Fwd: Disrupting Commercial Sexual Exploitation / Health One / Night Out / Public Safety: CARE, SCORE contract / Adopt a Pet

[Licton Springs Community Council]

Hi neighbors, below is Councilmember Cathy Moore's latest newsletter, which includes instructions for participating in the August 13 Public Safety Committee hearing regarding proposed legislation to address sex work and gun violence on Aurora.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Councilmember Cathy Moore <cathy...@seattle.gov>
Date: Fri, Aug 9, 2024 at 5:14 PM
Subject: Disrupting Commercial Sexual Exploitation / Health One / Night Out / Public Safety: CARE, SCORE contract / Adopt a Pet
To: <lictons...@gmail.com>

This week's newsletter contains updates about disrupting commercial sexual exploitation, Health One, Night Out, CARE and SCORE, and Adopt a Pet

Trouble seeing the message? View this email in your browser. Legislation to Disrupt Commercial Sexual Exploitation Health One Ride Along Night Out August 6th Public Safety: CARE/Jail Capacity Adopt a Pet In District 5 Legislation to Disrupt Commercial Sexual Exploitation My legislation to disrupt commercial sexual exploitation and related gun violence will be heard in the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, August 13th. We face a crisis in gun violence on Aurora Avenue North, largely driven by commercial sexual exploitation. The meeting will be in City Council Chambers in City Hall at 600 4th Avenue, at 9:30 a.m. Public comment is at the start of the meeting. It is important to let Councilmembers know if you support this, as persons not supportive are sending e-mail alerts. The best way is to testify at the meeting in person. If you aren't able to attend in person, you can register to speak in the phone at https://www.seattle.gov/council/committees/public-comment. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., one hour before the meeting. You will be given a phone number to call shortly before 9:30 a.m. It's also important to share your experiences and support for the legislation with other Councilmembers by e-mail. You can reach all 9 at cou...@seattle.gov. The legislation: Creates a new crime of promoting loitering for the purposes of prostitution, designed to target pimps and sex traffickers based on observable behaviors. Existing laws are difficult to enforce without trafficked women testifying, which can be dangerous for them. Clearly applies loitering to buyers of sex Prioritizes diversion for sellers, both for loitering and for the existing prostitution law. I'll be proposing a separate budget proposal for an emergency receiving center. Creates a Stay Out of Area for Prostitution (SOAP), two blocks on either side of Aurora, from 85th to 145th, similar to Shoreline's law. A SOAP order can only be issued by a Seattle Municipal Court judge. It is similar to DV restraining orders, which can include geographic elements. Exceptions are included for medical and social service visits and transit use. Health One Ride Along Health One is the Seattle Fire Department's Mobile Integrated Health response unit. Launched in 2019, it is designed to respond to individuals immediately in their moment of need and help them navigate the situation - whether they need medical care, mental health care, shelter, or other social services. Health One is a multidisciplinary team, with firefighters and case managers each bringing unique skills and approaches to the scene. The goal of the Health One program is to reduce the impact of non-emergent calls on Seattle Fire's Operations Division and to better connect individuals in need with appropriate care and services.  Last week I went on a ride along with Health One. They do phenomenal work. The response unit includes a social worker who can follow up and get people connected to services. It is a highly successful program; I'd like to see it expanded. While Downtown has the most calls, Health One operates citywide, as shown by this map of responses from November 2019 to March 2023. Night Out August 6th August 6th was Seattle Night Out, a national event where neighbors get together for public safety, but also to connect with fellow residents. There were dozens of events in D5 alone; my staff and I attended a number of D5 events. Thank you for the good conversations about public safety! Public Safety: CARE/Jail Capacity The City Council has taken two votes on public safety issues in recent weeks. First of all, the Council voted to appoint Amy Smith as Chief of the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE). She provided a compelling vision for how to structure responses after I asked about a CARE Team ride-along where I saw a number of responders on 3rd Avenue, but the organization wasn't clear. Smith provided detailed responses to Council questions as well; the Public Safety Committee held an informative discussion with her about the future of alternative public safety responses that you can watch on the Seattle Channel archive. Secondly, the Council approved a pilot project with SCORE, a jail owned by cities to the south of Seattle. This provides for 20 spaces, to supplement Seattle's historically low number of spaces available. It's helpful to review how we got here, because some of it was from policy choices, and some was not. Seattle contracts with King County for jail services, through an agreement approved in 2011. In March 2020, when the COVID pandemic arrived, King County reduced the jail population to practice social distancing, as recommended by Public Health. King County implemented restrictions on misdemeanors eligible for booking into the jail. Since that time, staffing at the jail has remained below the number of positions needed for full operations, despite offering significant hiring bonuses. Consequently, the capacity remains lower than before the arrival of COVID, and booking restrictions remain (before COVID the City decided who to book). Misdemeanors for violence, DUI, firearms, and domestic violence remain eligible for booking; the City Attorney was also able to negotiate booking for "high utilizers" of the system; other misdemeanors are not eligible for booking, as noted below (though the County notes case by case exceptions can be made). Here's a high-level summary shown in a slide: The chart below shows the average daily jail population for Seattle misdemeanors since 1997, which has trended downward in the early 2000s, after 2015, and sharply from 2020 to 2024. In 2015, Seattle contracted with Snohomish County for additional jail spaces, due to the limit of 266 in the contract with King County Jail. By 2018, an amendment to the King County jail contract brought by Seattle reduced jail spaces to 187 in 2020 (and 192 in 2024). A 2019 letter canceling the City’s 2015 contract with the Snohomish County Jail said that Seattle's average daily jail population had “decreased to historic levels.”  This reflected a de-emphasis on jail usage. By 2018, the average daily population was 179, a decrease of 34 percent from 2015, and 61% from 1998. That was a policy choice. The chart and figures above don't account for Seattle's population, which increased by 221,570 from 1997 to 2023, or 41.5%. So the percent of persons in Seattle in jail for misdemeanors has declined even more sharply than the overall average jail population, as shown in blue in the chart below: Seattle's population is shown in orange; the percent of Seattle residents in jail for misdemeanors is shown in the blue line; population is from U.S. Census Bureau In 1998, Seattle had 0.085% of persons incarcerated for misdemeanors. That was reduced by over 50% in 2015, to 0.040%. As noted above, additional policy choices reduced the jail population to 0.024% in 2018 and 2019, an over 70% total reduction. Then COVID arrived, and we've averaged 0.10% since then, one-eighth as much as the late 1990s, one quarter of 2015, and around 40% of 2018. That reduction was a result of COVID, and King County's staffing challenges, not a policy choice by the City, or decisions to permanently implement booking restrictions. The SCORE pilot program adds capacity for 20 spots for misdemeanor offenders at another facility. That will bump jail capacity to around 50% of 2018 and 2019 when the Council was under different leadership. The pilot program is not expanding our jail capacity; it's simply shifting it from one institution to another because we have not, for a variety of reasons, been able to access it where we are currently contracted. I co-sponsored an amendment introduced by Councilmember Strauss requiring the Mayor to report to the Council about resolving remaining operational issues. The facility includes substance use medication management, re-entry planning, and specialized clinical intervention services for Trueblood class members. Also, King County Councilmember Dembowski and I convened a meeting recently that included several County and City officials, for a good discussion about the King County Jail. I appreciate the collaboration. Adopt a Pet Get ready for a lifetime of cuddles and perma-puppy eyes with Max! His foster parents say this about him: "Max is an absolute love bug! He has a lot of energy and zoomies, but settles in quickly, making himself at home. He loves to cuddle up on the couch and sleep next to you on the bed (if allowed). He does quite well on a leash! Max is doing a great job learning how to sit and to come when called. He also loves trying all types of new foods and has become a big fan of apples, carrots, and celery. An adorable thing about him is he can't help but start drooling when he knows he's about to get one of his favorite treats!" Max is ready to make your family complete! Send in a survey today to learn more about Max! Information on how to meet Max or adopt a pet is available at the Seattle Animal Shelter website. Cathy Moore Seattle City Council // District 5 Copyright © 2024 Seattle City Council, All rights reserved. You are receiving this message because you expressed interest in District 5. Thank you for engaging! Our mailing address is: Seattle City Council 600 4th Ave Seattle, WA 98104-1850 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list