SEATTLE — Seattle shared some new data Thursday showing not only how dangerous homeless encampments can be for their residents but also the toll they can have on emergency services.
According to 2021 data, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) responded to 113 shooting or shots fired calls at or near an encampment. That’s 18% of the total 612 calls over the course of the year.
It was a 6% increase from 2020, when 51 of SPD’s 437 shooting or shots fired calls were at or near an encampment.
Many of these shootings over the two years have been centralized around the downtown area, with the International District recording the most at 23 shootings in 2021 and nine shootings in 2020.
Each year, five of those calls resulted in at least one death.
City officials say the data reveals, for the first time, a direct link between public safety and homeless encampments.
Mayor Bruce Harrell also acknowledged a direct connection on Thursday. “Yes, there is a clear correlation between the encampments,” said the mayor, adding that he will have “a new conversation” with the council about public safety.
“Seattle is on the trajectory to be one of the safest cities in the country, and I will make sure of that,” said Harrell.
When asked about whether he would favor signing bonuses to staff up the police department, as proposed by Seattle Councilmember Sara Nelson, Harrell was non-committal.
“I think there are other factors that go into an employment decision, respect, ability to be treated fairly, pride in your work product,” he said.
Additionally, fires at encampments have continued to skyrocket over the last two years, adding more pressure to the city’s resources.
In 2020, the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) responded to 854 encampment fires, but that number increased in 2021 by nearly 600 to 1,446 fires.
Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins acknowledged the increased activity on Thursday in an interview.
“The number of encampment fires-- yes, they impact us, yes, they’re growing,” he told KING 5. “We have three to five encampment fires every single day around the city.”
The increase in fires and the strain on SFD have continued into 2022. From Jan. 1 to April 10 this year, SFD has responded to 478 encampment fires, at least one of which was at a camp across the Fourth Avenue from City Hall.
Meanwhile, during the same timeframe in 2021, SFD responded to 327 encampment fires. In 2020, SFD responded to just 168.
The new data comes as SFD received a Protection Class 1 rating from the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau, the highest rating the bureau offers.
SFD is the first and only fire department to receive the rating in the state. It signifies just how efficiently SFD serves the city and marks the department as one of roughly 460 fire districts nationwide with this high of a rating.
Scoggins said the rating is an indication of his department’s ability to react, and the morale is high. Scoggins said they are currently about 9% short of where he would like staffing, but that there have been 2,500 applicants.
“While this announcement confirms SFD’s especially effective approach to fire protection, we know their innovation and public safety leadership extends further, from Health One to helping administer over 330,000 lifesaving vaccines during this pandemic,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement. “Chief Scoggins, Local 27 President Kenny Stuart, and every Seattle firefighter and SFD staff member deserve our gratitude for their efforts to create a safer, healthier Seattle.”