Good morning.

Public safety meeting will come to order.

It's 9 34 a.m.

July 28th, 2026.

I'm Robert Kettle, Chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Ruiz.

Here.

Councilmember Lin.

Here.

Councilmember.

I mean President.

Council Member Saka.

Chair Kettle.

Here.

Chair, there are four members, five members present.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Thank you, everyone, for being here today.

In light of the tragedy that was at Seattle Center on Sunday, I would like to ask for a moment of silence.

Thank you.

Not at the at the time of the incident, the shootings, but afterwards I received a call from Deputy Mayor Surratt, and I joined him on location on scene.

And I just wanted to say a few thank yous.

I wanted to thank the Seattle Police Department.

When I arrived on scene, I was able with the help of also Seattle Center Security in order to get from essentially the Sioux Bird Way across campus to the armory and to the command posts.

During that time, I saw the professionalism of the Seattle Police Department.

And this is while an operation was ongoing.

SWAT was coming on board.

This relates to the IMAX theater and the search.

So it was an ongoing operation at that time.

And I speak to them on a regular basis.

Spoke to them and the work that they did, particularly the work that was done in the immediate in the immediacy of the shooting.

And then transport of those that were injured to Harborview.

And I'm reminded then, too, of the 19-year-old Juniper Blessing, and you know, it struck to me as an op-ed that was written by Jessa Davis, who works on uh our commission, uh, who said, I didn't move to Seattle for progressive politics, I moved here to survive.

You know, we have to take action across the board.

Public safety is serious business, and we have to be serious as we go about this.

It's serious, as another um chair comments when I talked about Little Saigon and North Aurora and the chronic public safety challenges that we have there.

You know, when we're getting we're being asked why it's so chronic, and when we're being asked, did we care enough?

I think we do, but that's not necessarily enough.

I noted in another as part of this process related to Little Saigon and North Aurora.

I noted that uh it's not a tale of two cities here in Seattle, but a tale of a city of two minds, with an apparent inability to move forward to take decisive action.

Action with a belief that we look out for our neighbors in crisis, but also do the same for our neighborhoods in crisis, to now include uptown, Seattle Center, and the crucial need for sustained leadership with follow-up and follow-through of passing ordinances and then actually implementing them.

Colleagues, as you know, and people in the audience most likely know, many of you I've seen before.

We have our strategic framework plan for a safer Seattle, which we updated in January of this year at the start of the new council, incorporating lessons learned of the previous two years.

In this plan, we're building on the mission and the vision that we have here in council with this committee, understanding the permissiveness is a common thread through the challenges that we see across the board.

And with that understanding, we updated the six pillars to include having a functional criminal justice system.

It is so important to have a functional criminal justice system across the board.

Another pillar was gun violence prevention, reduction, and community safety.

And because of that, we had meetings, we had briefings here in committee on this very topic, and my colleague, Councilmember Rivera held a symposium with national experts on the very topic that we're dealing with today following Sunday's shooting.

And another pillar, too, was addressing the seam between public safety, traditional public safety, the police, but also with public health, mental behavioral substance use, housing and human services, and all the issues that reside in that seam that need to be taken care of.

Where we cannot be of two minds, we have to be decisive.

So now we have a mass casualty shooting event that killed three and followed two near mass casualty events in the days preceding North Aurora and Capitol Hill.

And there's common threads through each of these.

There is a direct through line between Sunday night, what happened earlier this spring in a King County Metro bus station, and two years ago at Garfield, where I'm remember being at the church with the pastor, Mayor Harold, and my colleague, Council President Hollingsworth regarding the loss of Armar Murphy Payne that day.

There's the through line, and part of the through line is the inability of the city to take action, concrete action.

There's actions taking, but to have that follow-through, that follow-up, and to see it through and not be of two minds.

So we have our strategic framework plan.

We're working a lot of pieces related to the public safety challenges that we're facing to include gun violence and violence intervention.

So I call on Mayor Wilson to build a fully comprehensive approach.

We can't have a lock them all up approach, but we also cannot have an abolitionist approach.

We have to have a comprehensive approach that starts with compassion for our neighbors in crisis to include our young people who may pick up a gun, and our neighborhoods in crisis that are represented here today, downtown, Belltown, now Uptown, North Aurora, all these neighborhoods.

And I think our strategic framework can be a guide to work with the executive to work with the mayor to really create a plan.

A plan that does away with once and for all this issue of being a city of two minds that is decisive that was that is done with the follow-through.

So members of the chamber here from all the neighborhoods that are represented and organizations that are represented.

Um I thank you for being here and colleagues.

This recent event is just yet another.

I don't want to put it higher, really, because that would lessen you know the loss of lives at a King County Metro Station in Rainier Beach and all the other challenges that Renee Beach has faced.

Or Lake City, or Belltown, or downtown, or the CID, or North Beacon Hill, uh Little Saigon across the board.

That's our duty.

That's as I see it.

And uh colleagues, I think we as a committee and as a council can press forward in partnership with the mayor.

But we need to do that, and we need to do it with the organizations that are out here, and a number of them are represented here in the audience of chambers today.

So that's uh my chair comment for today.

Thank you.

Colleagues, if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing, seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

We'll now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda or within the purview of the committee.

Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up today?

We have 17 in-person and I think four remote.

Okay, each speaker will have two minutes.

We'll start with the in-person speakers.

Um how many remote?

Four.

So let's do uh 10 in person, do the four remote, and then we'll finish with the remaining uh in-person speakers.

Can you please read the public comment instructions?

The public comment period is up to 60 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

The speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call in the next speaker.

This public comment period is now open.

We'll begin with the first speaker on the list.

The first in-person speaker is Eric Zimmerman, to be followed by Kevin Dares.

Um thank you.

Uh my name is Eric Zimmerman representing the nonpartisan Washington Policy Center.

I have more than two decades of experience with national poverty programs worldwide.

In Washington, I focus on homelessness policy and behavioral health.

While diversion can be an appropriate tool, LEED is an experimental program that operates beyond what its evidence supports and is now used too often in Seattle.

The 58% reduction in recidivism cited in Lee's out lead's own presentations and in your council packet is not factual, and it misunderstands leads small and preliminary study.

The study uses statistical modeling to predict an odds ratio.

Reducing the odds of arrest by 58% could correspond to the non-lead group's arrest rate being 20% higher than the lead group, perhaps.

It does not show a 58% drop in arrests.

It has been cherry-picked for the council, but that can happen both ways.

The study does say that the lead group had a hundred and fifty percent higher reported death rate than the non-lead group.

Six months after diversion, the arrest rate for the lead participants had not declined.

Both the lead and non-lead groups ultimately received fewer criminal charges over the longer term, with no statistically significant difference.

According to the study, a reduction in felonies for lead participants may have resulted from special treatment by their study partner, the prosecutor's office.

We can evaluate setups, mass diversion through other evidence.

Between the years 2014 to 2024, Seattle and King County are first in the nation for the growth of chronic homelessness, plus 850 percent, several hundred percentage points above jurisdiction number two.

Seattle and King County have the count country's second highest total population of chronically homeless, equaling the combined totals of the third and fourth highest jurisdictions.

Because of Seattle and King County, Washington is also first in the nation for growth of chronic homelessness with the second highest state population.

Because of Seattle and King County, Washington is first in the nation for the growth of drug overdose deaths, shifting from 33rd place in 2019 per capita to fourth place in 2024.

Driven by Seattle and King County, Washington has massive drug exposure.

It is first in the nation for opioid overdose as seen in hospitals in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

What is happening in Seattle has no precedent.

It's entirely new territory in our country.

We cannot see it copied by others.

We cannot continue it.

Please vote no on increasing diversion in Seattle.

Thank you.

Next we have Kevin Dares to be followed by Jessica Norton.

Should I add uh he's here in one capacity, but as it turns out, um Mr.

Zimmerman is also the mayor of Normandy Park, so uh it turns out you know for electeds or former electeds do get a courtesy, so it happens to you went first, so uh welcome.

Okay, Mr.

Dares.

I want to talk to all of you because I've talked to the council and power for over a decade, and nothing changes.

I mean, we've had meetings, we've had community walk-arounds, we've had everything you can think of from Durkin to Harold to Wilson.

Nothing's been done.

And I don't know.

You know, I'm I'm winging it, and I hate to assume how anybody thinks, but I have to imagine your experiences are far different than mine.

But folks, when I wake up in my neighborhood, nine times out of ten, there's feces and urine spread all across the front of the building.

There's a gentleman named Todd who has one limb left because he can't stop injecting them to the others, and nobody does anything for him.

They bring them to the hospital and they chop another limb off, or they remove a little bit more of his arm, but then they put him back on the street.

And there's people who overdose in my neighborhood every day, and there's young girls in the alley getting turned out and getting drugged up and getting raped over and over and over again every day.

We had a conversation earlier.

We had a kidnapping in my neighborhood that was called in by more than six people that was videotaped and no cops ever came.

And when we investigated this, it was shown in the 911 report that they marked it as low priority.

So I don't know.

I don't I don't know what your thought process is if you're for less enforcement, you're for allowing this to continue because what you're allowing is for your communities to collapse and people's lives to be destroyed, and nobody steps in.

And I didn't even want to be here today because I'm tired.

I'm tired of addressing a council who doesn't seem to have the political will or acumen to make a difference.

And so I don't know.

I don't know where y'all are from, but I hope that y'all can step up and change it.

Thank you, Kevin.

Thank you, Mr.

James.

Next up, we have Jessica Norton to be followed by Tom Graffer.

Good morning.

My name is Jessica Norton, and I have lived, worked, and frequented Belltown my entire life, 54 years.

For more than 22 years, I've owned a business on 2nd Avenue.

Belltown's a dense, walkable, transit-oriented, mixed-income neighborhood with housing, businesses, and social services, all in close proximity.

But today, those strengths are being undermined by an entrenched, organized open-air drug market.

Every day, residents, workers, seniors, and visitors must navigate open air drug use, drug sales, humans in extreme distress, related traumatic disorders, simply to move through the neighborhood.

We can't use our sidewalks.

We have to walk in the street.

This is not an isolated problem.

It is a daily reality, and it affects everyone trying to live, work, visit, and access services in Belltown.

The greatest tragedy is that it is harming the very people that we are trying to serve.

Affordable housing providers report people are leaving or refusing placement because they do not feel safe.

Businesses struggle, and people living with addiction are left in degrading conditions that deepen their crisis in full public view.

This is not a failure of housing or social services.

It is a failure to provide public safety that allows these investments to succeed.

Compassion and public safety are not competing values.

They depend on one another.

People in recovery, people seeking services, residents, workers, all deserve a neighborhood where they can move safely and with dignity, which we cannot right now.

I ask you to make Belltown the densest residential neighborhood in the county a priority.

Not because it matters more, but because it matters just as much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Norton.

Thank you for coming.

Good morning.

I'm Tom Graff, the chair of Belltown United.

I live and work in Belltown, and I'm committed to a safe and prosperous downtown.

And the entire center city matters to me.

The open drug use and the open drug market in on Blanchard is unacceptable.

And it seems like the police have let it go.

They have other priorities.

And I get the city council cares, but you are not in charge of the Seattle police.

The mayor is.

And I am begging you to figure this out with the mayor and get clear direction from her to the police department that open drug use, open drug dealing, and covering it up with a tent is not acceptable either, has got to stop.

This is our home.

This is the heart of this region, and it is getting worse.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Greta Levinson to be followed by David Levinson.

Good morning.

I think of myself as a fairly fearless person.

I was a home health nurse for decades, and I knew never knew what I would find behind that door.

No, I am not so fearless.

Daily I encounter people who are screaming, wielding makeshift weapons, urinating and defecating in public.

People openly drug and deal on the street.

That seems almost innocuous to the fear of being assaulted.

This is not normal in a civil life society.

We need more police and social service action and coordination, mainly coordination.

This is not working as it is.

Thank you.

David Levinson.

Hi, my name is David Levinson.

I live in Belltown.

And I I want to say everything that's been said is true.

Belltown is full of debris.

Tents that are that people deal drugs out of, people falling over from overdoses, and nothing happens.

You know, we live in a tech city.

We have a technology department in Seattle that's over 600 people, and as I understand it, run by a woman who is is very, very up on technology, and yet we take the cameras away.

And we take the cameras away to study them.

We're a technology city.

We know the cameras are an old technology.

Use them.

I mean, and so we get a report, we send it to um NYU.

Oh, great.

It's beautiful there.

There's no drugs, there's no tent, but there are cameras all over.

And they're going to study whether we should have cameras.

Give them, give the police what they need to move forward and clean up the mess that is Belltown right now.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Julia Biabout, and to be followed by Justin Perkins.

Okay, good morning.

Uh my name is Julia Biabout.

I am a Third Pike Pine resident, and while I'm here to speak as a resident today, I am also very involved in the Third and Thrive Coalition, which is focusing on problems at Third Pike Pine, very much fitting the description of what everybody else has seen.

And I'm also chair of the downtown community council.

So deeply involved and supportive of solutions, all sorts of solutions to these problems.

First of all, commend the council today for the legislation that is before them for taking an evidence-based approach and clarifying the implementation guidelines for police.

Um diversion was being caused by the officers' perception that the public health and case management services that they needed at the time were not available.

They are not wrong.

At Third Pike Pine, we still nightly have 50 to 100 people gathering to use drugs nightly.

It is a drug den.

The Third and Thrive Coalition has been success successful in getting some of the daytime interventions extended to 11 p.m.

at night, including we deliver care.

They have been invaluable in diagnosing the problems up to that point.

But they have also said the best they can do is diagnose.

They have nowhere, no people, no services to connect them to at these times.

So until we shift extend our public health resources to cover the hours when these problems are happening, we will not see any improvement.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Justin Perkins to be followed by Devin Moore.

Good morning, committee.

Good morning.

I'm Justin Perkins.

I'm a client of the lead option.

I mean ideal options.

And um they pretty much been helping me from this time.

Um I've been here for I moved to Seattle last within the last three years.

Had a job at the airport, but then I then a week after I got here.

And unfortunately, some things happen with my folks where I'm out here on the streets, and they're being helping me get my ID enhanced, and pretty much get things on the roll again.

Um I was stabbed last year with a friend of mine, and I'm getting back into re from recovery and starting to get back to work, and it's all because of ideal options that has helped me get that.

And that's about it.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Good morning.

Um, council members, thank you for having me here today.

Um, I'm here today to ask you to continue to support and support and invest in the LEED program.

Uh my name is Devin, and my relationship with the LEED program goes back more than a decade.

I was first referred to LEED around 2015 at a time when I was unhoused, deep in my addiction and living downtown Seattle.

I didn't have much left in me then.

But right away, lead led me with kindness.

They gave me a little bit of hope.

And when you're using the way I was using, hope is something you hold on to with both hands.

Over the next six years, my life was a cycle of jail in the streets and trying to survive.

I went in and out of jail dozens of times.

Um, every single time someone from Lee showed up for me.

They didn't lecture me, they didn't shame me.

They just kept showing up trying to reignite the hope that I kept losing.

I made plans to get clean more times than I could count, and just as many times I chose to go back to the streets instead.

But on January 15th, 2021, I went to jail for what turned out to be the last time, and lead was there again, and then that time I finally said yes.

I went to treatment, I moved into an Oxford house, and Lead made that transition feel possible.

They told me I had already done the hardest part, which was saying yes, and that's something I try to carry in my work today.

I haven't committed a crime in over five years.

I work a program of recovery, and now I work as an outreach navigator supporting justice impacted folks, the same people, the same way people once supported me.

I can honestly say I don't think that I'd be standing here today without the patient's kindness and resource navigation lead gave to me.

They didn't just help me change my life, they helped me build one.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And our last public uh in-person public commentator before we switch to online is Angelo De Jesus.

Welcome back again.

Welcome back.

I'm Angela de Asus.

I live in District 7 in North Belltown.

Um I do not want open air drug use in my neighborhoods.

I do believe that there should be a pathway to getting uh people the help they need.

But if they say no, they gotta go.

Okay.

Um with like uh police staffing, we need pathways through education, starting from high school or college or techs.

And our mayors are failure in this.

You guys are our backup.

You're a dual, it's not even backup.

You guys are side by side, and we need this done to get more jobs.

We need more tax revenue.

We need you want more housing, get them jobs.

Change the zoning laws.

That way we can have like uh, you know, commercial real estate turned into residential.

It has to be done, you know.

You know, and creating these other jobs, it's not just police or civil service, like pretty much any job that's civil service, and you guys are in charge of doing this.

And the mayor is I believe she's a total failure in this situation.

She's not even a college graduate in this situation.

She's an undergrad, and all of you have almost master's degree.

You know.

Um, as a C, you know, as a translator of Seattle, I left my city, and my city is awful.

I'm from Miami.

And it doesn't compare.

It's kind of light here.

You know, I'm really happy to live in the city, and I feel safe in the city.

But also, I look like this.

Okay.

And other people who don't look like this are scared, and they need protection.

Thank you.

You guys have a great day.

Thank you.

Not the only Navy veteran who's spoken this morning already.

Uh we'll transition to um our seven remote speakers before coming back and finishing in person.

The first remote speaker is Jake Wallach.

Please press star six when you hear the prompt.

You have been unmuted.

She signed up.

Which one?

Which one?

Hey, Chair Kettle.

This is Jake Walk.

I live up in North Aurora.

We're gonna come back.

I'd like to say that the violence continues, and that we cannot turn our eyes.

You mentioned at the beginning that there's an inability of the city to take action, and I totally agree.

What I think we need to do is we need to ask for state help, and we need a task force on Aurora Avenue.

What's different between the North Aurora Corridor and the Seattle Center shooting is that on North Aurora, the city already knows why it's happening and by who 60% of the shootings are directly related to prostitution based on SPD data.

The narrative on the street needs to change, and the city press releases aren't going to change it.

After the streets were closed, we saw a dip in violence for about a week or two.

Uh, but then two weeks later, we saw over 200 Johns in our neighborhood back on Aurora.

SPD only has two vice detectives for all of Seattle, and they're not making enough progress because of course they're not.

There's only two of them.

We need to ask for state help because we need it, and we need a task force on Aurora Avenue.

Thanks for the time.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Sarah Clark to be followed by Alberto Alvarez.

Please press star six.

Councilmember Cattle, uh, Chair Cattle, members of the public safety committee.

For the record, my name is Sarah Clark, and I am here today testifying on behalf of the over 2600 members of the Seattle Metro Chamber in support of Council Bill 121248.

First, I'd like to thank Chair Cadell for sponsoring this bill and for your continued leadership and thoughtful work to find and introduce balanced policy approaches to address our region's public safety issues.

After dropping slightly in the November 2025 index results, uh, which is our voter research project, our May 2026 polling showed that public safety has moved back up the second highest priority voters want the city to address, coming in only one point behind respondents' top priority addressing homelessness.

This is particularly poignant after the tragic events at Seattle Center over the weekend.

We support establishing in-field pre-booking diversion as the city's preferred approach to enforcement of drug use or possession crime.

More importantly, we support the requirement for SPD to collect data on referrals, participation and outcomes that is included in this bill.

We will continue to support city policies that emphasize tracking outcomes so that elected leaders can make fully informed decisions.

Council Bill 121248 affirms our values of the city while also ensuring metrics are tracked, policymakers are fully informed, the policies passed, achieved the attended results, and that we are getting the positive outcomes for our neighbors we all want to see.

We respectfully urge you to pass this bell.

Next up, we have Alberto Alvarez.

Thank you.

Good morning.

How many tragedies has the police chief been away in Chicago or his speaking tour in other states?

We need a chief who lives here, values our city.

You can't run a police department via Zoom.

Barnes, especially, has no right to feel upset when a reporter asked him if he was going to be out of town again until mid-August.

He needs to turn over his badge, or the mayor needs to fire him.

It's bad enough.

It's a bad enough problem that many police officers don't walk and live in our communities.

And spends his time in another state every chance he gets.

Thank you all and have a good day.

Thank you.

Next up we have Joe Kunzler.

Thank you, Seattle Public Safety Committee.

I want to get right to the point.

And that offer of assistance was turned down at least twice.

Um once reported by somebody else, the second I heard on the live radio street.

And I'm wondering what happened there.

Um I think you as a city council should demand answers as to why the uh offer of a drone to find suspects was denied.

And I think that this city council should please support the use of drones in the event of emergencies such as this.

At that, I obviously give my condolences to those that were traumatized by this event.

And I want to conclude by Wednesday is the 16th anniversary of when I was home invaded by an anti-Semitic felon and his nephew.

And I had to fight off that anti-Semite with my fair hand.

So the anti-Semite came from Seattle in a prison game.

So I take anti-Semitism pretty seriously, and I hope you will speak out against that as well.

Thank you for your public service.

Goodbye.

Thank you.

Next up, we have David Haynes.

Strains.

Hi, David Haynes.

Did you see when the police chief lost his school and tried to act violent and bully the and verbally abuse the reporter when he simply asked about why he's always out of town?

It's a real concern.

I think we need a new police chief.

I think we need to purge the Jim Crow Law South, scorned experience, Lynn.

It shows up in Seattle and starts playing the race card, running interference for black criminals.

There's a prolific amount of violence.

And just because people are shooting a ton, and they're bad shots, it doesn't mean that it's more safe because less people have died.

And we need to address the fact that the human services department is undermining public safety.

They went on a travel junk into Baltimore and to justify the payment in the hotel.

They came back with a bad idea.

They're literally copycatting Baltimore.

Baltimore, right now, has more shootings, 185 than they did last year, 183.

And I think you have somewhere of like 57 deaths this year.

But they're considering it an improvement because there was 81 deaths last year.

But yet this is the sole foundation of the mayor's approach to gun violence.

All those nonprofits that were created during the George Floyd protesters, where they showed up and said, we want to reimagine police.

We want to run interference for gun toting criminals.

We want to pay gangsters to relocate if they don't retaliate.

We have this on young.

We have people running interference for criminals.

We have a police chief who's trying to blame his captains for all the problems.

But yet the police chief, the only thing he's taken seriously is $375,000 salary and trying to run interference for black criminals that he used to teach when he was in history class.

We need a revolt against this.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Andrea Suarez to be followed by Art Dollar.

That was all of our remote speakers.

Okay, we good.

Andrea Suarez from Hi, I'm Andrea Suarez from We Heart Seattle.

Please do not vote on anything today.

Councilman Lynn Kettle, Juarez, please don't vote.

Vote no.

Just please stop until you meet with the folks from Battlefield Addiction from uh Washington Policy Center, who's debunked the data today, right here.

He was first to speak that said that the lead data does not prove to have the outcomes that I think you've been led to believe.

Please vote no or stop until you allow us to also meet with lead and unpack the data together and have a conversation with what's working and what's not.

On July 14th, I got a chance to see the mechanics of the lead diversion from my own eyes.

I was eyewitness to an 18-year-old girl.

Imagine listening in counsel mayor's office, Erica Evans.

If you're sit if your 18-year-old daughter was missing and you're at home, and we have thousands of moms and dads that call us and say, God, I just wish my daughter or son or loved one would call from jail, so I can know that they're alive.

But in this case, this 18-year-old came into the South Precinct.

I met with her, she knew who I was.

We were going to either go to Valley, Orica, the Kirkland Crisis Center.

We were going to take her to Lakeside.

We were going to take her to Ituha.

We were going to take her to a safe state, the more we love.

We had it all figured out.

But the officer said, but we've got to do that lead protocol thing first.

The lead intake came in and said, What's your name?

What's your race?

What's your age?

Boom, boom, boom.

Three questions.

Sign here, charges dropped.

Right there at midnight.

That little girl grabbed her backpack and bolted.

She's now back with her boyfriend twice her age, back on Rainer Avenue South in District 2, smoking fentanyl.

And even if she was to show up at her appointment with her paper three days later, she's still high as a kite and expected to have the faculties to know what her best plan is.

It doesn't work.

The lead program doesn't work.

And they've been our gold standard for 10 years, and we've lost 20,000 people to death by overdose.

We're asking you to do something different.

Please, thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Art Dollar.

Uh Art Dahl and uh battlefield addiction.

Um I brought my evidence here today.

Um we're talking about this word accountability that is somehow somehow has become some negative word or some hurtful word.

Um, when we speak of accountability with each other, we're not talking about punishment.

We're actually talking about holding each other to a higher standard.

So the way our programs work is this you guys stand up, please.

So what we're gonna do today as a program is we are going to hold each other to a higher standard.

What is the standard of behavior that we all conduct ourselves with?

Is there any standard anymore that people must?

Is it a bad thing to ask somebody to be held to a higher standard?

We're not asking for punishment.

Nobody here was punishment.

I got guys that are have an ankle bracelet on from City of Seattle that saved his life.

Thank God he was arrested because he's in our program now, and you'll hear from him.

Thank God for all of you that were arrested, and every single person was brought to us through accountability.

It wasn't their choice.

They didn't just decide one day to wake up and go, you know what, today I'm gonna stop doing drugs.

Somebody asked them to be committed to a higher standard of living, and they're either doing it for their family, they're doing it for the law, they're doing it for their probation officer, somebody who asked more of them.

So when we talk about accountability, it is not a negative word in our vocabulary.

It is a word that actually means something to us.

It means, hey, look out for your brother and hold him accountable today for a higher standard to live in and require more of him, especially when people don't want it for themselves.

This myth out there that someone's got to want it for themselves.

Nobody wants it for themselves.

People actually, what happens is somebody requires more of you, and along the way, you start wanting it for yourself.

We have people that went to jail, didn't want to go to jail, didn't want to get sober, but now they want it.

So it's not about punishment, it's about holding what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Protect business, protect our citizens.

These guys will get better.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Noah Lager, thank you.

Uh my name is No Lauger.

I'm currently in the battlefield addiction program.

To be frank, the only way I found success was through being arrested.

Not because I didn't want to, but because addiction held me back.

I was let go that night, did not show up for the program.

Charges were eventually dropped.

Lead Lee as it now is not a workable program without accountability and accountability for the person.

The program is the only way to success.

Thank you.

Please uh do snaps or jazz hands.

Uh next up we have Peter Orr to be followed by Hannah Ziff.

Good morning, Council.

Um, thank you for having me.

I'm Peter Ora, a resident of the North Aurora neighborhood.

I'm here to represent neighbors who live along Aurora Avenue North with an update on our experience there.

The barriers that were put in place at several residential intersections have been working as intended to protect residents' homes from drive-by shootings connected to the human trafficking along Aurora.

However, as predicted, these measures simply move the problem, as evidenced by the shooting at North 96th Street on July 23rd.

Our security camera network has captured an increased volume of prostitution solicitation at North 97th Street, East and West, and North 109th Street, also sites of documented shootings.

This activity regularly involves violence, including physical beatings between young women and pimps recording them with nearby neighbors waking to their screams.

The June 30th review by Seattle's Office of Inspector General of the Seattle Police Department found that out of 40 seller contact cases, 37% were minors.

Let us not forget that the moment a trafficked individual turns 18, they're no longer a minor, and the crime is a misdemeanor.

The prostitution on Aurora Avenue North is undeniably a human trafficking issue.

Full stop.

This activity follows a predictable pattern night after night and frequently during the day.

Neighbors grow weary and disillusioned about calling 911 because when they do, our footage shows SPD officers typically show up for a moment, often stay in their vehicle, and drive away a moment later.

At an SPD press conference last week, Andre Sales, police deputy chief of administration and investigations, said crime is mob.

We don't want our officers to be stationary.

In the case of human trafficking on Aurora Avenue North, I disagree.

Two mobile patrols are going to miss the activity at a handful of hot spots.

I continue to advocate for a satellite precinct on 97th on Aurora.

I advocate for a task force dedicated to Aurora Avenue North human trafficking.

I advocate for funding for a dedicated prosecutor on City Attorney Evans team for state aid to help stabilize our police force.

Thank you.

Funding of 24-7 recovery services for trafficked uh survivors.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

We have Hannah Ziff.

Hi, my name's Hannah.

I'm from Pioneer Square.

I want to take a moment to recognize that we're on native land.

Um so yesterday we talked about the shootings, and it was talked about a lot in terms of health, and today the meetings about safety.

And I was kind of thinking in broad strokes.

Um there's the health and safety division of our federal government, and then under that is housing and urban development.

Um, and there's a reason that's federal, because the security of our community is also the security of our nation.

Um there are two sides of the same coin.

So just to get granular.

The waterfront park showed um the values of our city pretty well that we want to have the reciprocity of investment between the citizens and uh the global um economy.

Um, and I think uh recently this summer I heard that if there's a building that's completely counter to our values, it can actually get taken down by housing and urban development.

And the Jack on first.

I live on first in Jackson, the Jack on first, and Alaskan Way has turned our neighborhood into an unsafe situation on that corner.

Um so here's my home, and then you can see it.

It's a brick wall, and then there's the waterfront park.

Um, so I know two residents.

Um I didn't take the poll or anything, so there could be more two residents who own in our building moved because they used to look out and it used to be a 1930s parking garage, which was mixed use.

Um, and now it's just a brick wall.

Um, there used to be people walking there, now there's assaults there.

Okay, and um people are smashing the building up.

Because it's created a bad vibe in our community.

People are spray painting my building, and I want to take down the jack.

I want good investments, not greedy.

Thank you.

Uh next up is Ashley Nebig to be followed by Craig Thompson.

Um everyone, uh, and I know this is a hard week for everyone in Seattle, so thank you, Councilmember Kettle, for your words up top.

Um, a little over two months ago, we presented on lead outcomes since the public use ordinance, and the data showed that client outcomes improved with exposure to long-term case management.

This mirrors the many evaluations that have been done on LEED over the years, and this continues to be one of the most rigorously evaluated diversion programs in the region.

Today you heard from Justin and Devin.

Two weeks ago, you heard from more lead participants and graduates.

And these are the people who feel the impact of this program most acutely and to humanize the data in those reports.

These are people actively recovering, repairing their relationships, and reuniting with their families and communities.

Um in particular when I meet with people who have their kids in our Zoom calls, I see how important and essential our program is.

Uh I I didn't benefit from having a dad in prison.

I don't think anyone does.

Um please support this legislation which continues to build a much-needed coordination system between law enforcement and lead.

Thank you.

Last public commentary, Craig Thompson.

Hi, my name is Craig Thompson.

I live on North Beacon Hill.

Three months ago, we had a very large meeting for public safety concerns in my neighborhood.

Can you speak uh closer to the mic, please?

We're now three months behind where we should be.

There's been little official follow-through.

People are called by some people by some people in government.

We respond, no answers come.

There needs to be a real sense of communication, but also there needs to be coordination.

I know from the work that I did with the Nichols and the Guinness administrations that a single point of pro program management is needed to have a large public safety and social outreach program.

Today we have heard from several neighborhoods.

So it's not just my neighborhood in Little Saigon and the jungle.

It's the downtown corridor, it's Belltown, and it's North Seattle along Aurora.

Not only to this council, but the bureaucracy as a whole, and the mayor's office.

It is that model has worked in the past.

That model is what will eventually happen.

But the time to study solutions has to come to an end, and we need to begin implementing these programs with single point management authority to have accountability to change what is happening in our neighborhoods.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, we have no additional uh registered speakers, and we'll proceed to our items of business.

The 60-minute uh um the public comment period has expired.

I want to thank everyone for uh being here uh for those individuals who are speaking um in terms of their personal experience, uh whether with addiction or their neighborhoods.

Um I'm really happy to have Belltown, Downtown Third Pike and Pine, uh North Aurora, Pioneer Square, Little Saigon.

Um, these neighborhoods being represented today and having their voice heard.

Uh very important points were made.

Um there's a bit of a transition to the next item of business.

Uh the idea of 24 hours.

You know, I think of San Francisco's reset center, rapid enforcement support, evaluation, and triage, uh, which could be very helpful.

So some of the uh the points that were made today, or my own experience in North Precinct, where there was a woman, uh, you know, and the those that were organizations would not be there during second and third watch.

It's clear that we have to have coverage in second and third watch.

Um I'm really happy that Devin was here.

Key word is hope.

Uh we always have to remember that and how to provide that.

I just wanted to note too Mr.

Kunstler talked about this reports about drones.

Um as I said at the beginning, uh I was on on scene um there at the command center on the Seattle Center, and when the King County Sheriff was there, we do not have drones in our city uh with the Seattle Police Department.

There is a pilot with the fire department.

Um but uh so our drone coverage, like during the FIFA World Cup was covered by King County Sheriff to include counter drones uh work as well.

And uh, but I just wanted to note King County Sheriff was on station uh Sunday night, and I actually saw a drone myself, so I'm not sure what those reports are coming from.

I physically saw a drone.

Um I recognize to the point uh regarding the challenges of diversion, gold standard and all that talk.

Well recognizing those challenges why we're here today.

This is why we're updating this bill.

This is the reason why this committee uh got the um PDA uh the purpose and dignity in action contract shifted from home uh from human services department to the care department.

So now it falls under our committee.

This is a step-by-step process, it's not by accident, and it kind of goes to the idea that we should be always striving for that gold standard, and to constantly be looking to improve it.

Um to include some of the points that um that I noted already.

And uh one last thing I'll say too, because I said it yesterday uh in interviews that I had.

Um I do support uh Chief Barnes.

I think Chief Barnes is a great police chief for our city and for the unique aspects of our city, and the fact that he was in Texas supporting two people from community getting awards from a National Black Law Enforcement Association group uh shows his leadership.

So I recognize that as a topic today.

Um but as chair of public safety, I do support Chief Barnes, and I've said so in interviews today, and no doubt in the interviews I have this afternoon.

Um I'll be saying the same thing again.

So thank you for everyone for those comments.

I I listened and I wrote down uh starred uh many to um to include Devin, Julia, Joe, um, and others as well.

So thank you uh for for the comments.

And remember the public is encouraged to either submit written public comment on the sign-up cards available at the podium or email us um at council at seattle.gov.

Recommend using your own personal one, not some of these aggregator groups.

Okay, we'll now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read agenda item one into the record?

Council Bill 121248, an ordinance relating to controlled substances updating city policy for the enforcement of crimes of the crimes of knowing possession and the use of substance controlled substances, amending section 3.28.141 of the Seattle Municipal Code and repealing section four of ordinance one, two, six, eight, nine six.

I'd like to invite Mr.

Doss from Central Staff to come up, but not just him.

I would like to also invite um Captain Garth Green from West Precinct and Ms.

Smith uh from Seattle Police Department.

Assistant Chief Brown, you're also welcome to join.

And uh lastly from PDA, uh Mr.

Wolf, uh Sam Wolf, please join us.

Colleagues, we're gonna go into um different aspects of the bill, you know, from the PDA perspective, SPD and so forth.

Um but ahead of that, I do want to uh look to move this bill.

So I wanted to say I move to recommend passage of council bill one two one two four eight.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passages of the bill.

So we'll start a discussion of the bill overall, and then we'll go into our three amendments.

Okay, Mr.

Doss, uh can you just do a quick update on the bill and probably save most of your uh addressing to the amendments in more detail.

Um since you spoke to it last time, like a just a quick refresher, and then we'll just work ourselves down the the line from you.

Mr.

Wolf and then um SBD.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Chair for the record, Greg Doss, Council of Central Staff.

Uh we'll be discussing today Council Bill 121248 and three potential amendments to the bill.

Um and I will save further explanation uh for later.

Thank you.

Yes, so Sam Wolf uh with Purpose Dignity Action.

My role as the Seattle King County Policy Director.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

Oh, I'm uh Mark Garkine, I'm the West Precinct Captain.

Hello, I'm Sarah Smith, Seattle Police Department Chief Operating Officer, and I help with our legislation.

Thank you, Mr.

I am Rob Brown.

I'm the uh Chief of Patrol Operations for Seattle Police.

Thank you, Chief Brown.

Okay, why don't we start uh since we kind of came this way?

Let's start with PDA and speak to the build, speak to the issues as you see it from PDA.

Um and really, you know, look to address also um any points that were made uh during uh public comment that could be helpful too.

And colleagues, um we'll do the PDA piece first, and then if there's any questions related to PDA, um we'll start there.

Mr.

Wolf.

Okay, well, um I mean I think in a uh a broad sense, echoing some of what some of the public comments said, just that you know, supporting this bill as uh I think a much needed like continued construction of the coordination between SPD law enforcement and diversion services.

Um, you know, we've talked uh a few times about LEED this year in council.

Um I think one of the things that um I've hoped has come across is just the the way that this uh model for case management is critical for individuals um to you know find a path to stability um whatever their needs are.

This is something that can meet a wide variety of individual needs, work with them, and we did see again um in our April presentation um a strong correlation between exposure to long-term case management um and recovery and other outcomes.

Um that is of course not the entire picture of public safety uh issues in our city.

Um so grateful to you know the work being done here to build that coordination between law enforcement who's doing another very critical piece of that work.

You know, I think one example being um in the the project happening in Little Saigon right now, um kind of two sides of the same coin care for a place and care for a person.

And when we are able to build these two systems to be like highly integrated, um we can see those work hand in hand.

Um so yeah, happy to answer any questions.

Um, but I guess we'll pass it to the well actually we'll start we'll leave um care for place and care for person.

Sorry, could you say that again?

Care for a place and care for a person.

Yeah.

It's almost like look out for our neighbors and then also in crisis and our neighborhoods in crisis.

And that and just for clarity, because all these projects uh seem to have multiple names.

This is also the community solutions project in part.

Um lead is uh is supporting the community solutions project.

Uh the community solutions project is a uh a little bit more specifically focused on people experiencing homelessness, which is of course has a huge overlap with our population.

Um but the work that LEED does with SPD um is you know very directly people who have criminal legal system exposure involvement stemming from extreme poverty or unaddressed behavioral health issues.

Um extremely high correlation of people who are unhoused uh when referred to lead, not a requirement.

Our goal is basically to work with folks that are repeatedly coming up on SPD's radar who are generating 911 calls again, stemming from extreme poverty or unaddressed behavioral health needs um and working with those folks towards behavior change.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Um I usually start with my vice chair, but the care for place, care for a person caught my attention.

So uh I go to my vice chair now.

Vice Chair Saka.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh no questions, comments at this time.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

Um Councilmember Warez.

Thank you.

Um Mr.

Wolf, you heard public comment here today.

We've heard this for a while.

Um, I've been around since 2015 in the creation of um not only our accountability pro um accountability partners, um, but the issue of um of lead and co-lead and started out as the public defender's office, which I used to be a part of.

So how would you respond to what Andrea Suarez said?

Um Yeah, I mean, I think what Andrea Suarez um identified in her public comment was a pretty irregular situation.

It was not a uh uh was not a typical handling of a diversion situation without going into too many details of the person, but I mean our response for that situation is going to be the same as other clients as working with that person towards what they will accept in the moment, um, including resources that you know I think she brought here today, those are all on the table.

Um our goal is to build a relationship with that person uh to figure out what their needs are, to create an individualized plan for them.

That plan, you know, may end up going to some of the other public commenters if you know if battlefield addiction is something that that person finds appropriate and wants to work with, but um that's not necessarily the outcomes.

Um we will work with that person towards addressing their needs.

Thank you.

Um colleagues, any uh questions Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Um thank you all for being here.

Um I think to be honest with you, part of the the issue here sometimes is we're just not doing a really good job presenting the data to folks.

So I will say, you know, when I look at the quarterly reports that LEED is currently sending us, we're just not getting enough information on those reports.

To know that you have 990 people on your docket, I'm gonna call it a docket.

I don't know what else, so apologies for the reference.

Um, but on your list, um, but then not knowing um how many of those folks are in treatment, how many like what is happening with folks?

And I have been told, well, you know, there are um uh you know, we have um there's a certain level of confidentiality with information that you you you know that is able to share it, but there is something between just knowing you have 990 people, and I don't need to know folks' names to know what happened to these folks and how many are in treatment and you know what extra do they need, or I I so there's a level of a lack of information that we get that you may have because you're doing the work, but but the public writ large and we might not know.

And so I think in as far as we should be having databases or or in for more robust information that we can share that really shows where people are, where those 900 and people are in the system, and and then and adding to that, because that's just a moment in time.

Um, I think that would be um not just valuable but critical.

And so I'm gonna continue to bring this up because Sam, you and I have had many conversations about this, I've talked to Lisa about this.

I I just and and if we can't get that inform uh paint not painting a better picture, because painting a picture means like we're making things up.

I don't want us to be making things up, but in as far as we can get you know critical information out there to really show what is happening to individuals, we will continue to get folks to come to chambers or emails, etc.

to say, like, what is LEED do?

How are we helping these individuals?

Um, and I understand that you did a presentation before um in chambers a few weeks ago.

Um, but I just still didn't get that level of information that I think is needed.

I need to know are people getting treatment?

Are we actually helping people?

Like not just diverting people, but actually helping them.

I mean, diverting them to actual help, that they're doing something, that they're plugged into treatment, that they have housing, that they have jobs.

Like I do not know any of this information, and so um uh I'm just gonna keep lifting up this request because it's it's really essential, it's critical, and you know, in order to continue to support programs, we just need this level of of detail and information.

And again, I'm not saying it's not happening, I'm just saying we're not getting that level of information.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Uh I really appreciate you being here, uh, Mr.

Wolf and Lead.

Uh as you know, I do believe in diversion, um, but I also know that's a work in progress.

And one of the things that drives this is that as I look at what's happening on our streets and with the public drug markets and so forth, and and I interact with police officers and so forth, there's two main issues that we have.

One is their confidence in the diversion program, and two medical declines and their lack of confidence in KCJ Health.

Um, so these are the reason why I'm tacking this.

Uh you know, in terms of our role as the oversight and in the community.

So, with the belief in diversions, like, so how can we do things better?

And for for everyone out there, that's the reason why this bill has a lot of data collects.

We started this off again, nothing's by accident in uh January, February with OIG, and they couldn't really present on their review because there was no data.

Um they had some uh interviews, which was helpful, um, and that kind of highlighted some of the challenges because at the end of the day, everybody should be going be diverted or to jail, and sometimes jail helps in diversion, you know, as noted in some of the public comment.

Uh so these are the the rationale and the push that we're doing from our perspective with PDA, and this is the engagement that we're gonna have that I don't think was really being done before, but it's definitely gonna be done now on the public safety side of things because of the seam to come back to that.

That's so important.

Um for SPD, uh I guess Ms.

Smith to start.

Oh.

Oh, sorry, before you do that, can uh council member uh Warz, a quick follow-up.

I apologize.

I had my little hand up, I don't know if you saw it, but that's okay.

Um thank you, Sam, for being here and for the information you provided.

I just want the public to understand that, and I I'm not I'm I'm a bit skeptical of this in-field diversion, quite frankly.

Um I know that there's in-court diversion, and I know that once people are arrested and they're in jail and they get sober and they're of their right mind, and being a former judge that people are more likely to, when a court says when you come out and divert when you've already been through the court system.

To me, it and again, this has been a while, and it's to council member uh Rivera's point without some data.

Um I don't know which one is more successful, if it's in court or in field.

Um I don't I still am not comfortable with this warm handoff thing because I think that's a made-up term.

Um I don't even know what that means when you really think about it, especially what we've seen post-2020.

Um so you're talking to somebody who was around where when we thought we were getting a North Precinct in 2015 and they did block the bunker, and then they said stop to sweeps and defund the police, um, and all this stuff that just went on.

So the accumulation of all that is where we're at today.

And so I was here when we when I watched the um lead program begin and doubled their budget, tripled their budget, added on co-lead satellite offices, when we created um Chief Bardin's position.

Um, and of course, was there when we hired and was on the hiring team for the OIG, the officer inspector general.

So you're talking to somebody that's kind of been around, and getting back to Councilmember Rivera's point, I don't have anything like a dashboard, anything in front of me that says here's the data that we use to show that when we do diversion through PDA, I'm still gonna call it PDA, not what you guys call it now.

Um that to tell me what comes in and what goes out and if that's successful.

Because every budget cycle you come back for more money.

And every time we ask these things, and we don't get them.

So one of the things I've heard over and over and over, and I've seen it in my family and everywhere, particularly in Indian country, people who are in addiction, in sobriety, and fight for that.

So I understand that component, but I also understand something I've been taught and watched, and I'm glad it was articulated here many times.

Um yes, you should have empathy, but it should be an equal parts with accountability.

Asking people to be accountable doesn't make you racist.

Doesn't mean that you don't care.

You're telling me those should be in equal parts.

Empathy, yes, accountability, yes, because that's how people who you love are around how they get well.

So I am not, you know, maybe I'm not progressive enough.

I don't know.

Maybe I'm just old and I just been around.

So I'm really struggling with this in-field diversion as an alternative, and somehow an officer is going to be able to do this in that transition period.

I just don't know how that's gonna work.

And I'll be really frank with you, Chair.

And I oh and Chair, um, thank you very much for um when we had our meeting on July 14th, and when we went through the bill and we went through the questions, I really appreciated your leadership there.

And of course, Greg providing us with a summary and fiscal note and all the memorandums that we received and going through what you know the in-field diversion means.

Um and so I just want to be straightforward with you with that.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Warz.

Mr.

Wolf, you do have an opportunity uh to we'll shift to Mr.

Wolf.

Do you want to anything to you like to say?

Yeah, I mean, I think a couple of things there.

Um regarding data, you know, the intent of our um presentation back in April.

Um I know there was a lot of uh a lot of data we talked about in that presentation, but specifically with the lead client outcome data was to show a little bit of uh here's what we can see between the relationship of exposure to long-term case management and those outcomes, which again, you know, we we include those in our contract reporting.

Um, but I think don't have the numbers in front of me, but you know, for the cohort that was had exposure to long-term case management for 24 months.

You know, we're tracking things since the public use ordinance was originally signed into law.

Um, you know, 70 70 percent or so uh meaningful connections happening to recovery services of a broad variety.

I know you you had some questions as well about what those look like.

We'd be more than happy to talk about uh those again.

Um what works for the person is what we're going to connect them to, whether that's inpatient, outpatient, you know, methadone, suboxone, figuring out what's going to work for the person that they will a voluntarily accept, and B will be part of a sustainable recovery plan.

Um we host those, you know, the quarterly report that we publish uh will host that information on our website as well, but would be more than happy to work with you know the council members on what kind of data you're looking to see and how we can show that better.

Mr.

Doss.

Yeah, thank you.

If I if I might add, I was um trying to discreetly uh point out a section of the bill.

Um so the there is a bill, a section that that says that any diversion strategies in which SPD participates, which is obviously lead, must be structured in a way that assures there is data collected on referrals, participation in treatment and outcomes and participant information, uh, and that that data must be readily accessible to city departments and policymakers.

So the bill requires the collection of the kind of data you're you're talking about, council members, and it's just a matter then of of lead some of taking that data and and ensuring that it's getting to you in the right form.

Where is that in the section?

That is uh in uh section one, it's subpart four uh of J reporting requirements.

It's on page should be on page five.

And this this is a clear lessons learned that's being incorporated here.

Um I appreciate the points uh raised by my colleagues to my left, and I think it's important.

I don't know how many times I've been on the street with uh groups to include lead representatives, but I think uh you know uh the that kind of engagement engagement here in our offices uh would be um helpful as well in addition to uh showing up in chambers.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you.

I I want to thank Chair for your um dil uh you know due diligence on this, um, and I know that you care about the the uh revere due diligence.

You care about the data um as much as as council member Juarez and I, mainly because we do support people and we want people to get better.

And someone said that in chambers, uh many people said that in chambers um uh beautifully is you know, we can have compassion and we need accountability too.

I will say um I'd love to also know how LEED interacts with other organizations in town that are also providing services to folks because oftentimes we see in chambers somehow like there's a we could do LEED or we could do that, or we could do the other thing.

Really um there are many tools to help people, and we should all of the services that we fund, and even those that we don't fund directly as a city should be working together to ensure that we're we are robustly helping people.

And to the point about the about 990 folks that are on LEED's list, you know how many of those are the same folks over and over?

So do we need to be doing something different?

I know uh you know, I know from family experience that um, you know, folks need multiple times of treatment in order for um for for it to sometimes work, sobriety to work.

Are these the same folks?

And even with multiple treatment um uh uh points, are those folks still not uh managing to stay sober to be able to have a job and stay housed?

If that's the case, what else do we need to be doing?

So I don't get this information from what is presented, and I also feel like there might be some other things out there we're not trying that maybe we should to help people.

I feel that way in the gun violence space, which is why, Chair, as you know, I'm looking at the National Network for Safe Communities, because that is a model we haven't tried here that can work.

Similarly, I'd love to know is there a different and additional because it's not additional model that we can work for folks that are coming through lead the same individual multiple times or that are part of the the folks on your current list that just continue to be on because really the goal is that we help people, they get housed, they get jobs, um, and then we move on, not move on like we're not caring, but that they're being helped, and then we're able to help others as well.

But if it's the same individuals over and over, I've got to believe then something's not working well.

And it can't be as simplistic as they just need mul more treatment multiple times.

Yes, I understand that, and that is true.

And for those individuals that have those multiple treatment points, what what else can we be doing?

And I don't know any of this.

So and I think this has to be a part of it, and also how LEED interacts with some of these other organizations that are providing services as well, because you know it's all hands on deck.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Vera.

Yeah.

I think somewhat Mr.

Doss's point kind of answers this, but this is something that needs to be worked on, of course.

Anything briefly you want to add to the Yeah, I just wanted to say I I really appreciate that.

And I think one of the key like design elements of this program is that it's not mutually exclusive to other approaches.

You know, there's like a couple examples.

One, um, something like drug court might not work for every individual.

Some lead clients do go through drug core, and in many cases, their lead case managers are a key part of helping them maintain that program.

Um, separately, I think about you know, you were talking about what are like the big bottlenecks to people really getting better.

Um I think sort of the elephant in the room is shelter and housing um and the limitations uh in our like sort of regional stock for both of those resources.

So you know, thinking through so lead case management, you know, long-term care in co-lead, which is part of the the con uh uh part of the contract that the city signed for um 2026, it's basically lead plus lodging, high support shelter.

Um so you know, thinking about that plus the other high support shelters that the mayor's office and the city are bringing online this year, hopefully.

Um it is a a situation where we see lead case management when paired with that.

Um is a uh what that means is that person has a safe place from which to like make life plans, their case manager can more consistently find them.

And we do see recovery and stabilization speed up very rapidly.

So, you know, kind of regardless of uh what the resource situation is, lead case management can uh augment that and build on it.

Again, not mutually exclusive.

So we'd love to have more of that conversation with you about what this population really needs and how we can build that.

Thank you.

Okay, we're gonna move to um Ms.

Smith, and we're gonna shift to SPD.

Thank you.

Well, thank you, uh, council members and council.

Thank you, Sam, thank you, Greg for uh allowing us to speak here.

I'm gonna be very high level with my comments and that I'm gonna allow my colleagues to actually actually offer real insight, because they are the ones who are doing the work on the streets and they know how this all operates.

But at a high level, I think Councilmember Rivera, what you're saying is it's about the people, and it's about protecting our neighborhoods and making sure that it's really clear what our goal is, which is to keep people safe, to keep businesses safe, and make our city a welcoming place for all.

And that needs to be something that drives us.

I will say it takes all the tools necessary to be successful in that.

It cannot just be law enforcement.

We have to have a whole government approach and more tools is going to help us address this nuanced issue.

I will also say, as we all know, addiction is nuanced, and we need to have a comprehensive initiative and strategy with partners to make sure that we're actually addressing that in the right way.

We can't do it alone.

We have to have others there.

So I just want to ground us in what our overall objective is, and that it takes more than just the law enforcement side.

It takes more than just the diversion side.

It takes us coming together and working together.

Chief Brown.

Thank you, Ms.

Smith.

Yes, actually, I'd like to highlight one of the stories that we heard earlier, and unfortunately I don't remember the name of the gentleman, but I think this is a good example of how LEED can be successful, like success success story.

You had a person who mentioned that in 2015 they were referred to lead, and they continue to be engaged by LEED, even though uh in their own words, I believe they they they characterized it as not really having effective engagement to move forward from themselves.

It wasn't until 2021 that they reached a point after having been arrested and booked into jail that LEED engaged with them and they were able to then use that to move forward and get to a better place, moving beyond their addiction, moving into a place where they're housed and no longer involved in the criminal justice system as they had been.

So that's one example.

And the last thing I want to highlight from that is, and I've I've said this before here, but lead is not an either-or.

It's a one-time arrest diversion for a you know, typically for drug possession or something like that.

Um so we, you know, if you're talking about accountability, law enforcement is still there for accountability for criminal activity.

And if they're arrested for a crime, they're gonna be booked as they would otherwise, whether or not they're a lead client.

The difference is that we're communicating, we the police are communicating with the lead counselors to try to uh uh make sure that they're there to meet with them at the jail, uh, to meet with them when they get released from the jail and try to provide that opportunity that that client can utilize to get to a better place where they're no longer engaged criminally, no longer engaged in in substance abuse and housed.

Thanks.

And because you gave us free reign with microphones, I'm gonna add to that as well.

So apologies for that.

But thinking through what you just said, uh Chief, and something you mentioned, Sam.

The work in Little Saigon is a really example a great example of how this work can actually happen.

So starting on June 3rd, we had a team of officers actively patrolling in Little Saigon, working together and diverting folks to lead.

Can you actually talk a little bit about that, Captain Garth Green?

Because I think it is a good strategy that we can implement to address these needs.

Absolutely.

So in Little Sagan, what we did is we dedicate one sergeant and four officers to work in that area.

Uh and with that, we're working with REACH LEED co-lead uh to divert folks that are meet the diversion criteria and that we believe would be good candidates for the program.

Uh not everybody that's arrested gets put into lead, not everybody that's lead eligible goes to lead.

Uh there is a discretion by the officers uh done at that time.

But what we're trying to do is work with LEED and the other outreach in that area.

We've had them do ride-alongs with us uh to kind of see what we're seeing from our side, and then have the ability to call on them, uh, do infield diversion or uh mostly what we try to do is if we and effect an arrest, we will take that person back to the precinct.

We will use what we call the green light phone, we call a case manager, uh, and we do a warm handoff at Council Wars where we physically hand the person over.

We just don't let them go uh and ask them.

So that's kind of what that is to them so they can take custody of that person, take them back to their office or somewhere else and have that uh uh speech and uh do the paperwork that they need to do on that end with it.

We do some in the field.

Uh a lot of times if somebody might be in a wheelchair or something where it's really prohibitive for us to uh and inconvenient for them for us to put them in an ambulance, drive them to the precinct and put them in an ambulance to get them back somewhere else.

Uh we will see uh if we can meet in the field with folks and then divert them that way.

I think it there is a misconception of LEED that LEED is immediate and LEED is not immediate.

Uh and I think uh Mr.

Wolf would say the same thing.

It is progressive, it takes time.

So when we look at LEED and say, well, if somebody's arrested and they're diverted into LEED, we won't see them out on the street tomorrow.

That's not the case.

It is a long-term program.

It has fruitful endings, but in that interim, uh it's not gonna change that immediate action on the street for the most people.

We might have a select few that it does, but for the most, so I think that is a misconception sometimes with uh the public as well, is that they believe that the moment we arrest them and divert them, they're gone, they're into treatment, they're into housing, and and we're done.

And that's not the process.

So thank you.

Although that presents another challenge when constituents see the arrests and then they see that person the next day.

Um so there's some of the challenges that we have there.

Um I appreciate Ms.

Smith going in.

So basically we've had the uh the introduction.

By the way, it was Devin Um who was the person uh from 2015.

Uh he's the one also who said hope, which I referenced as well.

Um I always go to my vice chair, uh, Councilmember Saka, or otherwise I'm going to Councilmember Lynn.

No further comments, questions, appreciate the conversation though.

All right.

Councilmember Lynn.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, and just want to say thanks to everyone that uh showed up to to comment today, including those who have left, and uh thank you to our presenters.

Um, I think this this is a we're dealing with complex human uh issues, you know, people dealing with substance use, mental health, and I'm not sure that there's um you know, one size fits all easy solutions.

I think you know, if there were, we we wouldn't be here today.

Um but one piece of the the puzzle um in I'll just say, you know, uh a couple uh meetings ago, we heard a lot of very compelling testimony from from lead folks, uh from people who are participated and it changed their lives.

We heard from somebody today who said it did not work for him, and I think you know, there are um and we heard you know from a lot of folks today or uh from Battlefield and and um that that was changing their life.

And and I think we've seen sort of different programs work for different people.

You you hear from people who say, you know, going to jail was you know really important and and maybe the best thing that saved my life, and then we hear stories from others who um you know, I think a lot about this um constituent who um who her brother um was jailed and and uh left jail with no resources and overdosed as uh he was released on a Friday night, went right back to you know uh being unhoused and and using and you know there's certainly a lot of statistics where people leaving jail um are more likely to die from an overdose.

And and so that um council member Juarez, I I I fully agree that it is both.

It is empathy and accountability.

And uh, you know, I think one of the the worst things we can do is not to have any accountability, to have low expectations.

I mean, when you talk about racism, I think it is extremely racist if we do not have expectations for folks.

We think, oh, this is the best that we could, you know, giving up hope.

I think that is the one of the worst things that we can do.

Um and I so I guess the question, you know, oftentimes is what is accountability look like?

How do we, what is the, you know, what is the data-informed uh program that we can uh you know lean into.

And so I guess part of this long introductory question is about our our criminal system, our jails, and what are the outcomes that we are getting from our jail system?

Um you know, I think part of the reason we are looking at alternatives is because we oftentimes are not getting great outcomes when people are leaving jail.

And that doesn't mean that I mean I think that there's a lot of things that we can do better in our criminal system and our jail system, so that when people leave, they are not right back to where you know, or maybe worse off than uh when they were arrested.

And I think that that's where, you know, again, sort of the origins of this lead program started was that officers would arrest and people would be right back to where they were.

And and so I just uh I want to um I mean perhaps that's uh discussion of a future meeting, um, but I think that that's a critical piece of the puzzle as well, is like how do we get better outcomes?

Um, you know, sometimes people do need to be arrested, and sometimes they need to be jailed.

Um, and but like how do we make sure that those outcomes are also in that and I know that uh there's um programs in place to as people leave um jail or or uh prison to to try to get those better outcomes, but as we talk about accountability, as we talk about data informed sort of programming, I just think that that's a big piece of the puzzle that we also need to keep in mind.

Thank you, Councilmember Lynn.

Yes, uh empathy accountability.

I also say rights and responsibility is one of our public commenters said two sides of the same coin.

Um on the issue of people leaving KCJ or any other jail, this is where we've had discussions with care, and could they fill a role because to the point that and I doubt this on the street too?

Some of you was released, they had nowhere to go, and it was a very difficult situation.

Um I also have the uh you know, the out of this in your question is the idea of the reset like we have in uh San Francisco.

And I understand on the addiction side is one thing.

We definitely need that second, third watch touch point when it comes to the minors on North Aurora.

Um we can't just say, okay, it's gonna take this many times.

Um so that's a nice point too that we're looking at the the differences, dare I say it between soap and soda, for example.

Uh Councilmember Juarez, I see your hand uh up.

New hand.

Thank you.

First, um uh councilmember Lynn, thank you for articulating that point.

Um I think it's important for the viewing public that we do understand the origins of LEED and co-LEED and what happened with the consent decree that we are under the unconstitutional policing.

And as a former public defender, I know that.

Um I want to thank uh the captains for being here and um thank you, Ms.

Smith for being here as well.

Um let me just make a few comments and I'll let this go, Mr.

Chair.

Um I appreciate that LEED is a long-term, a long-term program.

I don't expect it to be a one-time thing, diversion, everybody's fine.

It the world just doesn't work like that.

Um, as is recovery, and part of recovery is relapse.

And we know that.

And that's just part of the program.

Being a former judge, you see the same folks in front of you.

I was one of the very first judges that did drug court 20 in the late 80s.

I'm dating myself here where they weren't doing drug court then.

And part of that was recovery, relapse, accountability, treatment, and doing the things you're supposed to be doing that the court stayed on you, and you had a support system that was there to hail to hold you accountable.

And it worked.

Um in fact, Judge Martinez is it was a judge as well, and now he's a federal court judge.

Um so I'm not here to say that it should be one or the other.

I know it's and or and repeat.

I I understand that.

And I want I want the public to know that too, because I think they think because there's lead and co-lead that somehow there's a it's a one-time silver bullet, it's gonna work and we're done.

And I know that.

I understand that.

And I do appreciate this long walk or this journey that you have that PDA brings to your clients.

There's no doubt the commitment that you bring to your clients to walk them through the system from arrest to jail to after jail to in court to diversion to treatment to accountability to relapse to back.

They violated their, you know, their responsibilities when they were supposed to be back in community.

I understand that that that cycle.

And it is it is high time that when the court started looking at look, part of recovery is relapse.

You can't keep smacking people down every time.

It's a it's a disease, and we need to treat it like that.

It just happens to be in a courtroom.

So I understand that piece.

And looking at the whole bill, and again, my only skepticism is is I do want you to succeed.

I I'm not here to be a naysayer.

I'm I'm here to say I hope it works.

I hope we get the data.

Thank you, uh, Greg, for pointing out where in the bill.

I I actually kind of saw that, but I actually needed to see it again in in black and white on the reporting requirement.

So I think that's what Councilmember Rivera was getting at as well.

And I don't have a problem if some of these folks are are they they've come back.

They've been counted twice.

They should be.

Because some of them are going to be successful.

And if we can save many lives through that, or a few lives through that, then we've done the right thing.

That's that's just where I've come from is as a legislator.

So I don't want you to leave here thinking that you know I'm anti-um lead and co-lead, though I still think it should be the public defender.

I still have my t-shirt that says that, and I'm holding on to my hoodie.

I should show it to you.

It's old school.

Yeah.

So I was very proud of that.

I was a public defender for five years.

I spent four years in felonies.

So I I kind of have a feeling of how this system works.

So I just want you to know that I'm hoping that this works.

Um, and I'm I'm proposed, I'm I'm supporting the chair.

I know that he's worked hard on this, and Greg's done some really good work for us in re answering our questions and doing the summary in fiscal note so we can come back and see how this how this how this looks out in the field with your your new term now, in field diversion while you're doing a warm handoff.

Thank you, Councilmember Warez.

This will be a continual work in progress, Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Um wholeheartedly agree, Councilmember Horace.

I do want it to succeed.

We want to help people.

That's the thing.

We're all on the same page about that.

It's how to best to do that, and how do you show your work?

How does LEED show its work to show it is working?

I think it's it's challenging, and I'm just suggesting we need more information.

That's why there's more data collection in the bill to show how this really is working, and to the point about people needing multiple uh treatment multiple times.

I know that.

I'm okay with folks, you know.

I understand that we're gonna double count folks.

All I'm saying is that level of data also lets us know maybe we need to be doing something different with that with the that subset of folks.

Is there something even additional we can provide them to help set them up for success?

Because at the end of the day, we want these folks to set up for success, so we want the program to be set up for success.

There are other programs that are helping set people up for success.

Let's make sure we're coordinating and working together, and ultimately we want neighborhoods and our residents writ large to be set up for success.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Vera.

Okay, just to close this section.

Um lot of discussions about our neighbors in crisis.

But we also have our neighborhoods in crisis, and this comes to the drug markets themselves.

Um what can we do to address this uh in terms of the active drug markets?

I can go, as you all know, I know where all these locations are, and it's chronic.

What can we do to shrink them?

What can we do to attack them?

Um what can we going back to my original point?

A big challenge is you know, faith in the diversion program, and then also KCJ, King County Jail.

These pieces.

So, what can we do on um to attack the drug markets that are destroying our neighborhoods?

And and can I uh adding to that question?

How can we help you do that?

I'll say it right now.

Soda.

I've already spoken to soda, and it's a tool in the toolbox, and we don't use it.

Yep, which is a problem.

Um that's like RST and LNN on on Wheel of Fortune.

I'll throw that one out as a given.

Uh anything else?

So I would say the number one thing that you can do to help the Seattle Police Department combating the open street disorder in these inflicted neighborhoods is continue the hiring of Seattle police officers.

We have been at an extreme deficit, which has made it very challenging to field proactive officers.

I'm going to repeat something I'd said before in front of council.

We have a phenomenon that started around 2020, 2021, which I call defiant open consumption, where people feel they can brazenly break the law in a public place like a sidewalk with disregard for citizens for even officers walking the block.

Those folks need to have a behavior change.

I'm not saying that everything is led with putting people in jail, but they need to be uncertain that they might be arrested for openly consuming fentanyl on the sidewalk.

And so they better go skedaddling the other way and not doing it in the public view.

We are making great headway in doing that.

We've had uh a proactive team.

I talked about needing the staffing so that we can feel these proactive teams.

We have a proactive team at uh 12th and Jackson Little Saigon, a sergeant and four officers that have been leading the charge to get that behavior change so people don't feel that they can break the law in public.

Um we're doing the same at Third Pike and Pine.

We now have a team out there of a sergeant and four officers uh that is doing the same thing.

So in the end, again, continue as we get more officers, we can field more proactive units, and that helps us you know, um uh focus our efforts in these communities that that have been impacted.

Thank you.

And I would like to add to that that it takes consistency.

We have to be consistent in hiring when we have a roller coaster of up and down.

When we have a roller coaster of capacity within our case management, within housing, that all affects it.

And so, you know, Councilmember Kettle, you mentioned, or actually, Councilmember Kettle and Council Member Lynn, you mentioned the criminal justice system.

We also have to have consistency in our criminal justice system.

So making sure that we understand when things are being deferred, when they're being diverted, making sure that we're in block step with our judges, our prosecutors, our jails, our council members.

I think that's gonna be really critical for us moving forward to really tackle this.

And so being consistent, continuing to hire officers so we can be proactive.

The neighborhood resource officer program in Magnuson in Little Saigon can work.

We need more officers to be able to do it long term.

The Little Saigon effort is working, but it is not 24-7.

It is not at night and it's not on the weekends.

If we had more officers, we would be able to do more.

The officers can't do more until they have someone to replace it.

Otherwise, we have a captain working third watch when he's low staffed.

So more hiring, more consistency would be very helpful to the Seattle Police Department.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

Um Captain Carth Green, anything you want to add or you're good?

Uh sure you say that you know, looking at uh ordinances and legislation that uh address some of the drivers of the narcotic sales out there.

Like right now we have uh a lot of illegal vending that is incorporated in driving that market uh with EBT fraud, things along those lines.

So addressing those issues either through ordinance or legislation as well, it's not just the narcotics, it's the things that are surrounding them as well.

Street markets, thank you.

And uh by the way, I'm also saying on a regular basis, we have to reach our goal, 1,258 officers, and we have to maintain the momentum.

Okay, that colleagues, we're gonna go into um our amendments and I'm gonna start since I have amendment number one.

I move to amend Council Bill 121248 as presented in amendment one.

And you're welcome to stay.

It's been uh second it has been moved and seconded to amend the bill as presented in amendment one.

Central staff, Mr.

Doss.

Uh would you like to uh you recognize describe amendment one?

Yeah, thank you.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um Thank you very much for coming.

And uh right before I uh uh read amendment one, if I might just give like one paragraph of uh summary on the bill.

Uh I'd say that as council is aware, this would um this bill would change the city drug ordinance to prioritize the use of in-field pre-booking diversion strategies through a warm handoff uh to an individual of an individual to lead outreach personnel.

Uh also want to emphasize that this change would not preclude other alternatives to booking, such as a charge by officer or arrest and release, nor would it prohibit booking.

All of these things are set to the officer discretion uh and could be implemented really whenever the officer think it's a thinks it's appropriate.

This bill would simply set a preference for a direct handoff to recovery services uh when it's appropriate.

So uh with that as background, I'll go ahead and and get into the first amendment.

The amendment uh amendment one would make several uh technical and clarifying changes.

First, it would specify that a field-based diversion can include a direct in-person handoff that occurs at a police precinct.

This is a change that Councilmember Lin suggested in the last meeting of the this committee.

Second, it would specify that the city's preference for a field-based diversion is made by a recovery service provider who utilizes the law enforcement diversion framework, which under this amendment would be defined to include but not be limited to the elements in the RCW for a law enforcement assisted diversion program.

And that can be found in RCW 71.24.589 sub-4.

This was a change that uh Councilmember Saka suggested in the last committee meeting as well.

Third, it would clarify that the data and evaluative requirements in subsection 328141 J4 apply to recovery service providers.

This subsection, as we uh discussed earlier, requires a service providers to collect and maintain data on referrals, participation, outcome, and client demographics.

This change was suggested by SPD so that it would be clear that it would be uh the lead program that would be capturing that data.

Lastly, it would clarify that an officer does not need to include in an arrest report information regarding the threat of harm assessment.

This is a technical correction to reflect the fact that officers are not required to do a threat of harm assessment.

And therefore, if they do not complete a threat of harm assessment, they can't put anything in the arrest report.

So this is just syncing up a technical issue, along with another change that was made in 328-141K uh recommended by the law department.

Um so with that as a summary, I'll entertain any questions and um whatever you need.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Doss.

As the uh sponsor of this, I should really say that I'm the sponsor of it because as you noted and is walking through, um we have uh inputs here in this um amendment from council member uh Lynn, Councilmember Saka, SPD, and and the City Attorney's Office.

Uh there was a question uh from the mayor's office, although that was too late, uh couldn't get a law review, although that was uh again uh pretty small straightforward piece.

But so again, these uh this amendment is a you know sponsored uh with inputs from across the board and I thank Councilmember Lynn for your input, Councilmember Saka, Vice Chair Saka, uh SPD, and also the City Attorney's Office for their support.

In addition, of course, uh Central Staff.

Uh colleagues, any questions or can we proceed to a vote?

Okay, thank you.

Um Clerk, will you please call the role on the adoption of amendment number one?

Councilmember Rares.

Aye.

Councilmember Lynn.

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Saka.

Aye.

Chair Kettle.

Aye.

There are five in favor.

Okay.

Amendment one is adopted.

Councilmember Rivera, would you like to move your amendment number two?

Thank you, Chair.

I move to amend Council Bill 121248 as presented on Amendment 2.

Second.

Okay, it's moved and seconded uh as presented amendment two.

Central staff is recognized to describe amendment number two.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, and I apologize for failing earlier to recognize you are the sponsor of Amendment 1 and Councilmember Rivera, the sponsor of Amendment 2.

Thank you.

And uh for amendment two, this amendment would require SPD officers and diversion service providers to report instances when a officer requested a field-based diversion and the number of times that a diversion service provider responded timely to that request.

One thing to note with this amendment is that SPD would need to define in its policy what timely means.

And it is the case that uh Central Staff have asked them how they would do that.

Um it is it is the case also that that when LEAD is training SPD officers, they say that they will respond within 30 minutes, and that SPD uh has been uh using that uh protocol.

Um of course there would need to be exceptions potentially for high uh emergent calls, high priority priority one emergent calls.

And so that's uh some language that that SPD is working on and and I can provide to you before the uh final vote.

And it will be up to you all as to whether you want to put that into the bill or uh have SPD put it into its policies as they would do under normal course.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rivera, if you'd like to speak to your um, unless anyone has any questions, I think um think you crack did an excellent job at explaining more data by which um you know we have a better picture.

Okay.

Well, with that, I don't see any hands.

Uh clerk, will you please call a roll on adoption of amendment number two?

Councilmember Warez.

Aye.

Councilmember Lynn.

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Saka.

Aye.

Chair Kettle.

Aye.

Five in favor, none opposed.

Okay, amendment number two is adopted.

Um Councilmember Rivera, would you like to move your amendment number three?

Thank you, Chair.

I move to to amend Council Bill 121248 as presented on amendment three.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded and is presented on amendment three.

Uh central staff, you're recognized to describe amendment number three.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Amendment three also sponsored by Councilmember Rivera.

This amendment would recognize an officer's ability to take into custody custody individuals in severe crisis due to substance abuse.

Uh by way of background, RCW 71051532 authorizes officers to transport an individual to a secure withdrawal and stabilization facility for emergen emergency stabilization and or evaluation by a designated crisis responder.

The amendment notes that the state passed RICI's law to allow for involuntary treatment of individuals experiencing severe substance abuse when they are no longer able to make safe decisions for themselves.

SPD has indicated that a treatment bed is not always available under RICE's law, but that officers would still use 7105153 to take an individual into custody, deliver them to a hospital, and ensure that they are cared for if they become gravely disabled due to their drug use.

Uh from there it would be up to a designated crisis responder to determine how that individual receives further treatment.

So this amendment, in short, would recognize that officers um have this ability, and uh under the threat of harm to self section of the bill, it would put in that when it's appropriate that officers should should use this this method.

Thank you, Mr.

Doss.

Councilmember Rivera, any uh No, unless someone has any questions.

I think Greg did a great job explaining this something that's already available.

So in this uh piece of the legislation, it just made sense to me to do the reminder that this is another um thing that is available to folks um, especially in an emergency.

Thank you.

Thank you.

On questions and comments, uh Councilmember Lynn.

Yeah, so just to clarify that this is something that officers already have the kind of authority to do.

We just don't want to send the message that somehow this legislation would preclude them from doing it, so this just allows that them to continue.

Okay, thank you.

Correct, Councilmember Lynn.

Just kind of uh raising the flag, high highlighting if you want to.

Especially again in case of emergencies, this is another tool to help folks.

Okay, not seeing any uh indicational questions and comments.

Uh will the clerk please call the role on adoption of amendment number three.

Uh councilmember Ruarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Lynn.

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Socca.

Aye.

Chair Kettle.

Aye.

Five in favor, none opposed.

Amendment three is adopted.

Okay, colleagues.

Uh will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to adopt council bill one two one two four eight as amended.

Councilmember Warez.

Aye.

Councilmember Lynn.

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Saka.

Aye.

Chair Kettle.

Aye.

Five in favor, none opposed.

Okay, the motion carries in the committee recommendation that the council bill be adopted.

We'll be sent to the August 4th City Council meeting.

Okay, colleagues, very uh big meeting, long meeting, uh coming on the heels of this weekend.

I want to again thank everyone who came.

Uh most have left, but thank you for being here uh and giving comments.

And uh we've looked to incorporate that throughout the course of the meeting, uh, which is all my colleagues have done, so thank you.

We have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

Is there any further business to come before the committee before we adjourned?

I don't think so.

Okay, hearing and uh no further business come before the committee.

We are adjourned before 11 30.

Thank you.