On June 6th Mayor Mike McGinn, Police Chief John Diaz, Assistant Chief Mike Sanford and Southwest Precinct Advisory Council Chair Pete Spalding were at West Seattle’s Don Armeni Park to announce the return of the Late Night Public Safety Emphasis. The emphasis calls for the redeployment of on-duty Seattle Police officers throughout the city to promote uniformed police visibility in areas with high concentrations of people enjoying Friday and Saturday nightlife opportunities.
This emphasis fits within the goals set forth with the Seattle Nightlife Initiative, which include increasing public safety, growing the local economy and improving urban vibrancy. People travel from all over Puget Sound to Seattle to visit restaurants, theaters, shopping centers and nightclubs. They bring with them their entertainment dollars keeping our local businesses strong and providing valuable tax dollars to fund important city programs that serve all Seattle residents.
The Late Night Public Safety Emphasis is simply a recalibration of priorities that puts more uniformed officers on the streets without sacrificing any existing missions within the police department. Police personnel assigned to the program will be taken from other non-uniformed on-duty resources – specifically Anti-Crime Teams, Traffic and SWAT. The end result is more uniformed officers on the streets deterring crime and promoting public safety in areas with high concentrations of people enjoying Friday and Saturday nightlife opportunities. It is flexible and scalable for every neighborhood in the city.
On any given Friday or Saturday night, the additional 15-25 uniformed officers will be patrolling designated nightlife zones, usually in two different precincts at any given time. During the course of the summer, each precinct will get a fair share of these resources. Having additional patrols in areas where people gather makes sense. People feel safer when they see uniformed officers on patrol.
Mayor McGinn says, “I’ve visited many Seattle neighborhoods since becoming mayor and if there is one thing that is universal regardless of where they live, people want to feel safe in their communities. I’ve heard from the folks that run our restaurants and entertainment venues that keeping Seattle a diverse, vibrant and safe nightlife destination is beneficial to everyone – citizens, neighborhoods and businesses. So we’re taking action – the Late Night Public Safety Emphasis is a cost effective, smart way to achieve both of these goals”.
Chief Diaz says, “This is about redeploying existing assets so that the right people are in the right place at the right time. This will be done without sacrificing any existing missions within the police department. This is the type of effort needed when the city has fewer dollars to spend than in the past.”
The emphasis will begin this weekend and run until sometime in September.
For a further description of the designated Night Life Zones and other information, please see the attached link.