Seattle, known for its recent tumultuous political landscape, has set into motion plans to appoint unarmed “crisis responders” to attend 911 calls.
These individuals are meant to offer an alternative to the city’s traditional police response, The Post Millennial reports.
In a recent interview, Councilmember Lisa Hebold remarked, “Usually I’m complaining about how delayed we are and how frustrated I am that we’re not meeting our benchmarks for developing this program. But today I’m really, really happy to report that the city is hiring for the six positions for its first pilot alternate response team. It’s going to be a way for 911 operators to dispatch calls to somebody other than police, somebody other than fire, a crisis responder who is unarmed.”
The new program, titled the “911 Dual Dispatch/Alternate Crisis Response” pilot, recently received a $1.6 million infusion from the midyear supplemental budget.
These funds will be directed towards the hiring of six initial crisis responders.
Detailing how the responders would work in tandem with existing services, Hebold added, “The police department will be aware of the dispatch. They may attend, they may stage nearby, or they just may have situational awareness. Each call is going to be different, but it’s really exciting that we’re finally up and running with hiring the folks who will be doing this really important work that we have been working on since, I think, August of 2020.”
Hebold’s push towards restructuring the police began in August 2020 amidst protests that rocked Seattle.
Since then, the city’s police budget has seen significant cuts resulting in a significant departure of nearly 600 officers.
The city has also experienced a spike in violent crimes and record homicides.
In a somber twist of irony, as discussions about replacing officers with social workers were ongoing, a tragic incident occurred: a social worker was fatally stabbed by her homeless client.
These policy changes have not been without consequences for Seattle’s business landscape.
Major companies like Amazon have shifted some divisions to neighboring cities, including Bellevue. Yet, Seattle’s experiment with police defunding is having ripple effects, Post Millennial notes.
Recently, Bellevue’s City Manager, Brad Miyake, announced the hiring of Joseph Todd as deputy city manager.
Todd, known for his anti-police stance during his campaign runs for Renton School District and city council, was brought onboard despite reservations from several in the Bellevue Police Dept. and city management.
Regarding the hire, Miyake stated, “Mr. Todd brings with him a focus on innovating to improve service delivery for the benefit of the public, his deeply held passion for public service, and his commitment to thoughtful and collaborative problem-solving.”
He also lauded Todd’s “political astuteness and experience, his ability to use data to inform decisions, and his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Addressing concerns about the hiring process, Bellevue’s chief communications officer, Michelle DeGrand, commented, “City leaders followed up with Joseph about his political involvement and vetted his overall job performance with employers. Several members of the city’s leadership team, including Bellevue’s police chief, were involved in the hiring process.”
She further elaborated on Bellevue’s hiring protocol, stating, “Like many cities in Washington, Bellevue operates under a city manager form of government, which means, per state law, the city has professional staff who oversee operations, including hiring. The Bellevue City Council makes public policy decisions with input from staff and the community. The council is not involved in personnel selection beyond hiring the city manager and so the city does not adjust its hiring cadence during council recesses. The council was notified about the hire, as is the usual process for filling professional staff positions.”