SPD response times increase among staffing shortages
Jun 15, 2022, 2:36 PM
Photo by David Ryder
A staffing shortage at the Seattle Police Department continues to increase response times across the board.
The average and median response times for SPD are up in nearly every precinct, according to a report to the city council yesterday.
The report showed the citywide average response time was over 10 minutes with some individual precincts seeing response times more than double for non-emergency calls.
That is up from nine minutes and fifteen seconds in 2021, and just under eight and half minutes in 2020.
Councilmember Alex Pedersen is concerned, saying on KIRO Newsradio that he “heard directly from public safety offices about low morale and lack of trust, they’re overworked.”
Petersen is hoping to see a focus on the retention of SPD officers in the soon-to-be-released public safety plan from Mayor Harrell.
Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), spoke to Dori Monson about the ongoing effects of the understaffing.
“This is a crisis situation that I’m not quite certain that our local politicians really grasp or understand how dire the situation is. It’s unacceptable to wait that long, but the problem is, there are not enough cops.”
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