Seattle City Council District No. 5

A more community-focused approach to community safety in Seattle would prioritize building trust between law enforcement and the community, investing in prevention and intervention strategies, and addressing the root causes of crime to create safer, more just communities for all residents.

We can accomplish this through several methods. My plan revolves around addressing the root causes of public safety while updating our crisis response services to modern standards. We need community policing and alternatives to traditional police, such as unarmed social workers who can perform wellness checks. We need to support victims of crime while engaging the community in crime prevention. The concept of eyes on the street comes to mind where the more people we have interacting with their local community and walking around within it, the less likely crime is. Ultimately it comes down to addressing root causes such as poverty, lack of access to basic services, and behavioral health issues. The approach needs to be multifaceted but we need to stop crime before it happens not afterwards.

The most glaring gap in our safety services is a lack of an unarmed response unit focused on dealing with mental health issues and basic disputes. A social worker trained in mental health response is far more effective than an armed officer at calming someone down who may be in a manic state. A social worker trained in conflict resolution would be a better option for responding to a dispute between neighbors. The vast majority of public safety concerns not only can be solved without violence but are better off when there is no means of escalation.

The Seattle Police Department does not have enough oversight because policing and the systems governing policing haven’t changed. The elected officials in this city remain beholden to police because of their power in local government and many of the regulatory bodies the city uses for oversight are staffed by former police or people who have worked closely with law enforcement. The system is a continuation of the police on the street who let their racial bias decide how they enforce the law. We need a complete overhaul of the system and we need to reallocate funding to services that work until the reality of law enforcement changes.

As mentioned previously, I would focus on alternatives to police and community policing. An engaged, friendly, and social neighborhood is a safe one. When people are paranoid and distrust their neighbors it fosters a lack of faith. We need to instill faith in each other in our neighborhoods again and we need services that can do that.

My budget priorities are expanding the jumpstart tax, expanding initiatives like I-135, reallocating police funding to other public safety concerns, and creating funding for housing and transit. Wealth is abundant in this city but it is not distributed fairly. I aim to change that.]