SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council has voted to move 911 dispatch control from the police department to a new civilian-led call center.
The ordinance, which was approved Monday by a vote of 7-0, will transfer 140 positions from the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) 911 dispatch center to the new Community Safety and Communications Center, according to a staff memo.
Most 911 dispatchers are not sworn officers.
While the vote was unanimous, council members were divided over whether it will change police response.
"These accounting changes alter nothing about the number of police officers in Seattle and the amount of policing in Seattle,” said Councilmember Kshama Sawant. “The only change is in the name of the department signing the paychecks."
However, Councilmember Andrew Lewis disagreed.
"It does represent a very structural shift in our ability to recalibrate and re-hook up our dispatch apparatus to things that are not police response systems," said Lewis.
The move comes after the city council created the Community Safety and Communications Center in November with the goal of housing 911 dispatch and parking enforcement services in that one center.
While Monday’s legislation originally called to move 120 parking enforcement positions from SPD to the civilian-led center as well, council members struck that part of the legislation for now due to union concerns.
The council looks to revisit that issue again before September, according to Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who chairs the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.
Moving 911 out of control of the police department is something protesters have pushed for, but it will take time for the switch to take effect. The new civilian center hasn't been built yet, and contracts haven’t been assigned.
“We fully anticipated that this vote was going to happen, but at this time, there is still much more to do in this process before the new dispatch center can be up and running,” said Seattle Police Department Sgt. Randall Huserik.