VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL ONLY April 30, 2019 Mayor Jenny A. Durkan Seattle City Hall 600 Fourth Avenue, 7th Floor Seattle, WA, 98104 Re: Chief of Police Carmen Best Seattle Police Department Headquarters 610 5th Avenue Seattle, WA, 98104 Increased Emphasis Patrol Strategy Dear Mayor Durkan and Chief Best: On April 29, 2019, Christopher Fisher, from the Office of the Chief of Police, informed my office of a new proactive policing and neighborhood presence strategy that will include increased police presence in seven neighborhoods for a 30-day period between May 2 and May 31, 2019. As the Council’s chair of the Safe Communities Committee, which oversees public safety, I want to thank Mr. Fisher for reaching out to me yesterday to advise me of this new strategy that I understand is intended to address neighborhood concerns with crime, disorder and livability impacts. I appreciate your partnership in working to address these public safety and livability issues facing our city and look forward to working collaboratively on these matters. Mr. Fisher indicated that you have selected seven neighborhoods and commercial areas in which you will deploy emphasis patrols: Ballard, Freemont, Pioneer Square, SoDo, Georgetown, South Park and the Pike-Pine-Third Avenue corridor. Aside from the identification of the neighborhoods and the 30-day deployment period, I have few other details regarding this strategy, and I am eager to better understand key pieces of information. I hope you will accept this letter in that spirit. I have assembled this list of questions we would like you to address to better inform the Council and our constituents about this short-term strategy: 1. Is this strategy an evidence-based public safety strategy? a. Please provide more detail regarding the planned “emphasis patrols.” What activities are police officers expected to be engaging in, as distinguished from their normal duties? Will officers be initiating engagement through Terry Stops? An equal opportunity employer 600 Fourth Avenue, Floor 2 PO Box 34025, Seattle Washington 98124-4025 Phone (206) 684-8802 Fax (206) 684-8587 TTY 711 Email lorena.gonzalez@seattle.gov How will officers be trained/instructed to perform their duties prior to deployment? b. Can you provide examples and citations of similar models or strategies and their success? c. Has this strategy underdone a Racial Equity Toolkit analysis? 2. What is the expected outcome for individuals contacted by police officers during this 30-day period? Do you anticipate an increase in arrests? What specific crimes will police officers be directed to focus on? a. Will officers be instructed to use diversion for qualifying low-level crimes? If so, has the Department coordinated with the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) Program in order to ensure they have the capacity to respond to an increase in referrals? b. As part of this emphasis, will SPD be working with the Washington State Department of Corrections’ Community Response Unit and/or King County DOC community corrections officers to arrest offenders with active warrants? If so, do you expect that this will lead to an increase in jail bookings? 3. How and why were these seven neighborhoods chosen? a. What data or information was utilized in selecting these neighborhoods for the emphasis patrols? b. What community engagement have you conducted (or do you plan to conduct) in order to inform the public and these neighborhoods of the increased police presence that they will experience? 4. How is this strategy similar to or different than the “9 ½ Block Strategy” utilized by the Executive and SPD in approximately 2015? 5. How does this strategy relate to the work of the recently formed Working Group on Repeat Offenders? Will the results of this strategy be presented to the Working Group for its review and evaluation? 6. How will SPD track the use of additional overtime and other resources? a. How much overtime has the SPD estimated will be needed to successfully execute this strategy for the 30-day period? b. How does SPD intend to report to the Council the specific data related to overtime and other expenses generated from the implementation of this strategy? 7. What is the theory of change and how will you measure success? a. What are the desired qualitative and quantitative outcomes for this strategy? b. What criteria is being established or utilized in order to determine if this strategy is ultimately successful? c. Given the short-term nature of this strategy, what is the long-term vision or plan to identify and execute next steps, if any? An equal opportunity employer 600 Fourth Avenue, Floor 2 PO Box 34025, Seattle Washington 98124-4025 Phone (206) 684-8802 Fax (206) 684-8587 TTY 711 Email lorena.gonzalez@seattle.gov Given the intense public interest in addressing safety and livability within our neighborhoods, I would like to offer relevant departments an opportunity to provide the Council and the public with answers to the above-listed questions and any other additional information about this Executive strategy. I would be honored to host the Seattle Police Department, the Mayor’s Office and other agencies in my next regularly scheduled committee meeting on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, at 9:30am. Alternatively, after consultation with Council President Harrell, he has indicated that there is an opportunity for the same briefing to occur during our Council Briefing on Monday, May 6, 2019, at 9:30am. Please let me or my Legislative Aide, Cody Reiter (cody.reiter@seattle.gov), know which of these dates would be most convenient for the Mayor’s Office and lead agencies. I appreciate your attention to these important issues and look forward to continuing to partner with the Mayor’s Office and the Seattle Police Department to be responsive to community-based, public safety concerns. Very truly yours, Councilmember M. Lorena González Position 9, Citywide Chair—Gender Equity, Safe Communities, New Americans & Education Committee Vice Chair—Finance & Neighborhoods Committee cc: All Councilmembers Deputy Mayor Mike Fong Anthony Auriemma, Mayor’s Office Chris Fisher, Seattle Police Department Kirstan Arestad, Central Staff Executive Director Greg Doss, Council Central Staff Cody Reiter, Office of Councilmember González An equal opportunity employer 600 Fourth Avenue, Floor 2 PO Box 34025, Seattle Washington 98124-4025 Phone (206) 684-8802 Fax (206) 684-8587 TTY 711 Email lorena.gonzalez@seattle.gov