Seattle Mayor Harrell focuses on public safety in State of the City address

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell delivered his State of the City address on Tuesday, to outline his vision for the upcoming year.

A few hot-button issues at hand were homelessness, drug use, affordable housing -- and at the top of the list -- public safety.

Public safety has been a big concern for Seattle residents.

“We have to change this,” Harrell said during his address. “This will require supporting a comprehensive array of public safety solutions.”

During his address, the mayor said crimes did fall last year but also acknowledged the city reached a record number of homicides.

“Last year overall crime fell seven percent major crime fell 10% and property crime fell ten percent,” Harrell said. “However, homicides and the damage inflicted from gun violence have increased. There are too many guns in this country, on our streets, and in the wrong hands, we know this.”

Part of his plan is to crack down on public drug use.

“SPD seized an estimated 2 million deadly fentanyl pills and is arresting dealers, traffickers, and those causing the most harm,” he said.

He also wants to hire more officers and expand the primary response team in the city, which would send behavioral health specialists to certain calls instead of police.

“While handling over 250 incidents only three times have our CARE Teams have to had to ask police to return back to the scene,” he said. “This is a great start.”

Next month, Harrell will hold a safety forum that is open to the public. We’ll let you know once it’s scheduled.

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