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Tag Archives: 988
NEWS GLEAMS: Lyles Inquest Deliberations Begin, 988 Launches July 16, & More
curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷
A round-up of news and announcements we don’t want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle!
Jury deliberations are underway beginning July 6, the last day of the Charleena Lyles inquest hearings. They will be asked to answer 100 questions related to whether the involved officers, Jason Anderson and Steven McNew, followed Seattle Police Department training policies in the shooting of Lyles in June 2017. As inquest administrator Michael Spearman instructed the jury on Friday, July 1, “The questions that you are going to be asked to answer are about how and why Ms. Lyles died, and whether the officers’ actions in this case complied with Seattle Police Department policy and training, and whether Ms. Lyles’ death was caused by criminal means.” See our daily summaries of the inquest hearings on the Emerald.
This week’s News Gleams otherwise shares details of 988, a new mental health alternative to 911! The Duwamish River Opportunity Fund also has a call for community-initiated projects and grant reviewers. Lastly, we will be expanding News Gleams to twice a week, and hope to see you out for SCIDpda’s Outdoor Party in Canton Alley this Saturday, July 9!
—Vee Hua 華婷婷, interim managing editor for the South Seattle Emerald
Continue reading NEWS GLEAMS: Lyles Inquest Deliberations Begin, 988 Launches July 16, & More
Seattle’s Newest Department Aims to Change the City’s Response to Crisis Calls
by Paul Kiefer
(This article originally appeared on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
The last time the City of Seattle launched a new department — Seattle Information Technology, which brought IT staff from across the city under one roof — the consolidation took years. “In contrast, we had about eight months,” said Chris Lombard, who leads the City’s newest department: the Community Safety and Communications Center (CSCC), which began work at the beginning of June.
In some ways, creating the CSCC involved fewer moving parts than the infamously messy set-up of the massive citywide IT department. When plans to move the parking enforcement unit to the CSCC fell through this spring, Lombard was left overseeing a single, crucial service: Seattle’s 911 call center. The center, historically a civilian unit inside the Seattle Police Department, will play a key role in the City’s efforts to shift away from a police-centric approach to public safety, and the City’s decision to house the 911 call center in the new department was one of the first concrete steps in that effort.
Continue reading Seattle’s Newest Department Aims to Change the City’s Response to Crisis Calls