‘What if they actually dressed up as Care Bears?’: Jake floats a novel strategy for Seattle’s $72M CARE team

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson proposed a $9.1 billion budget this week with no new taxes and a 13% increase in public safety spending. KIRO fill-in host Greg Tomlin had a one-word reaction to the police funding: success.

“While Mayor Katie Wilson is at the helm, by the time she leaves office or finishes her first term, if she can get cops on the beat up to around 1,250, which is what the funding is designated for here, I will say in part, a resounding success,” Greg said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “For me, public safety is paramount number one.”

Wilson’s first budget proposal, released Sept. 22, would direct 53% of the city’s roughly $2 billion general fund toward public safety. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) would receive $556 million, a net increase of $68 million, with funding for 1,250 sworn officer positions, 66 more than were funded in 2026. The mayor’s office said SPD currently has roughly 3,000 applicants in its hiring pipeline.

But the proposal also includes $72.6 million for the city’s Community Assisted Response and Engagement Department (CARE), which would take the lead on gun violence intervention under Wilson’s plan. That’s where co-host Jake Skorheim’s enthusiasm ran out.

“Do you think she’s going to be successful in the whole safety conversation and guns and all the violence that Seattle has seen?” Jake asked. “She wants to put that all under the purview of the CARE team. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“No,” Greg responded flatly. “Perhaps some type of analysis of whether there are certain situations where we don’t immediately need cops with guns to show up, OK. But when you’re talking about pimp shootouts and property theft, I think the CARE team is going to be … it’s dubious that they will have any positive effect.”

Jake pitches an alternative CARE team strategy

Jake noted the $72.6 million price tag for the CARE department, then took things in a different direction.

“Is it possible that some of that $72.6 million that is going towards CARE could be used in getting the rights to use this song?” Jake asked, cueing up the Care Bears theme.

What followed was an extended riff in which Jake proposed that CARE team members blast the Care Bears theme through their vehicle speakers when responding to calls, “so you know who’s coming,” and eventually escalate to full Care Bear costumes.

“You got these little Care Priuses driving around Seattle,” Jake said, before floating the idea of CARE team members in “full-size Ewok uniforms” engaging with armed suspects.

“What if they got the Care Bear members of the CARE team to actually dress up as Care Bears?” Jake asked. “Somebody goes out there, and they’re blasting that music, and they’re engaging with the pimps in a way that’s very positive, and they’re getting these pimps to turn their life around. Maybe even join the ranks of the Care Bears, guys.”

Greg said the segment had gone too far, but he kept listening.

“I’m tracking,” Greg said.

“That’s just free if the mayor wants to adopt it,” Jake said. “Check it out.”

Seattle’s budget math behind the joke

The humor aside, Wilson’s first budget addresses a $175 million general fund deficit the mayor’s office said was inherited from prior administrations.

The proposal closes the gap through roughly $50 million in spending reductions with no new revenue, while still increasing police spending and maintaining the CARE department’s operations, including 911 dispatch, behavioral health response, and a new violence intervention initiative.

The Seattle City Council will review the proposal over the next two months, with a final vote expected by early December.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3