Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell wants to quadruple the size of Seattle’s official police alternative and make an additional 18 people available to respond to 911 calls that may not need an armed officer. The expansion request will be sent to the City Council by way of Harrell’s midyear supplemental budget request. It will cost $1.
9 million — all of which is covered by a federal grant. The midyear budget is when the mayor’s office and council make tweaks to the current year’s budget. The city is facing a nearly $260 million budget deficit next year, but the mayor’s office is not making any cuts to this year’s budget in his proposal.
He’ll transmit his proposed 2025 budget in the fall. The Community Assisted Response and Engagement, commonly called CARE, department was born out of the protests of 2020 and demands for first responders who don’t carry a gun and a badge. Since taking office, Harrell launched a pilot program of six responders last fall.
“When I walk downtown, I’m very candid here, I see a lot of people that don’t need to be arrested with handcuffs,” he said. “There are times to make an arrest. There’s a time to love and be compassionate.
” Although Seattle has a slate of organizations that frequently interface with people in crisis or struggling with addiction, the CARE department is the first to be directly hitched to the city’s 911 response system. Staff with the city’s 911 center are housed within the department. Responders can be .