Magnuson Park pilot leads to permanent police resource center in Seattle

Seattle, Washington – Seattle police are going forward with plans to set up permanent “Neighborhood Resource Centers.” The first one will be at Magnuson Park in northeast Seattle. According to documents supplied internally by department management, the Seattle Police Department would run the first center out of a building owned by the Seattle Parks Department and staff it with two full-time officers, PubliCola reported.

The goal of the program is to make sure that police are always present in locations that have been a source of concern for residents for a long time. Residents have been complaining about noise, large crowds, and public safety problems, including gunfire, at Magnuson Park, one of the city’s biggest public places, for years. Residents and leaders of the city have frequently asked for a longer response in the area.

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Deputy Chief Yvonne Underwood sent an email to the department announcing the additional jobs. She also added that the agency is working with community partners who are involved in local housing complexes, such as Santos Place and Mercy Housing. The goal of those talks is to find ways to keep people safe while police are working in or near housing sites.

The park is also closely tied to past trauma for the community. It is next to a low-income housing development where police shot and killed Charleena Lyles, a pregnant woman, in 2017. Solid Ground runs the residential complex and also owns Santos Place. A police official said that SPD has talked about the idea of using space connected to Mercy Housing as part of the program.

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The permanent center is an extension of a pilot program that the agency started last summer at Magnuson Park. Police said that the short-term project helped cut down on shootings, robberies, and car thefts in the neighborhood, but they haven’t disclosed any specific numbers.

Officers who work at the new centers will get extra pay, which is equal to 1.5 percent of the highest-paid patrol officer’s wage, which currently stands at slightly over $2,250 a year. They will patrol by car, on foot, and on bike, and they will do both enforcement and non-enforcement work.

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Department leaders say the goal is to increase visibility, strengthen relationships with residents, and create more direct, day-to-day contact between officers and the communities they serve.