Seattle city leaders host public safety forum, discuss recent shootings

SEATTLE – More than 200 people attended Thursday’s public forum meeting aimed at making the city of Seattle safer.

City leaders joined Mayor Bruce Harrell for an open discussion about community safety challenges, accomplishments, and opportunities at Seattle’s Central Library.

“Public safety is not just our first charter responsibility as a city, it is the top issue for our community today. I look forward to meeting with neighbors to hear their concerns and ideas, and to share the actions we are taking,” said Harrell. ” I am proud of our work to diversify public response options, address gun violence, and improve response times. But I know – we all know – that there is still more work to do. Community engagement, collaboration, and conversation is essential to our One Seattle vision for a safer city, because we can only make progress together.”

One of the first things Harrell dis cussed were the two shootings that occurred Wednesday in the Central District, where a student was shot in a drive-by shooting and a woman was shot and killed while standing on the sidewalk.

“I have zero tolerance for criminals, people that are hurting other people,” Harrell told the crowd. “People that are holding people at gunpoint, I have zero tolerance for that.”

The mayor noted that 80% of the city’s homicides involve guns. He also mentioned that the city has worked to get more than 1,500 illegal guns off the streets in the past year.

Adding to the conversation was Seattle Police Chief Adrien Diaz who talked about the shootings.

“Detectives are working extremely hard, doing everything they can to solve these cases,” said Diaz. “We’re working to have justice for the families that are impacted as well as the communities involved.”

Wednesday’s event also included a panel discussion with Seattle Fire Department (SFD) Chief Harold Scoggins, Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Chief Amy Smith, and Human Services Department (HSD) Director Tanya Kim.

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Wednesday’s public forum will be followed in April with forums in each of the five Seattle Police Department precincts.  

Details about the location and dates for the precinct forums will be shared early next month.

At the discussion, community members were surveyed on the following topics and questions: 

DO YOU FEEL SAFE IN YOUR HOME/RESIDENCE?

• VERY SAFE: 40%
• SOMEWHAT SAFE: 31%
• UNSURE: 14%
• SOMEWHAT UNSAFE: 11%
• VERY UNSAFE: 4%

DO YOU FEEL SAFE AT WORK?

• VERY SAFE: 37%
• SOMEWHAT SAFE: 29%
• UNSURE: 12%
• SOMEWHAT UNSAFE: 18%
• VERY UNSAFE: 4%

DO YOU FEEL SAFE VISITING DOWNTOWN?

• VERY SAFE: 9%
• SOMEWHAT SAFE: 30%
• UNSURE: 9%
• SOMEWHAT UNSAFE: 31%
• VERY UNSAFE: 21%

DO YOU FEEL SAFE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

• VERY SAFE: 20%
• SOMEWHAT SAFE: 37%
• UNSURE: 10%
• SOMEWHAT UNSAFE: 24%
• VERY UNSAFE: 9%

DO YOU FEEL SAFE TAKING PUBLIC TRANSIT?

• VERY SAFE: 7%
• SOMEWHAT SAFE: 22%
• UNSURE: 18%
• SOMEWHAT UNSAFE: 30%
• VERY UNSAFE: 23%

DO YOU FEEL SAFE AT SOCIAL ACTIVITIES?

• VERY SAFE: 22%
• SOMEWHAT SAFE: 41%
• UNSURE: 9%
• SOMEWHAT UNSAFE: 23%
• VERY UNSAFE: 5%

HAVE YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW BEEN THE VICTIM OF A PROPERTY CRIME IN THE LAST 2 YEARS?

• YES: 76%
• UNSURE: 7%
• NO: 17%

DOES SEATTLE NEED STRONGER FIREARMS REGULATIONS?

• STRONGLY AGREE: 63%
• SOMEWHAT AGREE: 14%
• UNSURE: 10%
• SOMEWHAT DISAGREE: 7%
• STRONGLY DISAGREE: 6%