Olympia's committee members briefed on Reimagining Public Safety recommendations

How do we approach some of these recommendations with an understanding that we will have to rely on additional funding and grants from the state and the federal government?”

Olympia Community Livability and Public Safety Committee chair and councilmember Dontae Payne

After more than a year of working on the Reimagining Public Safety project, Strategic Planning manager Stacey Ray and the community work group presented their draft recommendations at the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee meeting held Wednesday, November 9.

In February 2021, the city council approved a community-led process to reimagine public safety for the city.

According to Ray, the purpose of the community-led process is to ensure that "every community member can trust that the city's public safety system is just, equitable, and without bias."

In May this year, Ray added, the workgroup started holding listening sessions with community members and focus group meetings and hosted a survey in Engage Olympia.

"They were looking to hear from the community about how folks were connecting with our public safety system, how our system was responding to the needs of our community members, and how people were being supported as they were navigating through our system," Ray said.

As a result of extensive engagement with the public, the community workgroup developed five goals for Reimagine Public Safety:

• Build trust and legitimacy in the city's public safety system.
• Reduce overall crime by addressing root causes.
• Acknowledge and correct the disproportionate impacts the city system has on marginalized community members.
• Reduce the number of individuals who connect initially and repeatedly with law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
• Ensure the public safety system is accessible and responsive.

The work group members also presented their recommended strategies and action plan to achieve these goals.

Ray highlighted things in the recommendation that would have a significant impact in the near term:

• Center the public safety system on moving people toward wellness
• Support successful community reentry and stabilization of justice-involved individuals.
• Lobby the state legislature for funding for a mental health crisis facility to provide a resource for people diverted away from the criminal system or in need of additional crisis support.
• Continue to invest in debris removal and maintaining clean public space and rights-of-way; partner with low-barrier employment programs.
• Build authentic relationships with marginalized community groups.
• Use data to monitor outcomes regularly and inform decision-making and strategies.
• Expand the availability and use of unarmed crisis responders.

Commitee chair and councilmember Dontae Payne commented that some of the recommendations are challenging to implement because it is beyond the control of the city.

"How do we approach some of these recommendations with an understanding that we will have to rely on additional funding and grants from the state and the federal government?" Payne asked, particularly commenting on lobbying the state legislature to provide mental health support.

He added that the city has lobbied to expand mental health resources and services for years.

Workgroup member Todd Monohon offered to support the city council in lobbying for additional resources or changing policies.

"We could put together 300 to 400 people that could go up the hill – from all walks of life – that would support change for our mental health system,” Monohon proposed. “It would be a powerful voice for the legislators to see these various groups come together advocating for the mentally ill."

Monohon added that the city council's role is to provide broader leadership that provides vision and convenes people to work together.

Workgroup member Christina Daniels said the recommendation is a working document, and things will have to be reevaluated or pivoted.

"For example, the lobbying for mental health facilities. There are years of history of us trying to do that, and it didn't work. So how will we move to reimagine it and make it work? And I think there's a lot of support in the community to reach out to engage businesses, nonprofits, and citizens. They may all come together and be willing to help fund something like that," Daniels said.

Committee member and councilmember Yen Huynh assured the workgroup members that the city council would continue to lobby for mental health services.

After the discussion, the committee members approved moving forward with the community workgroup's recommendations to the full council on December 6.