‘You cannot arrest your way out of all of this’: Gee says Seattle’s dueling gun violence plans miss the bigger question

Seattle’s mayor and city council are both pushing plans to reduce gun violence.

KIRO host Gee Scott welcomed the fight, but believed the policies missed the bigger question.

“I am glad that we’re just having a fight about policy. That’s politics,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “I’m glad that there isn’t some type of fighting rhetoric being thrown at marginalized communities.”

The Seattle City Council voted on Tuesday to approve a non-binding resolution, sponsored by councilmember Maritza Rivera, calling for a two-year, $418,000 partnership with the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC). The resolution passed 7-2 with two abstentions.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson released her own gun violence prevention plan the same day. Wilson’s strategy emphasizes community violence interruption and public health investments, refocusing the city’s CARE department and adding police patrols in areas most affected by gun violence. Wilson had previously called Rivera’s approach “grandstanding and politicking,” while Rivera called the mayor’s plan “more of the same.”

Progress worth acknowledging

Rather than pick sides, Gee told listeners the real takeaway was that both camps agree gun violence needs to be addressed.

“I had some people hit me up, ‘Oh Gee, you are too favorable of what the mayor has done.’ ‘Oh Gee, what about what Councilmember Rivera is proposing?’ I just want to say: First, good. Second, good again, because everybody’s on the same page,” he said.

Gee pointed to Seattle’s recent progress as evidence that work was already being done. In June, Seattle went the entire month without a single homicide — the first time that had happened in over 50 years, according to KOMO.

“Let’s not pretend that things have been awful. The police, shout out to them. Shout out to the community organizations, city leaders, neighborhood groups,” he said, adding that everyone deserves credit.

Five years before the gun

Gee looked past the policy debate and addressed what he called the harder conversation.

“We need to keep talking about what we’re going to do before someone picks up the gun,” he said. “There’s a lot of issues that are centered around a youth, a young man, a young lady, five years before they even pick up that gun: poverty, trauma, a kid falling behind in school, no job opportunities, parents’ stress, parents’ divorce, a lot of things.”

Gee was careful not to offer poverty as an excuse for crime but said it was a factor he’d seen firsthand.

“How many people would be off the streets hustling and dealing if they had an opportunity for a real job that can give you wages to provide for themselves and their family?” he asked.

Policing alone won’t solve it

Gee argued that no matter how many officers Seattle puts on the street, policing alone would never solve the problem. Officers, by nature, respond after a crime has already happened.

“The mayor has a plan. Councilmember Rivera has another plan,” he said. “Debate them all you want, no problem. But understand this, and I think law enforcement will tell you this, and I think we all know: You cannot arrest your way — we cannot arrest our way out of all of this.

“You can have 1,400 police officers in Seattle. You can have 2,500 police officers in Seattle,” he continued. “At the end of the day, the only thing police officers can usually do is respond to a crime. That does not bring back the victim if something happened. That does not help the family that loses a loved one.”

Gee supported the debate between Wilson and Rivera, but challenged both sides to focus upstream.

“While we have this debate, I want to continue with the harder question,” Gee said. “How do we continue to reach someone years before they ever pick up a gun? That right there is a real plan.”

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.