We are at Seattle City Hall, where hundreds of people are gathered for the Seattle Police Department‘s latest promotion ceremony, with today’s promotees including Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen, officially marking his achievement of that rank a few months ago. (video added)

Everyone who has spoken so far, including Mayor McGinn (top photo), has acknowledged that this is a difficult time for SPD, and that it is important to celebrate achievements as well as focusing attention on problems.

Police Chief John Diaz is speaking as well, thanking the promotion recipients for taking on leadership roles in a challenging time – though moments later, he also remarked on last year’s crime rate, the lowest in Seattle in more than 40 years, while acknowledging, “We have a lot of work to do” to help people be safer, and to make up for recent high-profile mistakes (while not, so far, alluding to any particular incident). He went on to mention this morning’s SWAT incident in West Seattle, which ended without injury (WSB coverage here), speculating it “won’t get any media attention tonight” because it ended peacefully. More to come, including video; here’s the SPD Blotter overview of the event.