Police and Public Safety

Three officers standing around a squad car

Council Committee Greenlights $1 Million Aimed at Luring More Police Officers to Seattle

Yesterday, the Seattle City Council's public safety committee voted unanimously to advance a bill releasing $1 million in Seattle Police Department (SPD) salary savings...
Lorena González smiling in a headshot photo.

Lorena González Envisions a More Equitable City in Mayoral Bid

If you haven’t heard by now, Council President M. Lorena González is running for mayor. González is a known quantity in Seattle government and governance....

Texts Reveal Durkan’s Office Used Covert Efforts to Disperse Protesters

Fourteen days after Seattle Police abandoned their East Precinct, then Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office began to develop “covert” plans to expel protesters from the...
Mayor Harrell at a podium with people behind him. He is talking about funding programs for the homeless.

Harrell’s 2024 Budget Leaves Big Questions on Safety and Looming Shortfall

Durable solutions to police accountability, public safety, drug treatment, and homelessness all remain elusive and vaguely defined. On Tuesday, Mayor Bruce Harrell released his 2024...

Parking Enforcement Does Not Belong in SPD

While much of the media may have convinced itself that Seattle City Council radically defunded the police, it didn't. What Council did do was...
Portrait photo of Jaahnavi-Kandula

Jaahnavi Kandula’s Killing Reveals Seattle’s Many Failings on Public Safety

What is a 23-year-old woman's life worth? To Daniel Auderer, Vice President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), apparently the answer is $11,000...
A line of police offers in riot gear face off against protesters sporting Black Lives Matter signs along a Downtown Seattle street.

SPD Kettled Protesters in 2020, Escalated Violence, and Promoted the Commander

New footage shows how police kettled protesters, trapping them in a corridor of violence in the early days of 2020 protests. Despite the historic magnitude of financial costs to the city across multiple legal settlements, in the three-plus years since the summer of 2020, the department internally has rarely found any of its conduct to be worthy of punishment beyond a handful of oral and written reprimands.

Op-Ed: Seattle City Attorney Is Dropping the Ball on Drunk Driving Prosecution

Since Ann Davison took over as Seattle City Attorney, the office has been much slower in prosecuting drunk drivers. While her office blames the state toxicology lab, it appears her office is not making DUI cases a priority.