‘There are potential hurdles’: Seattle council president says SPD staffing goals face constraints amid Aurora concerns

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said the police department is making immediate plans to place more officers in the North Aurora corridor, according to KIRO 7. The plans come after safety concerns from the community regarding shootings in the area.

Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth told “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio that the Seattle Police Department (SPD) is working towards its goal of hiring more officers, but that it faces certain constraints.

“The goal by the end of the year is to have 1,258 officers. And last year we were net positive. This year we’re still on the same track,” Hollingsworth explained. “I do know that there are potential hurdles in that, with the budgeting piece. Understanding that adding new officers costs more funding and money, but I know that people are committed to kind of restoring the whole spectrum of public safety in our city.”

“And when people think about officers, it’s not the ones that you see, it’s the detectives, the behind-the-scenes, the folks that are presenting stuff,” she continued. “There’s a whole landscape of officers that are coming into play here, so I support the entire spectrum of public safety.”

Hollingsworth won’t confirm if Seattle mayor is on board with officer goals

When asked if Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s office was on the same wavelength as far as wanting 1,258 officers, Hollingsworth said she couldn’t answer that at this time.

“I don’t know what they campaigned on. I don’t know where those values align. But what I do know is that every department has been tasked with 5% to 10% exercise of cutting their budget, and what would that look like. And that’s every department, which includes the public safety departments, which includes SDOT. All the departments across the board have been tasked with that,” Hollingsworth said.

“I think that if we were to go down that route, depending on certain departments that have maybe more funding, that’s just staffing. There are some departments where 80 to 90% of the budget is staff — it’s not just materials or programming. I think we would see detrimental impacts to some departments, depending on what their structure looks like. So, I can’t answer that. I don’t know. But I do know that our goal, my goal, is to continue that progress of having enough officers for a city this size. That’s what’s important,” she continued.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.