conditions and the conditions, you know, of the courthouse, the physical conditions of the courthouse itself.

And you mentioned in sort of in passing 100 homicide cases pending, and then we continued discussing the external conditions.

So my constituents, the sort of things that they're interested in is why do people who have committed Violent crime, been convicted, and why are they out so soon?

Those sorts of things.

Why do judges make the decisions that they do?

And your emphasis on the external conditions makes me I wonder, and tell me if this is correct, that it's our management of public safety in the city around the courthouse that determines your ability or the ability of the court to have enough jurors to try cases and all the other people that work in On the inside.

So is that a problem with the meeting out of justice, the fact that you don't have a working courthouse because our public safety system is not adequate and you can't get the people inside?

I wouldn't characterize it as that.

I think I would characterize it as challenging.

As you recall, in 2020-21, there was a lot of disorder right next to the courthouse, and that disorder led to, you know, some violent offenses occurring right next to the courthouse, which got a lot of media attention.

And then we heard a lot of lawyers and jurors really concerned about the safety around the courthouse.

And the courthouse, the way, again, these are the ways governments work together.

King County is responsible for the courthouse and then the block of the courthouse.

So they're responsible for kind of Third Avenue, the entrance to Third Avenue.

But if you go across the street, it is the responsibility of the City of Seattle.

You go to the corner of 3rd and James, that corner is part of the courthouse block.

You go across the street where the pit, as Councilmember Kettle talks about, that corner is responsibility of City of Seattle.

And so that's the...

Tension sometimes that the sheriffs and the City of Seattle get into, like, okay, who should respond first, or who's responsible for patrolling that area?

And then there's Metro.

There's the Metro bus stops and light rail station.

And so we've had some, you know, the Pioneer Square light rail stations across the street from the courthouse.

And so there has been some disorder in that area.

And then some people have said, well, that's Metro's responsibility to take care of that.

So there is that coordination that has to occur because the blocks are, you know, Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

The point I'd like to make is making sure that we all are coordinated.

You all have influence in how the city of Seattle works and runs.

The county council has influence on how the county runs.

And so I make this same pitch to the county council.

I encourage them to coordinate with the city of Seattle partners to make sure not only our block, our security entrances are covered, but also the vicinity of the courthouse.

As you might remember, in 1994, 1995, excuse me, we had a shooting in the courthouse.

And it was a tragic loss of life.

And for the previous 10 years or so, the court, the judges, were asking for better security for people coming into the courthouse.

And, you know, there just wasn't funding.

There was a lot of policy conversations about it.

But after the shooting occurred, overnight we got mignometers put in to make sure no one comes into the courthouse with a gun.

And that was, you know, a huge relief to our staff, to our jurors, to all the litigants that come to the courthouse.

So we're just looking for something, again, to try to have a coordinated response, not just in the courthouse but within the vicinity of the courthouse.

Can I follow up?

So you, I completely understand that.

And the conditions that you emphasized just now in your response were from 21, but I think they're getting a little bit, well, I would attest that they are getting better.

But so is that as relevant now as it was back then?

And have you spoken with anybody at the city about this?

You're absolutely right.

It's gotten tremendously better, and I think that's been part of the application of resources that this council, the mayor, and the county council and executive have done the last couple years.

And so that increase in resources has made this area improve.

And so I think that is something positive to emphasize.

We still get, you know, the occasional, you know, last night there was an incident that occurred right on 3rd and James.

A month ago there was a shooting across the street.

So we still have concerns, but it's much better for sure.

And in terms of coordinating with the city, we've talked to the county council and the county executive.

The county executive have people working on kind of regional safety issues, and they have been talking with the city partners as well.

And I think there's some of us on our security committee.

Judge Robertson, who's here with me, she's the chair of our security committee, and they're going to meet with some city officials to talk about some of the other issues that we see.

Okay.

And then finally, can you please give me those figures again?

Was it 100 or 200 homicide cases pending?

So currently, it's 200, 207, I think, pending.

Before the pandemic, it was 100. So in 2019, it was 100 pending.

And today, in 2025, it's about 200 plus pending.

Wow, I would have thought it would have gotten better.

You know, homicides, it's interesting, once they occur, they take a long time to investigate by the state and by the defense.

And so they can't go to trial in 30 days or 60 days.

It takes time for them to develop their information.

And then often they resolve their cases.

And so if the case gets resolved, then it moves off of our docket.

But in order to resolve, it takes a long time for them to evaluate all the evidence and positions.

Also, Sometimes it takes that much time to go to trial.

And so, on average, our homicide cases take about two years to go to trial.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you, Council President.

And to close, I haven't asked about budget cuts or the potential for budget cuts, but your point about, hey, you've been asking for upgrades and then it takes a tragic situation.

We need to avoid that.

So along those lines, public safety is job one and the operation of public safety.

And so this is a piece that I work in terms of the city, in terms of the budget pieces in this fiscally challenged environment.

And I look to the court and to the prosecuting attorney's office to make a plug that we keep these at a good place.

And these are part of the discussions that we had.

One of the themes is, and by the way, thank you for the background and highlighting, because this is something that we can't hide from it.

You know, it is what we have right here and we will work it.

And it kind of the point that even the follow up, it shows that we're not done yet.

Despite the progress, there's definitely more to do and we will continue to do that.

And one of the things that to tie to that is because a lot of times, because all of us work cases, we work our own cases in a way, these issues, these disorder and the challenges on the districts on our streets.

And one of the challenges that we have is a lot of times it's the same individuals.

It's not like 100 things happen that are done by 100 people.

There's 100 things that happen and there's like 10 people that do them.

And we have these repeats.

And then it's like the case that we did, you know, the city did in terms of leveraging a real-time crime center.

Recently, you know, that person no doubt probably would have committed more crimes except for he was able to get caught due to the help of the CCTV and the RTC system.

And along those lines, and some of this is like, hey, what do we need to do involving the state, whether it's the legislature or maybe A.G.

Brown or the governor, in terms of how can we help you?

Because, for example, like I have a case I won't mention any names right here, and I passed this around to different folks, in Tillicom Place, which is an area right off Denny, Denny and Fifth, in that area.

And there's an individual who had committed murder and gone to prison and then was released at, I don't know how many years later, but he was released.

And he's been coming back to this area, Tillicom Place and Belltown.

It's that kind of Belltown, South Lake Union, Denny Triangle, kind of the border areas there.

And he's been threatening people, essentially with an edge weapon, a knife, to kill people.

Or he's locked a restaurant up from the outside, and the people inside were basically in prison for a period of time.

So it's a very serious piece.

And then he would come back onto our streets.

And so my question is, what reform do we need to do in the sense of And clearly there's some behavioral health, mental health challenges.

What do we need to do in terms of advocating or laws that need to be changed to help assist the judges in these cases when you have a clear background that is problematic and then to avoid further violence?

What can we do in these kind of circumstances?

From your perspective or what can we do to help you or what we can do together in terms of advocating with the state?

I think one of the things that we as judges do is we try to absorb whatever information is presented to us and then make a decision based on the information presented.

So your example, sometimes that might be going on in the background of the number of times the person has been there, maybe some of the harassing or threatening behavior.

But it may not get surfaced in a court proceeding.

It might not be told to us that this is going on.

And there might be a variety of reasons for that.

It could be that they don't have verification of that.

It's sort of a rumor thing.

Or there might be incident reports or other events that are documented and that someone could say, yeah, we have good information that this happened.

If that information is verified and can be presented in court as reliable, then we can act on it.

We can fashion a remedy that can try to address those issues.

But it's important, I think, to your point, is to get that information, verify it, and then present it to the court.

And then that way we can evaluate it and make a decision based on that information that's presented to us.

It's hard for us to make decisions based on rumor or speculation because, as you might guess, we want to make decisions based on evidence or arguments that are verified.

And when people do that, we try to fashion a remedy that's appropriate.

And in that circumstance, I think that information sharing and verification would be helpful.

Okay, great.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for your daughter's input on your presentation, which was very good, so I appreciate that.

On behalf of the council, the committee and the council, you can tell her that we appreciate the support given to her father.

And so again, thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

I think her sarcasm won't really appreciate it, but thank you for the comments.

I appreciate that.

And I know we're short on time, but colleagues, if we can have this presentation, I think it's important.

And then we'll go through it and then a limit of questions, but then so we can get out on time.

So thank you very much.

Clerk.

King County Jail Health Services Overview and 2025 Updates.

Okay, this is our third item of business.

Thank you for joining us, Ms. McBridge, Ms. Flynn, and Ms. Jackson.

Sorry, I'll move in a second.

Thank you so much for coming.

I appreciate it.

And joining the prosecuting attorney, presiding judge, and now jail health, King County Jail.

So thank you.

Over to you.

Please introduce yourself for the record and start your presentation.

No questions until the end.

Awesome.

Can you guys hear me okay?

Yes.

Okay.

My name is Denotra McBride.

I'm the Division Director for Jail Health Services.

I wanted to take a moment to let my colleagues introduce themselves.

My name's Dr. Heather Flynn.

I'm the Assistant Medical Director for Jail Health Services.

My name is Celia Jackson.

I'm the Director of Strategic Partnerships in the Executive's Office.

Thank you.

All right.

Before we begin, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you so much for this opportunity to share a little bit more about our division and to also speak a little bit to our medical deferral process.

We'll take questions at the end, and we'll just jump right in for the sake of time.

OK.

Okay, so the areas that we're going to cover this morning are just a high-level overview of jail health services and the work that we do in the jails.

Also, I'll give a very high summary of our deferral process.

Then we'll go into more detail about that process and then share some related data.

We also have a frequently asked question that we wanted to share and address before we take questions and answer them as best we can.

All right, so Jill Health Services is one division within the broader public health department within Seattle and King County.

We are one of seven divisions.

And our vision is health, well-being, and racial equity every day for everyone in King County.

And our division is the Responsible Health Authority for King County.

In the adult jails, so that includes the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle and the Mailing Regional Justice Center that is located in Kent, Washington.

We operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

And our primary goal is to provide health and safety for those that are brought to our facilities and within our care in those facilities.

Our mission is to assess and stabilize serious health problems for the detained population at KCCF and MRJC with a focus on transition from jail.

Some of the services that we provide are medical care, dental care, mental health care, a lot of medication management.

We have in-house pharmacies at each jail facility.

We also provide social services and other routine care.

We also have supportive services like health information management.

And with that focus on transition from jail, we focus on release planning and connection with community providers and community service entities.

And there is a link here on this slide if you are interested later to look at our webpage and find out more about all the services we provide.

One thing I wanted to highlight before we move on Is that we also are participating in a joint program, the diversion program with the prosecuting attorney's office.

So our goal is to, again, focus on the health and safety of those incarcerated, but with hopes of supporting them upon their transition in hopes that they don't come back to the jails.

So a very high-level overview is that any individual brought to the jails Receives a deferral screening.

That screening, initial screening is performed by the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention.

We call them DAGD.

You might hear that subsequently in our presentation.

But they do that initial screening to just assess whether there's any concerning issues or problems going on with individuals brought for booking into the jails.

Once that deferral screening occurs, if there's any health-related concerns or items that need to be further looked into, a nurse is then called to what we call the pre-book counter and they perform an assessment before someone is processed and booked into the jail.

It is through that health assessment, which is performed by registered nurses, that a health determination is made whether we can Appropriately and safely bring someone into the facility or if they need to be deferred out to the hospital for additional care and treatment.

Just to explain our process a little bit more deeply, there's some influential standards that we follow and we have to adhere to.

One entity that's important to mention is the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

They are our accrediting body within the jails, so essentially there's a set of 58 standards that we have to meet, and we are audited or surveyed every three years to ensure that we are adhering to those standards.

One important standard that touches on this process is the JEO2 receiving screening standard.

And that standard requires that we do some level of assessment in booking or in intake prior to someone being brought into the jail or facility to ensure that they are healthy enough to be housed in the jail.

And so if they are not, then it requires us to send someone out to the hospital and receive a medical clearance prior to them being booked into our facility.

Another standard or set of standards that's important to mention is the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Affectionately called PREA in our facilities, and it has about 50 standards within that set of standards, and there's one in particular, 115.21 that requires us to offer all alleged or potential victims of sexual abuse to be screened and receive services for that concern, and also receive a forensic medical examination.

So we partner with Harborview Medical Center to provide that level of service for those individuals that come to our facilities.

All right, we're going to dive a little bit more into the process, and I'll hand it over to Dr. Flynn.

Thank you.

So I'll give an overview of the pre-book clinical assessment process and also just provide some context on why this process occurs.

So this slide here shows a summary of the process.

And essentially, the receiving officer performs a screening to identify any significant health issues.

And if that screen is negative, the patient is booked.

If the screening identifies any potential red flags, a nurse is called to the prebook assessment area to make an assessment of the patient.

Next slide.

Thanks.

So to start the process, the receiving officer performs a basic screening to identify any potential health flags.

And the form you're looking at here is the form that's used for that screening.

So it prompts the officer to document their observations and also ask some general medical questions.

We do this because, compared to the general population, people who are entering jails are more likely to have experienced recent injury or trauma.

They are more likely to have chronic medical and psychiatric illness, and they are more likely to be at risk for severe alcohol and drug withdrawal.

So in this process, Jail Health Services has the role of assessing if a patient can safely be transitioned into the jail from a medical perspective.

And we need to determine if they have emergent or urgent healthcare issues that need to be addressed prior to that transition.

And this is particularly important because the first 48 hours are probably the highest risk from a medical standpoint after someone's entered the facility.

So as I said, if the individual does not have any positive findings on this screening, they'll be booked into the jail.

Next slide.

Thank you.

But if the officer identifies a possible health risk, they will ask a jailhouse services nurse to come to the pre-book area to assess the patient.

And the nurse will independently assess that individual.

So they'll meet with a patient to get a focused history.

They'll perform an examination.

They may review medical records.

They have, for reference, our clinical practice protocols.

And they also have available an on-call medical and psychiatric provider to speak with if they have questions.

And based on this assessment, the nurse will determine if a patient needs further medical evaluation and treatment prior to booking.

If they do, they'll document that concern on the form, and this form will go with the patient to the emergency room.

And if they don't, the patient will get booked.

So on this slide, you can just here see a general list of the reasons that a patient may be referred for evaluation.

And this here is a very small print.

Sorry, apologies.

But this is a clinical tool that kind of summarizes our practice guidelines regarding referral.

We've shared this with external partners.

It's been reviewed by Harborview's emergency medicine team.

And it gives you a sense of some of the clinical scenarios that we commonly encounter in our pre-booking process.

So we know that this is an area of practice that impacts patient safety as well as resources of arresting agencies and our own DIJD partners.

So we've done studies to assess the outcomes of this process over time, and I'm going to share some of that data here.

I will share a caveat that analysis of this data is quite challenging.

People who are assessed in pre-booking are not yet a patient of jail health services.

They do not have a medical record in our system.

So to analyze this data, the medical director had to manually review cases from DAJD documentation and attempt to link those to medical records where available.

You can imagine it's quite time consuming.

Earlier this year, Jail Health Services did implement a pre-booked medical clearance form that I shared earlier, and that will allow us to do some more ongoing monitoring of this data, hopefully in a more efficient way.

So on the next slide, you'll see an analysis that was done looking back at 2021 to 2022 bookings and pre-book assessments.

So here we're looking at the number of health referrals, so referrals to the emergency department, relative to the total number of bookings over the course of the year.

We found a deferral rate of about 6% to 7%, which averages about three deferrals per day.

But if you look at the bottom graph there, I just want to point out how much significant variability there is day to day and week to week.

So we may have some days where there are no deferrals, others where there may be seven deferrals in a single day.

So after implementing the new pre-book clearance form, we have started to do some preliminary review of deferral dates.

This is a very small snapshot from May, looking at a week.

Because of the small period of time that this is reviewing, I just want to be clear that this data here really can't be generalized or to be compared to the earlier data from 2021 to 2022. But when we looked most recently, we saw in this given week our deferral rate was around 7.5%.

We averaged four health deferrals per day out of 61 total bookings.

And that gave us a deferral rate of about 7.5%.

So on average, our nurses are asked to assess 21 individuals in pre-booking per day.

And for every five patients that they assessed, four were screened in and one was deferred.

And this data is pretty consistent with what we know about the burden of acute and chronic illness amongst individuals who are booked into the jail.

So if we look on the next slide here, you can see a brief summary of the reasons for health deferral.

This was from the more comprehensive study from 2021 to 2022. Not surprisingly, you'll see things such as bodily injury and infection pretty high on the list there.

Similarly, this is our small slice from 2025 where we see similar reasons for deferral.

You can go to the next one.

Thank you.

So in relation to the health deferral process, there are some frequently asked questions that often come up about, you know, what happens with this process and why is it the way it is?

One question that we wanted to address today is whether there is an automatic deferral and or magic words that someone can say to automatically be deferred up to the hospital.

And I would say this question comes most frequently up with arresting agencies just because it is a burden.

And I just want to acknowledge that if we identify someone as needing hospital-level care, It is on the arresting officer or agency to take that individual up to the hospital for that screening and assessment and further kind of medical clearance that's required for booking.

And so I wanted to give a chance for Dr. Flynn to answer that from a clinical perspective, but I just wanted to acknowledge that this is probably our most frequent question that we're asked, and the two Specific areas are if someone says they were sexually assaulted, does that automatically defer them out?

And or if they say they have ingested drugs.

So I wanted to pass it on to you for response.

So essentially, no, we don't have magic words.

I will say any patient who screens positive in the pre-booking area has a clinical evaluation and assessment with a nurse.

And so they're making an independent determination.

Individuals who are assessed as being possibly having experienced sexual assault within the past five days are referred to the emergency room.

And that is for the purpose of being offered a sexual assault nurse examination to receive timely post-assault care.

It's also an opportunity to collect forensic evidence if the individual would like to do so.

And individuals who are assessed as possibly having ingested drugs are at risk for serious and rapidly progressing medical complications, and they also are referred to the emergency room for monitoring and medical clearance.

All right.

I just wanted to conclude and piggyback on what you were saying, Dr. Flynn, that all of these decisions about deferral or not are made by clinical Folks with clinical experience and clinical training, they are registered nurses.

I also wanted to add that all individuals that Jail Health Services has working in the intake area of the jails are our most seasoned nurses.

The reason behind that decision is that the intake process and when people first come in to us, we don't have a say of who comes to the jail, right?

So that determination and that assessment that occurs at the front door is extremely important.

So we ensure that nurses that have a comprehensive understanding of our services within the jails and that they have the experience to do those assessments are placed there at that post in particular.

All right.

Now we wanted to open it up for any questions.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

I appreciate it, and thank you for the executive side.

I should note I have had conversations with interim King County Executive Braddock, and so I appreciate her support for this briefing and for, you know, in conjunction with the prosecuting attorney and the presiding judge.

So I really appreciate that, that support.

We're finished pretty much on time.

But related to questions, we're going to go over a little bit.

So my ask is for my colleagues to be very precise with the question, no lead up, and go.

And I basically got, there's two questions that have been floating around.

And so I will defer to my presiding judge, presiding judge, to my presiding vice chair, Saka, to start.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Director McBride, Dr. Flynn, and Director Jackson, thank you so much for being here today.

I really appreciate you all carving out the time to share your insights and wisdom, walking us through the sort of intake and flow process.

Diving deep a little bit, appropriately so, on some of the data underlying your work and then also addressing, demystifying a few things and addressing some frequently asked questions.

So very, very helpful.

One question is, The same one, the same theme.

How can Seattle or cities across King County be better partners for you all and support this vital work of maintaining properly resource and effective health services in our jails?

How can Seattle and cities like Seattle be better partners?

So I'll start us off and then I welcome my jail health colleagues to interject.

I think we have a great partnership as it exists with our Seattle King County jail.

So I think I just want to name that we've continued to address problems and we appreciate partnership with this council as well as the mayor's office and addressing very real public safety concerns that we're experiencing as a community.

Some helpful partnership opportunities, I think, could be advocating with us at the state and at the federal level to provide more jail-based health funding.

This team of folks works incredibly hard with not nearly enough to elevate the good work that they do.

So I think that is a huge opportunity for continued partnership.

Something that we often talk about at the county and I know here at the city as well is investing in those upstream solutions, we know that we are seeing some really sick people in our jail that have very little access to behavioral health support, substance use support, Access to school and education to further their development.

I think that some of those services really impact the trajectory of a person's life, and so using an opportunity when we have folks in our custody to help supply those things as they move forward.

And then lastly, we continue to work towards a fully staffed jail health program, and so any support in To retain, recruit healthcare workers, whether that is through investment pipelines or perhaps temporary granting, I think we would be open to creative solutions.

Again, these folks do incredible work in our jail and they absolutely need that support.

I'll turn it to you both.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate that.

I would just say the only other thing I would offer is, you know, I just want to commend you all for bringing King County to the table and being our partners.

I think we're all seeing, you know, problems that exist from our own unique angle and perspective, and so I just want to ask for a continued partnership and understanding those problems and issues more deeply together.

So that way we can come up with shared solutions and sustainable solutions that are really going to work.

So I really appreciate just being here and continued partnership.

I don't have anything to add.

I'll leave it there.

Excellent.

Thank you again.

Grateful for your partnership and your collaboration, all of you for being here.

So, and Mr. Chair, at your discretion, I think, and assuming they are amenable, our partners at the county are amenable, I think we should invite them back on an annual basis to share out the great work and really kind of help show the collaboration that goes on so often, regularly and consistently behind the scenes.

But it also helps amplify and uplift this work at a different level of government.

So in any event, thank you all again for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

In the interest of time, I'll just say, I'll just ask the last question.

But I won't ask the first question, but I'll state it.

A concern that's out there is how do we ensure that, particularly those with substance use disorder, you know, the addiction challenges, that if they come in, that they're treated for that, and then importantly, that they are exited, as they exit from the jail, that they immediately go into some type of treatment program, some type of support, as opposed to coming back onto the street, which then leads to the next visit.

And so there's a question out there, but you can speak to it really quick if you'd like.

That's a theme that I've been hearing from people on a regular basis here on the council is like, hey, we have these individuals that are coming in with, as you noted, substance use disorder.

And what can we do to ensure that there's like this really good handoff, this warm handoff into so they're not going back onto the street?

Yeah.

This is a great question and really appreciate it.

It's very relevant to our region.

We know what works here.

We have a lot of evidence-based practices that we know Tell us that jail is unfortunately a very temporary solution to these longer-term sustained problems with some of our individuals in custody.

And so investing in the things that we know work, scaling up services that already exist and are working very well for those folks.

I think in this region we deliver services very well, but scaling those to the size of the need is, I think, an imperative next step.

And are sort of tackling this ongoing issue together.

And I'll turn it to my colleagues, too.

No, I appreciate that.

I will say substance use disorder has been a primary focus in the Jail Health Services program.

We initially launched our program in 2018, and we've been, like you're saying, scaling up as best we can since then with limited resources.

I also want to acknowledge what you're saying on the back end of someone's incarceration.

So that transition back into community is a critical time.

And so we have also invested in that as well through a coordinated discharge process where we have community health workers and folks able to meet people literally as they're leaving the jails and sit down with them and provide them with resources, connections to service providers, et cetera.

I will say we are continuing Day by day to work on our community connections and to make those clear connections.

And I just want to also acknowledge release planning starts when someone starts in the jail, first when they arrive.

So we're not waiting until the back end of their stay.

We're trying to assess the needs early and often to really identify what services are going to be relevant for them, what needs do they have, and then how do we really transition them very quickly, as quickly as possible, to a community provider.

We also provide bridge medications for substance use disorder, so that way people have the medications that they need as they transition into the community as well.

Okay, thank you.

And so the last question, I'm going to ask this with a quick setup.

I've been to King County Jail.

Thank you for the tour.

I recognize staffing challenges like we've been.

I don't know if they've been improving like our Seattle Police Department's been improving, but hopefully so.

I've been to SCORE, I've been to Issaquah Jail, and I see the range of different pieces.

And to the question, and what drives some of these slides, so I'm just gonna ask the question straight up that I've been hearing from colleagues here in the city.

What can we do collaboratively together to hold people accountable?

We hear this is a problem.

What can we be done together?

And how can we better ensure that those who commit crimes stay off our streets and aren't able to game the system?

Now, you've spoken to this in the slides.

And so I wanted to ask a question.

But I also wanted to note that Harborview is having its challenges, too.

And so my question to this is, and you've addressed this in the briefing, but if you can readdress it, but also can we bring the different players together?

So like Harborview, like, you know, I think of telemedicine, remote medicine, you know, is there opportunities to find some answers that assist Harborview or that assist the jail or assist the whatever jurisdiction is bringing law enforcement that's bringing those individuals in?

for as quick and smooth transition as possible.

And that's the last question for today.

Thank you, council member.

Another great question.

Up front, we would absolutely be willing to collaborate to discuss sort of what shared solutions look like.

But I just want to name that we sort of all collectively agree we want safe communities, healthy people.

These jail deferrals are not a loophole, and I just want to plainly state that there are some real consequences of not taking these things seriously.

For example, in Washington State, just 15% of sexual assaults are reported.

So only 15% of total sexual assaults that occur are reported.

We take every claim seriously.

It is the most humane and just thing to do, regardless of whether or not that individual has been accused of a crime.

I'd also like to point out that folks that are in our jails Still being adjudicated, so they are not yet deemed guilty by the court, and so I do have questions on sort of what the accountability piece needs to look like in that frame, but I just want to say there are some real consequences of not taking victims seriously, and I think we've seen that pretty broadly.

Thank you.

Understand.

And any last words?

Well, I would just say we do regularly collaborate with our partners with DAJD as well as with Harborview, particularly their emergency room and the sexual assault nurse team.

So those are conversations that are ongoing, and we're happy to continue to collaborate on that.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

Thank you, Ms. McBridge, Ms. Flynn, and Ms. Jackson.

Really appreciate it.

And with that, we have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

And is there any business to come before the committee before we adjourn?

I think not.

Thank you very much.

So we end with you.

So thank you so much again.

And by the way, thank you everyone from King County who participated.

And please pass my thanks to Ms. Braddock Executive Braddock, thank you.

And again, thank you for, you know, because this is really important.

It's important for Seattle to understand that criminal justice system isn't just the city of Seattle.

It is King County.

And as we're learning, the state is huge in this.

And, you know, we need to bring them in and engage with them collaboratively.

And then, of course, there's the federal piece that currently we won't talk about so right now.

So again, thank you so much.

Have a good day.

That's official when the thing goes.