President Jon introduced our featured speaker, the Interim Police Chief of Seattle, Sue Rahr who has served as the King County Sheriff and most recently as the Executive Director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.

Since being appointed by Mayor Harrell at the end of May, Sue has focused on increasing leadership (with a focus on supervisors not the front line officers) within the department and the city’s three main areas of criminal activity: 3rd/Pike/Pine, Aurora Avenue and 12th/Jackson which she said are the results of the 2020 political climate and widespread availability of guns and fentanyl. This led to “the low morale and an expression of powerlessness” by the remaining police officers which is down by about 300.

Sue has been pleasantly surprised by the city council (“the political winds have shifted in Seattle”) who support the police and restoring public safety. She said letting the people that are responsible for much of the dangerous and disruptive behavior is not only dangerous and not improving public safety but is also “not compassionate.”

Questions included:

· response time for home alarms - since they are down by several hundred officers, they can only respond to “verified/validated alarm calls” so they can keep their officers focused on what is most urgent and meaningful

· leadership issues – this is what she wants to leave behind with the department: a robust leadership development program and holding supervisors accountable

· what is the department doing to address the mental health of officers – they now have a wellness officer (a new position) but it is not enough she said, so they have “instituted a program but have a long way to go”

· 3rd/Pike/Pine area in particular – “they are working to “interrupt/breaking the stolen good business market” that leads to drug use and criminal behavior

She did not want to “paint too rosy of a picture” but each of these areas is improving she said through a collaboration with the department, the city and local businesses. Some of this improvement is visual by moving them out of public view but this “has not fixed the problem.” She concluded with, “so we are keeping our feet on the accelerator as there is still lots to do.”