Seattle Forward

Do You Want Tent Encampments Almost Everywhere in Seattle?

A shorter version of this article was first published in The Seattle Times earlier this afternoon.

 

Three Seattle City Council members — Tammy Morales, Teresa Mosqueda, Kshama Sawant — want to permit tent encampments almost everywhere citywide.

 

This ill-conceived, very dangerous legislation (Council Bill 119796) would effectively allow camping across Seattle — including on sidewalks (if campers leave a 4-foot accessible pathway), planting strips, parks, open spaces and industrial lands.

 

Astonishingly, the council members even want to block police officers from removing encampments when someone calls police seeking removal of campers.

 

Five things we should do to protect the public from chronic crime and persistent offenders in downtown

This post was first published earlier today at Crosscut.com.

I've been thinking a lot about the violence last week in the core of downtown. I have felt anger, frustration and grief, topped off with irritation at the responses I’ve heard or read.

These responses ranged from excuses for why the shootings occurred to calls for a swift police “crackdown.” Scapegoating the poor, the homeless or the addicted will not move the needle on this issue; neither will an increase in police presence by itself.

Thankfully there is a third way, predicated on the science of policing, facts and an approach focused on specific solutions and truly helping people.

Why Seattle City Council Should Approve the Police Contract

This post first appeared at Crosscut.com on November 13, 2018.

I was a member of the Seattle City Council when the U.S.Department of Justice (DOJ) began its investigation of our police department. In fact, I urged then-U. S. Attorney for Western Washington Jenny Durkan to launch that investigation.

Along with Councilmembers Bruce Harrell and Sally Clark, I was part of the council team that worked with the DOJ, the mayor, the city attorney, and police leadership to reach an agreement between the city and the DOJ in 2012, which is now commonly referred to as the settlement agreement or consent decree. And I worked very closely with Councilmember Lorena González in 2017 to craft the accountability ordinance the council adopted that increases civilian oversight of the police department and aims to strengthen public confidence in our officers.

I care deeply that police services in Seattle are delivered professionally and effectively, consistent with the Constitution and the laws of our country, state and city. I want all people, including the most marginalized, to be treated fairly and with dignity by our officers. And, I care about our police officers. I want them to be compensated appropriately and given the respect they so rightly deserve — after all, we ask them to serve in a job that most of us would never perform ourselves.

This is why I believe the city council on Tuesday afternoon should approve the proposed collective bargaining agreement with our police officers.

The contract brings officer compensation up to a competitive level with nearby cities. Importantly, it keeps Seattle officers near the middle (fourth) of the seven comparative cities on the West Coast that historically have been used as a benchmark for compensation. (Those cities are Long Beach, Oakland, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose.) Updated compensation will surely help with recruitment of new officers and help slow the loss of current officers who are lured away by higher salaries and signing bonuses.

The contract unquestionably continues the reform process that began in 2012 and includes significant changes that will increase civilian oversight of police services. It formalizes the roles of the Inspector General for Public Safety and the Office of Police Accountability (OPA), affirms the role of civilian supervisors and investigators in OPA, makes the disciplinary systems and processes more transparent, and resolves confusion and conflict related to officer appeals of discipline. The contract also recognizes and strengthens the authority of the Chief of Police in management of the police department. And, the contract allows for full implementation of body-worn video cameras by officers, a known tool for improving police services and public confidence.

As with all collective bargaining agreements, during the back and forth of good-faith negotiations, the city didn’t get everything it wanted, but, in my opinion, it got enough. The negotiation process was tough, yet respectful. It honored the work our officers do every day and recognized their collective bargaining rights under Washington law. The result is a fair contract for our police officers that the public can have confidence in.

Admittedly, there are some elements of the contract that need further work. For example, the standard of review when discipline is being appealed by officers is nebulous. It would be fairer to officers and the public to have a clear, uniform standard for all cases. While many needed adjustments to the 180-day investigation rule are included in the contract, there is still ambiguity in some circumstances and these should be clarified. How OPA coordinates and plans for their own investigations when there is also a criminal investigation of the same incident needs fixing. And, finally, the issues surrounding management and oversight of off-duty or secondary employment have unfortunately not been addressed in this contract, leaving this important matter unresolved. Ideally, the federal court overseeing the consent agreement will address these and possibly other issues when it passes judgment on the contract and the accountability legislation.

Others who care deeply about reform believe the council should reject the proposed contract, arguing that it doesn’t do enough to resolve longstanding issues related to police accountability. But rejecting the contract will spark a fierce legal battle centered on public employee rights under Washington law, a grueling process we should avoid because it will take months, if not years, to resolve, and our officers have already been working without a current contract for nearly four years.

City council rejection of the contract will also block implementation of the reforms that are included in the proposed contract, and they are substantial. Rejection is an all-or-nothing approach that doesn’t reflect the practicality of collective bargaining and management-labor relationships.

Let’s recognize that reforming police services and ensuring their effectiveness never ends. It’s a process of continuous improvement, guided by the expectations of the public and the demands of the law. It’s not an all-or-nothing, one-step exercise.

Approving this contract is yet another positive, forward-looking step that builds on the substantial reforms already achieved since 2012. I urge my former colleagues to approve this contract and keep city government moving forward to achieve the quality of police services all the people of Seattle deserve.

Defending the Rule of Law

Over the past couple of weeks, it has been suggested that Seattle police officers should not be present at “anti-Trump protests” or instances of nonviolent civil disobedience. Further, the idea has been raised that police officers should be deployed to prevent federal officers from making immigration arrests in the city.

This approach to policing is deeply troubling because it imposes a content or ideological filter over what should be independent, objective decisions to preserve public health and safety. Imagine if the mayor in another city believed that protests

North Precinct: We Listened

We listened. Based on what we have heard from a wide variety of community members, and the Council’s review of the cost projections, we want to take another look at the component parts of the building and even redesign some of them in an effort to lower the cost. Sometimes it is important to pause and reconsider a decision. That’s what we’re doing here with this project.

A new precinct building for our police officers serving north Seattle must be constructed. The current facility is not suitable and needs to be replaced. But, by taking a closer look at the design and the various parts of the proposed building we may be able to substantially lower costs as many Seattleites have encouraged us to do. For example, maybe the training center doesn’t need to be as large. While the community space in the building is important, perhaps it too can be resized in an effort to lower costs.

This building has the potential to be more than just a new precinct station. The training center and community rooms are critically important in our work to build connections between our police officers and our communities. And, this new precinct is designed to last for as long as 50 years, an important consideration given the current and expected future growth of Seattle.

Why I Support Building a New Police Facility in North Seattle

The City Council will vote this afternoon on legislation advancing the proposed new police facility in north Seattle at the intersection of 130th and Aurora Avenue North and requiring additional cost analysis and community review.

Here are the reasons I support moving forward with this project.

The current police precinct for North Seattle, located across from North Seattle Community College, is grossly overcrowded and can no longer meet the needs of the police department. We have known this since 1998 when the precinct was overcrowded by a factor of 30%. Today, it is overcrowded by 65%. One of the most significant problems with

Mourning

This week has been difficult for me to process. On Tuesday and Wednesday, two more black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were shot and killed by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota. As I struggle to balance my emotional reactions to these tragedies with the need to let the investigations take their course, I cannot ignore one fact: people of color in our country, particularly black men, keep getting shot by police officers. This is not a new phenomenon, but with the widespread use of video technology, all Americans can see it now with their own eyes.

Then last night we watched in horror as a targeted hate crime was carried out against Dallas police officers who were simply doing their job to protect peaceful protesters. Once again, gun violence destroyed families and ripped communities apart.

At the same time as the Dallas attack, our Seattle police officers escorted and protected peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters on our streets. It is no secret tensions exist between the police and communities of color, but that does not stop our officers from providing this fundamental protection of democracy. It does not stop them from patrolling our neighborhoods day and night to keep all of us safe. These officers deserve our respect and gratitude and, in the aftermath of last night’s terror, our encouragement and support. They also deserve to be held to a high standard of behavior. I believe strong support and robust accountability go hand in hand.

Moving forward, let us continue the hard work of restoring relationships between our police officers and all our communities, for the sake of everyone’s safety. Let’s make certain that we continue forward with our reforms of the police department, strengthen civilian control and oversight, and keep building public trust and confidence in our officers.

The Long Road to Effective Management of Our Police Department

When Kathy O’Toole assumed command of the Seattle Police Department in June, 2014, she inherited a police department rife with staggering management challenges. For years, ineffective management had led to inconsistent practices, a lack of accountability, very poor tracking of resource deployments, out-of-date technology systems in need of dramatic overhaul, and a stagnant management culture highly resistant to change.

To put it bluntly, our police department was a mess, redeemed only in part by the individual efforts of officers and civilian employees who continued to do their jobs as best they could. Chief O’Toole has taken steps to build a stronger, more effective management environment, but it’s going to take a long time to right this ship.

The City Council recently received a report commissioned by Chief O’Toole to determine proper police staffing and deployment levels. Chief O’Toole delivered the study to the Council with this cover letter.

At a very high level, the study concludes we should hire an additional 61 to 93 officers above the Mayor’s 2014 commitment to hire 100 net new officers, which aligns with the Mayor’s more recent announcement of an additional net 100 officers by 2019. The report provides good context and helpful comparisons to other cities that will lay the groundwork for specific actions by SPD leadership.

The report also raises some important policy questions we must answer as a city:

Curbing Prescription Drug Abuse: A Practical Step

Yesterday the Council’s public safety committee approved a resolution supporting a new prescription drug take-back program in King County. The County is currently recruiting pharmacies willing to host drug take-back drop boxes. Pharmaceutical companies provide funding for the program; pharmacies won’t have to pay at all.

I cosponsored this resolution with Councilmember González to draw attention to a practical step we can take to curb prescription drug abuse.

News reports have focused recently on the epidemic of opioid abuse. We have seen local usage of narcotics such as heroin rise dramatically, resulting in a spike of deaths related to drug overdoses. And we know that these two are linked: prescription drug abuse leads to heroin addiction.

We also know that youth and young adults are most likely to experiment with opioid pain relievers using pills that came from a friend or family member’s prescription. Putting the pieces together, we can reduce abuse by reducing the availability of excess prescription pain medication in people’s homes.

For years pharmacies have collected unused over-the-counter medicines. Only recently, however, has the legal landscape changed to allow pharmacies to collect unused controlled substances like OxyContin, Vicodin, Valium, and Ritalin.

Encourage your local pharmacy to participate in this new program. They can sign up by contacting Taylor Watson, the program manager at King County ([email protected]).

This resolution will be considered by the Full Council on Monday, April 4.

Real Police Response Time Figures by Precinct

The Council’s public safety committee was briefed yesterday on police department response times to high priority 911 calls. It was refreshingly transparent and candid.

The briefing was prompted by an article in The Seattle Times on January 2 that contrasted SPD’s stated goal of responding within seven minutes to the highest priority 911 calls against the reality the Times analysis of response times revealed. (911 calls labeled Priority 1 involve incidents creating risk to life or serious injury, crimes in progress, officer or firefighter safety, and other emergency events.)

I remember attending many similar briefings over the past eight years and hearing police leadership repeat over and over again that they met the seven minute standard consistently and city-wide. Yesterday, we heard a very different report.

Unfortunately, the former leadership in SPD used a calculation methodology that arbitrarily and artificially lowered response time figures.* While this method allowed them to claim they were meeting their goal, it did not match what Seattle residents expected or experienced. Chief Kathy O’Toole and her leadership team acknowledged yesterday that the Times article prompted them to look more closely at the calculations and provide a more accurate assessment. Bravo to Chief O’Toole and her team.

Before sharing the new numbers, it’s important to keep several factors in mind.