Tweetstorm 1/: Yesterday, I watched 3 hours of Seattle Council debate on the 2021 Police budget. What struck me is how ill-informed Council is on what patrol officers actually do. Data show that most of patrol time is spent responding to calls requiring police response.

2/ For example, CM Morales said: “Most of the 911 calls are not for crimes but for nuisance calls and things like that.” In fact, only 2% of 911 calls are nuisance calls. Priority 1, 2, and 3 calls make up 94% of all calls and 97% of patrol time.

3/ Let's take a deeper dive. In 2019, police officers dispatched in response to 270,000+ calls to 911, including:
-- 10,657 assault calls (3,870 assaults in progress)
-- 3,664 shots fired or weapons calls
-- 1,776 robbery or carjacking calls

4/ Patrol officers responded to:
-- 10,557 burglary calls (incl. 1,415 in progress)
-- 8,977 auto theft calls
-- 17,055 theft calls (not including thousands of additional thefts reported online)

5/ In 2019, Seattle police officers responded to:
-- 5,690 fight calls
-- 1,703 harassment calls
-- 4,207 threats calls

6/ Seattle police responded to:
-- 579 rape calls
-- 1,485 missing person calls
-- 1,409 abused or neglected children calls
-- 1,483 drug overdose calls

7/ Seattle Police patrol officers (who CM Morales thinks mainly respond to minor nuisances) responded to:
-- 6,631 domestic violence calls and an additional 2,995 calls related to violations of DV court orders
-- 4,064 suicide attempt/just occurred calls
-- 1,469 runaway calls

8/ Seattle police also spent a lot of their time in 2019 responding to 13,413 auto accident calls, including 3,149 with injuries. As well as 776 DUI calls. and 22,024 suspicious person or incident calls.

9/ CM Morales: "we can't really demonstrate that random patrols actually prevent crime or protect the public." So why did the residents of District 2 (C/ID and South SEA) call 911 42,124 times in 2019 with a Priority 1, 2, or 3 request for police response?

10/ Meanwhile, the budget chair, CM Mosqueda, twice pitched need for fewer patrol officers if there was a reg. nurse at 911 police dispatch who could answer medical Qs. Unfortunately, she was confusing Fire and Police dispatch. All medical calls already routed to Fire dispatch.

11/ The chairwoman of the Council's Public Safety Committee, CM Herbold, said that SPD might need fewer patrol officers if they prioritized their responses more. Of course, SPD does do exactly that, with Priority 1 (immediate), Pri 2 (urgent), and Pri 3 (response needed)

12/ Ironically, CM Sawant was the only councilperson who clearly understood the implications of her proposal. She wants to cut 50% of the police budget in order to hamstring patrol ops (which she associates with oppression) knowing that it will mean no response to many 911 calls.

13/ Takeaway: @SeattleCouncil is considering massive budget cuts and other changes to SPD based on many misunderstandings of what @SeattlePD patrol officers actually do. Patrol is dispatched to 270,000 calls for service per year. ...

14/ End: Police responses to our calls end in arrests of domestic abusers, official reports to resolve car accidents, help to victims of assault and robbery, aid to the ill and injured, and a deterrent to offenders. Cuts to the number of police are a direct cut to those services.

Happy to get any concurring or contrary views on yesterday's police budget hearing from @DBeekman @sccinsight or @jwhittenbergK5 as I know they were tracking it.

Great coverage from @hanamkim on the data behind police responses. https://www.q13fox.com/news/public-safety-expert-says-hes-disturbed-over-seattle-city-council-members-lack-of-knowledge-on-911-calls