Seattle Unveils Police Alternative Plan For Certain 911 Calls

Seattle WA

23 July, 2021

6:28 PM

Description

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Friday unveiled plans to stand up a new "triage response" program as an alternative for certain 911 calls, which would not involve armed police officers. Under the proposal, civilian teams made up of behavioral health and outreach experts would respond to certain non-emergency calls that are currently handled by the Seattle Police Department. At full capacity, the mayor's office estimated the program would handle up to 14,000 calls in lieu of police, built off the Seattle Fire Department's HealthOne initative. "Seattle residents expect and deserve a timely 911 response, and part of reimagining community safety means providing meaningful and effective alternatives to a sworn officer," Durkan said. "This specialized triage response will be a critical resource as we work to address the needs of our communities while reducing the need for sworn officers to respond to things like wellness checks." The new response program would operate through the fire department's Mobile Integrated Health program and would respond directly to 911 calls identified by dispatchers at the Community Safety and Communications Center. The mayor's office said an internal analysis by the police department determined at least 11 percent of its calls could be handled without armed police. "The specialized triage response model proposal is both creative thinking and a data-informed innovation, providing a qualified response to folks who require assistance but do not represent a threat," said Councilmember Lisa Herbold, chair of the Public Safety & Human Services Committee. "I am increasingly hearing from constituents who are asking for exactly this kind of option, to help their family, friends, and neighbor[s]." Herbold said she proposed funding for a new dispatch system to help dispatchers who were recently transferred from SPD to the Community Safety Communication Center to make use of the new system once it is in place. "The Community Safety/Communications Center is looking forward to adopting and implementing a question-and-answer protocol system that will better enable our 911 call-takers to proceed through a standardized interrogation process, resulting in each call being treated with more consistency from call taker to call taker," said Chris Lombard, director of the CSCC. "This process will help operations by streamlining response, reducing bias among call takers, and ensuring crucial decision-making information is recorded. Additionally, this system could be built out further to also accommodate non-police response to incidents in the future." The mayor's office said funding for investments in new response models, administrative improvements and other alternatives comes from SPD's personnel budget.