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The City of Seattle
Ordinance
Council Bill
title
An ordinance relating to the operations of the Community Assisted Response and Engagement Department; describing the duties of the Community Crisis Responder team; amending Section 3.15.060 of the Seattle Municipal Code; and adding a new Section 3.15.064 to the Seattle Municipal Code.
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Recitals:
The City of Seattle (City) reaffirms its belief in the importance of providing a diversified public safety response that appropriately allocates City personnel and resources to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of persons in crisis and others requiring assistance.
The Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department, established by the City via Ordinance 126954, is a vital part of the City's public safety response, alongside the Seattle Police Department and Seattle Fire Department.
The CARE Department supports Seattle's public safety response system in two primary ways: 1) operation of the 9-1-1 Communications Center, which fields all 9-1-1 and non-emergency line calls within the City and coordinates dispatch of relevant responding agencies; and 2) fielding the Community Crisis Responder (CCR) team, qualified behavioral health professionals trained to provide support and resources to persons experiencing crisis.
The City has made significant investments in the CARE CCR team in recent years, including through the 2026 Adopted Budget, to properly resource and staff the department for expanded citywide availability of the CCR team.
As the CARE Department has grown since its creation in 2023, and the CCR team has continued to expand, it is necessary to update the Seattle Municipal Code to reflect the investments and commitment of the City to a public safety response involving the CCR team as an integral component. Therefore,
Be it ordained by The City of Seattle as follows:
Section 1. Section ...
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