(WSB photos unless otherwise credited)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Last time we visited the 911 Center downtown, it was 2010, and media was there because SPD was launching a long-since-discontinued service, tweeting about stolen cars.
We visited again last Thursday. The 911 Center is still co-housed with SPD’s West Precinct. But it’s no longer part of SPD – it’s part of the third public-safety department the city now calls CARE (Community Assisted Response and Engagement).
Our visit was intended to be educational, an introduction to what CARE does and where it’s headed. The department also includes the CARE Team, the “crisis responders” introduced last October; they are currently based on the other side of downtown, in a small space on the ground floor of the Seattle Municipal Tower, which houses hundreds of other city workers.
(City of Seattle photo)
We stopped by there too, but perhaps in a testament to the need, the responders were all out on calls. (They work 11 am-11 pm; by 11:30, when we arrived, they were assigned.) Rather than describe the team as an “alternative” mode of response, CARE prefers to say they offer a “diversified” response.
At the 911 Center (which does not dispatch SFD calls – those are referred to that department’s center), we spoke with acting CARE Chief Amy Smith.
It’s been reported that 911 is having staffing challenges. Chief Smith told us that this year’s focus is on retention even more than hiring – improving conditions so the people they have will want to stay. Making it a “more balanced workplace” is key, she explained. For example, she decided to throw holiday parties for the staff, and was shocked to hear “we’ve never had a party.” She said the logistics were challenging but two-thirds of the staff attended one of the events. She saw that in the spirit of team-building, too, they’re “articulating identity now that we are a department … a lot of people had been part of SPD.” But, she insists, the post-separation relationship is a good one.
She said the staff also was heartened by visits from Mayor Bruce Harrell – including one on a Saturday night, when, Smith says, Harrell spent two hours “just listening.” Others have visited too; right after we were there last Thursday, one of the newly elected city councilmembers, Maritza Rivera, stopped by (as shown here in the CARE Department’s X stream).
And it’s vital for the policymakers to see things firsthand. Chief Smith makes an observation you’ve heard from SPD – some of what they’re able to do, or not able to do, is constrained by what happens in other parts of the system. For example, the city-law change last year means police can arrest for drug use, but booking generally isn’t possible, so other types of responses are more necessary than ever.
Meantime, the calls keep coming.
Call-takers and dispatchers are in cubicles, facing multiple screens. Bigger screens on the walls show information such as calls currently being handled, including toplines like how many Priority 1 calls have been dispatched (17 at the moment we looked) as well as how many Priority 2 calls are dispatched/waiting (29/9 at that moment). A soft chime sounds repeatedly through overhead speakers; that means 1 or more 911 callers are on hold.
Seven call-takers and seven dispatchers are on duty, as well as two supervisors – one handling administrative duties, one supervising the dispatchers; though they are assigned to specific areas of the city (by police precinvt – north, east, west, south/southwest), the supervisor listens to them all.
Smith envisions a system where dispatchers would have even more “diversified response” options – “why couldn’t we dispatch the right team” based on what a situation calls for? Smith says she’s involved in a “national conversation” about this – “we’ve been so myopic” until now, trying to fit myriad types of situations into just one type of response. She would like to “design 911 better” and thinks “it should not be a difficult redesign – (with the) mayor and council getting along right now … there’s nothing stopping us” from changes. She notes that the mayor and city auditor are currently “looking at everything adjacent to crime, justice, and safety.”
Smith continues, “We have to figure out what doesn’t work as much as what does.” She returns to the subject of the drug crisis, particularly fentanyl. “It’s everywhere.” And it’s so much more addictive, she says, that the old strategy of expecting someone finally to seek help when they hit rock bottom doesn’t apply – “rock bottom [with fentanyl] will be death.”
Along with a big-picture look at operational philosophy and responses, Smith says technology upgrades are overdue too. They’re finally able to handle 911 texts – what about, someday, video? That could assist a calltaker in assessing the situation and what kind of response is warranted. Of course, adapting the system will have a price tag: “We never invested the way we should have.” They’re catching up, though, with dozens of recent changes, she said, including some AI features. And she is keen to create more of a learning environment. We peeked into a training room that is a smaller version of what’s out on the main floor, used for current staff to learn, as well as for new staff to train.
Even the name of the department is the result of a learning process; when the city originally announced the “third department” plan in 2021, it was the Community Safety and Communications Center; the name changed last year, along with leadership – that’s when Smith took over. Regarding the diversified responses – she is clear that they’re just getting started.
CARE Team crisis responders are only working downtown right now – expanding the staff and the service area will require a budget push yet to come. But Smith’s 911 staff has a citywide responsibility, so she’s seeing the big picture every day. “You can look at the 911 Center as the city’s nerve center and data hub – when the city has a pain, we send a response. Every issue that involves Seattle, the 911 Center hears about it first. The complexity has only increased over time.”
And that’ll continue – now the issue is, as Smith summarizes it, “how to align the city’s public safety investments and resources … optimizing communication and coordination … streamlining and appropriately intervening for a range of problems.”
P.S. You can expect to hear more about that when Smith and the city’s two other public-safety chiefs (SPD’s Adrian Diaz and SFD’s Harold Scoggins) appear at the City Council Public Safety Committee‘s first 2024 meeting one week from today (9:30 am February 13).
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