Some Seattle City Council members sharply criticized Mayor Katie Wilson’s newly unveiled gun safety plan Tuesday, calling it “more of the same” as they advanced
Some Seattle City Council members sharply criticized Mayor Katie Wilson’s newly unveiled gun safety plan Tuesday, calling it “more of the same” as they advanced their own push for a different approach to reducing gun violence.
The council approved a nonbinding resolution Tuesday afternoon urging the mayor to hire a national organization to implement a “focused deterrence” model. The vote was 7-0, with two abstentions.
Because the measure is nonbinding, it does not require the mayor to sign a contract. Still, it sends a clear political message that a majority of the council wants the city to pursue focused deterrence.
Councilmember Debora Juarez was among the most outspoken critics of the mayor’s plan.
“This is not a plan. It’s a picture, a window, a rearview window. It’s not forward-looking ... no vision, and we’re already doing these,” Juarez said. “We’re already doing this, and we did it in the administration before that and before that.”
Councilmember Maritza Rivera, the sponsor of the focused deterrence resolution, said she was disappointed by what the mayor presented.
“My reaction is that I’m underwhelmed by what was in the mayor’s plan. It seems more of the same as what we’ve already been doing in the city,” Rivera said.
Rivera argued the need for a new strategy has become more urgent following recent shootings, including the mass shooting at the Bite of Seattle food festival that left three people dead and four wounded, and three fatal shootings in Belltown over the Labor Day weekend, including a 17-year-old killed in a double shooting near the waterfront.
Rivera and Wilson agree the city needs a more targeted response, and both support focused deterrence, a strategy that targets the places and people tied to most shootings, offering support and services to change course while warning of swift consequences if violence continues.
“I think that Councilmember Rivera and I share the belief that focused deterrence is an important part of our gun violence reduction strategy moving forward,” Wilson told KOMO News during a one-on-one interview Tuesday morning that coincided with the plan’s unveiling. “And the foundations are actually already being laid. So we’ve been working this year, both within SPD and within CARE, to lay the foundations for that strategy in SPD. That means really beginning to identify who are those individuals who are at the highest risk for being involved in gun violence.”
But Rivera and Wilson disagree on how to implement the strategy and how quickly to move. “I’m not seeing anything new here. And I’m certainly not seeing a plan for focused deterrence,” Rivera said.
She wants Seattle to hire the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC) now for $418,000 over two years to implement the model. “They are the architect of focus deterrence.”
Wilson has called that approach premature and criticized the idea of making a large investment in an out-of-state organization.
Rivera pushed back, citing a 2015 city audit that recommended the focused deterrence model as a way to address gun violence.
“So to me, that is not premature. It’s late,” Rivera said.
Wilson, meanwhile, is proposing a city-led approach first, involving CARE — the city’s civilian-led public safety response team — along with the Seattle Police Department, community groups, University of Washington data mapping and homicide reviews.
“That means setting up violence reduction councils where anytime a homicide happens, we are bringing together all of the relevant parties to examine where our systems fail so that that does not happen again,” Wilson said.
The mayor’s plan also calls for increased SPD bike patrols, an idea Juarez questioned, particularly in high-crime areas such as the Aurora Avenue corridor in her district.
“We are going to have extra people on bikes, and that’s gonna stop crime? OK,” Juarez said.
Juarez voiced support for trying focused deterrence. “Yes, let’s try this,” she said.
Councilmembers Rob Saka and Eddie Lin said the strategy was worth trying. Lin said he appreciated the mayor’s comprehensive plan and thought of the focused deterrence resolution as a “down payment” or good first step toward building a broader focused-deterrence strategy.
“I see a lot of commonality. I know that we have Councilmember Rivera’s proposal on focused deterrence. I think there’s more commonality than has been sort of reported previously,” Lin said.
Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Alexis Mercedes Rinck abstained.
Rivera emphasized that while the National Network for Safe Communities is a national group that can help guide and analyze the strategy, she insists the work would be carried out locally. “It’s all hands on deck,” Rivera said.
