(UPDATED THURSDAY MORNING with our full video of event)

6:58 PM: About 70 people are at the Senior Center for SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole‘s encore appearance. We can’t live-chronicle it due to chairlessness but we are recording video and also tweeting (you can view without being a Twitter user) at @westseattleblog. (Added: Some of what we tweeted during the meeting, focusing on the WS-specific questions/answers)

*Note, the exchange above with Deb Barker and Chief O’Toole, regarding 911 responses to non-major incidents and whether SPD needs more officers, starts at about 42 minutes into the video. She had said earlier in the meeting that while her former city, Boston, has a comparable population, its police force is more than 800 officers larger. She also discusses an ongoing study that will result in a report to the mayor on what would be the appropriate size of the SPD force, and says that’ll be out in the summer.

The meeting continued:

(Added … From the final half-hour of the meeting:)

City Council candidate Lisa Herbold points out a plan in 2007 to hire 105 new officers was unfulfilled. pic.twitter.com/sedwK2eGD2

— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) March 12, 2015

Herbold also asked O’Toole if she’s considering using civilian community-service officers; the chief said she “loved that idea.” And she said she had met earlier with Somali families in High Point who told her that they would like SPD to have a community liaison for their community; O’Toole mentioned they are still reviewing candidates for the East African community liaison. Co-moderator Pete Spalding then read an audience question on the same subject, to which O’Toole added that the East African Advisory Committee is being re-established as well.

Another City Council candidate was at the microphone as well:

Helmick elaborated regarding the Westwood-area problems on which the community council she chairs has dealt with Wilske and the precinct. She then asked a question about a friend of hers whom she said had applied to become an officer but had been told she didn’t appropriately answer a question about how to handle a difficult situation. O’Toole suggested that Helmick’s friend contact her so SPD could “talk to her and figure out what went awry there.”

8:26 PM: The meeting’s over. Uneventful – no disruptions, lots of questions, lots of answers. People are lingering to talk not only with the chief but also with now-Assistant Chief Steve Wilske, who will be “hand-pick(ing)” his successor as Southwest Precinct commander, though no timetable has been mentioned.

THURSDAY MORNING NOTE: Update – here’s the video. Update 2 – as of 10:29 am, it’s embedded atop this story, too. Update 3 – as of 12:18 pm, we have added highlights from the final half-hour of the meeting.

(WSB photo added 1:17 pm, from City Hall announcement this morning – see updates at end of story)

7:47 AM: Before Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole returns to West Seattle tonight, she’s formally introducing her new command staff downtown this morning. One of the new Assistant Chiefs is Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske, as announced via SPD Blotter this morning. From that announcement:

Steve Wilske, currently the commander of the Southwest Precinct, has served for more than 28 years with the department in a variety of roles, including Homicide and Crime Scene and Use of Force investigation. At Southwest, Steve brought his CSI background to bear, as he pushed the importance of scouring every single crime scene for fingerprints.

I was looking for a commander who could plunge right into leading the patrol operations section, so it seems fitting that Steve has a degree in commercial diving.

Wilske has led the Southwest Precinct for 13 months, since January of last year, following the one-year encore by Capt. Joe Kessler. No mention yet of a successor. The chief’s “Continuing the Conversation” meeting in West Seattle is at 6:30 tonight at (corrected) the Senior Center of West Seattle in The Junction (Oregon/California); she will introduce her new team to the media downtown at 11 am.

11:01 AM: Live webcast of the formal introductions at City Hall is about to start – we have a crew there to follow up, and you can see the Seattle Channel webcast here.

11:19 AM: Now-Assistant Chief Wilske has just been introduced by Chief O’Toole, who speaks of his fast work in creating neighborhood policing plans as well as the respect that officers have for him and his visibility in the field. He speaks briefly, saying that he knows the difficulty and danger of patrol work and is honored to be put in a position to lead those doing it. No information yet about who will succeed him as SW Precinct commander, but we have a crew at the downtown event and will be asking afterward.

11:33 AM: Our crew asks about that during open Q/A at the downtown event. Chief O’Toole says she and Asst. Chief Wilske will “get that done very soon,” and mentions tonight’s community meeting as a chance to talk with community about it.

1:21 PM: We talked with Wilske at City Hall after the announcement and he told us he’s “had a blast” as SW commander. We have the interview on video and will add it above this paragraph as soon as it’s uploaded (update – added). The official city news release about his promotion and other SPD appointments (he is one of four new assistant chiefs; four current ones were demoted) says his new job starts immediately.