Dori: Seattle Police guild president calls slower response times a `crisis鈥� that local leaders 鈥榙on鈥檛 grasp鈥�
Jun 15, 2022, 3:24 PM | Updated: 8:36 pm
Photo by Noah Riffe
At a time when the number of police officers on Seattle streets keeps dropping and crime is rising, response times to the most life-threatening cases citywide continue to climb, a .
The result, Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) president Mike Solan told The Dori Monson Show, 鈥渋s definitely scary 鈥� a crisis situation that I鈥檓 not quite certain our local politicians really grasp. . .鈥�听
| SPD response times increase among staffing shortages |
Average police response times have ticked up each of the past three years in 鈥減riority 1鈥� calls 鈥� those which demand the greatest urgency, according to the report. For 2022, these include:听
路听听听听听听听听听East: 9.52 minutes听
路听听听听听听听听 North: 11.30 minutes听
路听听听听听听听听 South: 10.89 minutes听听
路听听听听听听听听 Southwest: 11.06 minutes听
路听听听听听听听听 West: 9.20 minutes听
It鈥檚 no coincidence, Dori told Wednesday listeners, that it comes when Seattle Police Department staff is at 鈥渉istorically low levels.鈥�听
鈥淭he problem is there鈥檚 not enough cops,鈥� Solan explained. 鈥淭o me, it鈥檚 mind-blowing that politicians aren鈥檛 recognizing how serious this situation is.
鈥淪PD is losing an average of 16 officers a month,鈥� he continued. 鈥淪ince January, we鈥檝e lost 85 quality police officers. We鈥檙e expected to lose 30 in (this month of) June. We鈥檙e projecting 196 separated officers this year alone 鈥� on top of the 430 we鈥檝e lost since the (2020) riots.鈥�听
To date this year, 26 officers have been hired, Solan said. Projections expect a total of 57 new hires in all of 2022 – 鈥渟o we鈥檙e down a net of 600 officers – more than half the department.鈥�听
Currently, Solan told Dori, Seattle officers are working without a contract.听听
鈥淭he way to stop this hemorrhaging is to incentivize,鈥� he continued. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to pay top dollar. Hours, wages and working conditions: ultimately, those three things are tied鈥� to keeping existing officers on the job.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly sad that we鈥檙e in the position,鈥� said Solan. 鈥淭his agency was once progressive. . . Now, we are a shell of an organization and we鈥檙e losing cops every month.鈥�听
Without a contract that shows police officers are 鈥渧alued, things are only going to get worse 鈥� and that鈥檚 not being hyperbolic,鈥� he added.听
Fortunately, Solan said, both sides in the police contract negotiations are 鈥渁t the table, which to me is positive. How that conversation is going, I鈥檓 not going to comment, but we have a ray of hope.鈥�听
Listen to Dori Monson weekday afternoons from noon 鈥� 3 p.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the听podcast here.
