Seattle shifting public safety approach, expands CARE Teams
Seattle city leaders announce new public safety plan
The city of Seattle is shifting its approach to public safety, including pay raises for officers with added accountability, and how the city responds to 911 calls.
SEATTLE - Seattle is shifting its approach to public safety, combining pay raises for officers with added accountability measures and new ways the city responds to 911 calls.
Under the new four-year contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild, which represents patrol officers, detectives, and sergeants, updates the previous agreement reached in 2024.
Officers will now see raises and incentives for education and bilingual skills, with base pay starting at $118,000 per year.
New Seattle police contract
By the numbers:
The deal gives officers 6% raises retroactive to 2022 and 4% raises for 2023, along with bonuses for higher education — 4% for a bachelor’s degree, 1.5% for an associate degree, and 1.5% for multilingual officers. Officials confirmed SPOG members ratified the contract over the weekend, meaning it’s now in place.
"This is a game changer for the city. And again, I think as one of the largest cities in the country doing this, I think this is where modern policing has to go," Mayor Bruce Harrell said.
Alongside Seattle Police, the city’s CARE Team—a group of community crisis responders—will handle certain 911 calls with behavioral health professionals instead of officers, expanding the program beyond its previous 24 responders.
What they're saying:
"I know how much it's going to mean for our community to be able to call 911, describe a neighbor who really needs help and does not pose a public safety threat, and have responders there in 10 minutes," CARE Chief Amy Barden said. "Our neighbors calling deserve that kind of urgency and only distinguishing on the street deserve that kind of urgency."
The CARE Team is designed to address issues like substance abuse, mental health crises, and homelessness, particularly on Seattle streets where tents and encampments have become a common sight.
"If we bring treatment to people, make it much easier to get the treatment than it is to get the drugs — of course people don’t want to die on the street," Barden said, referencing Seattle Fire Department’s buprenorphine pop-up program.
The other side:
Keep in mind, Mayor Bruce Harrell is in the middle of his mayoral campaign as these changes move forward. FOX 13 did reach out to Katie Wilson, running against Harrell, but we have not heard back.
During FOX 13’s mayoral debate, candidate Katie Wilson addressed the CARE Teams directly. When asked if she opposed the mayor’s approach, Wilson said: "Outreach is great, but what the Unified Care Team is doing is moving people around without actually getting them the support that they need."
Wilson said if elected, she would replace the city’s Unified Care Team with the JustCARE program, citing past successes during the pandemic and highway encampment programs.
Local perspective:
Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said his focus is on building trust in neighborhoods hit hardest by gun violence and crime.
"We will be communicating to you our efforts to establish trust. We must be able to communicate to our community what we’re doing to keep them safe," Barnes said. "We have, for the first time in a very, very long time, a crime-reduction strategy called Seattle-centric policing, which is evidence-based."
He described how the department is analyzing crime patterns by location and incident type — from robberies to gun violence — to better target resources.
As part of the agreement, the city is ramping up efforts to recruit and retain more officers. Barnes said Seattle has received roughly 3,000 applications this year, and a new ad campaign — along with college and military outreach — is already underway.
He also addressed efforts to hire more women through the "30x30 Initiative," which aims for 30% female officers by 2030.
Big picture view:
"30x30 is not a plan. 30x30 is a goal," Barnes said. "My goal is to hire more than that, if I can. We’re also looking at things like childcare and assignments to make sure people know that if you are female, you want to come work [here]. Seattle Police Department is a great place to work."
The contract also addresses accountability, allowing supervisors to handle minor performance issues, such as tardiness or parking complaints, while serious misconduct investigations—like use of force or dishonesty—move faster. Arbitration on some provisions, however, remains at an impasse.
"We were not willing to compromise these accountability provisions," said Andrew Myerberg, Harrell's Chief of Staff and former OPA Director. "When you compromise on the positions you water them down, and they’re no longer effective."
Last week, members of the Seattle Police Officers Guild voted to approve the new agreement.
The mayor will now send the contract to City Council for approval, which will run through December 2027.
The City and SPOG will now proceed with a statutory process that ends with an interest arbitrator resolving whether the City’s proposed changes will be included in the CBA.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the city’s Unified Care Team as the CARE Team. The two are not affiliated and the story has been updated.
MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE
Black Lives Matter mural vandalized in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood
Nearly 1,000 Starbucks workers in Seattle, Kent to be laid off
First WA snow of the season to hit this week. Here's where
Teen found hiding in closet after 2 people found dead in Pierce County home
Suspected DUI driver crashes into Pierce County deputy, arrested
To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.
Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Alejandra Guzman.