Finance Committee Action on Mid-year Budget Including SPD

In September, the Council will be considering the mid-year supplemental adjustment to the 2021 adopted budget, as recommended by the Finance and Housing Committee on Tuesday.  This legislation includes changes to the SPD budget that I proposed, made possible by an estimated $15 million not needed for officer salaries this year.   I first proposed these investments in May, which unfortunately did not pass.  The supplemental budget proposal in the Finance and Housing committee represented another opportunity. 

I proposed – and committee members approved - significant changes to the budget legislation to ameliorate the community safety impacts associated with the current shortage of police officers. The shortage of sworn officers is resulting in significantly reduced 911 “priority one” responses - responses that have a standard goal of 7 minutes.  It’s important that we make investments to address the real workload challenges for those sworn officers who remain on as public servants in Seattle.

My amendments also added funding for civilian positions, technology investments, a new training program, and alternatives to an armed response to build community safety.  Together, these amendments reflected the priorities of SPD, community safety advocates, the Mayor’s Office, and Council’s work to reimagine public safety and provide alternatives to an armed response, while ensuring officers have the ability to respond to calls that only they are qualified to do.

The successful new amendment, proposed with Finance & Housing Chair CM Mosqueda, includes funding for:
*  Community Service Officers and Crime Prevention coordinators;
*  Hiring process accelerators for both sworn officers and civilian hires;
* National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform 911 call data analysis to support re-imaging policing;
*  Work, Scheduling and Timekeeping project updating and modernizing SPD’s management of overtime and addressing the recommendations made by the City Auditor in 2016, and recommendations made recently the Office of Police Accountability;
*  $1.5 million for overtime.  SPD requested $3 million.  Both the Mayor and Council proposed reductions in the overtime budget last fall for 2021, assuming fewer large events would occur due to COVID.  With additional events now taking place, more overtime funding may be needed, as well as for patrol 911 response.
*  Evidence storage space, as recommended by the Inspector General;
*  Funding for additional Public Disclosure work, as recommended by the City Auditor.

The amendment also incorporates priorities I announced in my Public Safety and Human Services committee in late July.  The Mayor and SPD also stated support for these investments to re-direct a total of $1.5 million from the SPD budget to other departments.
*  Community Safety and Communications Center funding for a protocol system for 911 dispatchers; this is critical for ensuring 911 call takers have the training to ensure the best response, as we embrace alternatives.  Similar to what Seattle Fire uses in its dispatch center, the protocol system will implement a more consistent process for obtaining key information from 911 callers and support better data analysis to plan for resource deployment, including alternatives to police response.  I didn't want to wait until the Mayor made a 2022 budget recommendation to begin providing funding for this effort.
* Regional Peacekeepers’ Collective funding to prevent gun violence.  This is critically important right now.  Community violence intervention programs such as the Regional Peacekeepers Collective have been shown to reduce violence by as much as 60%.   I didn't want to wait until the Mayor made a 2022 budget recommendation to begin providing funding for this effort. 
* Funding for Triage One; to redirect 911 calls as a result of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform call analysis commissioned by SPD; they are calls that do not require a first response from sworn officers, and reduce the need for them to respond to these calls.  I didn't want to wait until the Mayor made a 2022 budget recommendation to begin providing funding for this effort.

Our amendment also includes an investment of $3 million in the Seattle Community Safety Initiative,  to fund additional alternatives to policing. HSD recently awarded contracts to 33 of the 70 applicants; additional funds could fund additional projects, or extend the funding from 18 to 24 months.

I also proposed a separate amendment to fund $2.25 million for necessary SPD technology investments, which passed. It includes funding for Data Analytics Platform; for Capacity Planning Tool; Innovation Blueprint; and Officer Wellness and Supervision (which is a new version of this). Some of these are required by the Consent Decree. 

The Data Analytics Platform will be used to monitor staffing and overtime, analytical processes necessary for reimagining policing such as 911 alternatives, next generation early intervention, and to monitor disparate impacts. The Capacity Planning Tool will evaluate staffing demand, and calculate staffing requirements based on scenarios such as 911 alternate response, and expands resource planning beyond core functions such as patrol and investigations to include support for functions such as force review and public disclosure. Innovation Blueprint includes identifying strategies and online tools to increase transparency and improve police practices. Officer Wellness and Supervision include more accurate statistical models for predicting and guiding interventions for employees exhibiting signs they need support, as part of the department employee wellness and retention strategy.

I strongly support Chief Diaz’s efforts to innovate in developing a training curriculum to ensure SPD recruits understand community expectations for a public service career in law enforcement in Seattle.  That’s why I successfully proposed funding for a program Chief Diaz is initiating to support Seattle-specific training for new officer recruits before they go to the state training academy.  The program is being developed under the guidance of a long-time educator, and consists of a 45-day program that “pulls recruits out of traditional classroom training and immerses them in community-based, peer-based, and introspective experiences that will provide them both a lens through which to receive their BLEA (I.e. academy) training and a foundation upon which to build their careers as Seattle Police Officers.” Most of this work will take place in the community. The curriculum strives to implement the principles of relational policing, as recommended by the Inspector General Sentinel Event Review.