City Council Approves 25 New Patrol Officers

The City Council gave the go-ahead for the Seattle Police Department to hire 25 new police patrol officers authorizing $837,300 in the 2005 Budget needed to hire them. “We’re responding to the desires of the people in our neighborhoods who are calling for safer streets,” said Council President Jan Drago. “The Council has always supported public safety and is thankful the economy has improved so we can add more patrol officers,” she said. “The Police Department has agreed that these new officers will be deployed specifically as patrol officers our precincts,” said Councilmember Nick Licata, chair of the Public Safety & Arts Committee. “We believe this will improve the ability of our police force to have an improved response to neighborhood calls from people in crisis.” After the Seattle Police Department completes the hiring process of 25 new patrol officers, those officers will enter a 10-month training program before being deployed. The Chief of Police will determine which precincts the new officers will be deployed in. The Seattle Police Department estimates that Seattle’s neighborhoods will see an observable difference of deployed strength in mid-2006. The bill was approved by a three-fourths vote of the Council.