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City of Seattle

Mayor Jenny A. Durkan

July 20, 2018

The Honorable Members of the Seattle City Council
Seattle City Hall, Floor
Seattle, WA 98104

Dear Councilmembers,

In response to your letter ofJune 27, regarding a new Community Service Officer (CSO)
program, i want you to know that I share your enthusiasm for re?establishing CSOs. I recognize
that CSOs could again become a critical element ofthe Seattle Police Department?s (SPD)
approach to public safety and community relationships. In the past, C505 have played an
important role in assisting SPD officers in enhancing the safety of individual Seattle residents
and the health of our collective neighborhoods. CSOs also served an important function as
liaisons between specific communities and SPD overall. They can also be a path for diversity for
the department.

While I look forward to ?505 again taking on such responsibilities, it would seem prudent to
wait on hiring and deploying a new CSO team. As you know, this week I nominated Interim
Chief Carmen Best to serve as permanent Chief, subject to Council confirmation. Interim Chief
Best will face many challenges, including the ongoing efforts at reform and accountability and
building and strengthening relationship with communities and stakeholders across the
City. In this context, it is essential that the new Police Chief be given the opportunity to shape
the scope and scale of the C50 program. if CSOs are to be truly effective and long?lasting, 
new leadership must have a role in defining how they will be integrated into overall
department operations.

Furthermore, Interim Chief Best must be allowed to shape the program in the context of fiscal
constraints that were not apparent when Council authorized the reestablishment of the C505.
in allocating resources during last fall?s budget process, Council anticipated that additional
funding would be available for the City to address other priorities, m'ost specifically our
response to the crisis of homelessness. Without these additional resources, this and other
priorities will need to be funded from existing resources, and this will force budget choices.
SPD will itself face such choices, and again I think it is essential that the new Chief be given the

 

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Letter regarding Community Service Officers
July 20, 2018
Page 2

opportunity to weigh these tradeoffs and determine what resources can and should be
allocated to CSOs.

For these reasons, I do not plan to have SPD move forward with implementing the new CSO
program until Interim Chief Best is in the position permanently and the City Council adopts a
budget for the 2019-20 biennium.