Community Police Dialogues

Introduction

The Seattle University Crime & Justice Research Center has collaborated with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) since 2015 to conduct the annual Seattle Public Safety Survey as part of the Micro-Community Policing Plans (MCPP). Virtual community-police dialogues were conducted in 2021 and 2022 via Zoom videoconference to provide opportunity for community members and police to explore and discuss the Seattle Public Safety Survey results.1 In 2022, MCPP launched an additional set of community-police dialogues focused on building relationships between SPD recruits and community members as recruits progress through Before the Badge (BTB) training. BTB is a new initiative that police recruits experience prior to entering the police academy focused on relational policing and immersing new recruits in community-based experiences. Dialogues are facilitated by Dr. Jacqueline Helfgott, Professor and Director of the Seattle University Crime & Justice Research Center and co-facilitated by the respective precinct-based MCPP Research Analyst on the Seattle Police Department’s Micro-Community Policing Plans research team comprised of graduate students Katie Kepler (North Precinct), Brandon Bledsoe (South and Southwest Precinct), Ashley Dobbs (East and West Precincts), and undergraduate student Evelyn Madrid-Fierro (Citywide) in the Seattle University Department of Criminal Justice, Criminology & Forensics.

Seattle University conducted 12 virtual BTB community-police dialogues from September through December 2022. The dialogues are conducted as part of the Micro-Community Policing Plans in conjunction with the annual Seattle Public Safety Survey to provide community members the opportunity to engage in conversation with future SPD personnel about the annual Seattle Public Safety Survey results and introduce SPD recruits to the geographical communities they will serve. All who live and/or work in Seattle were eligible to participate in the virtual community-police dialogues, allowing community members to meet, collaborate, and network with the future officers in their precinct.

The results presented in this report show what was discussed in the dialogues, the themes that arose citywide and at the precinct levels, and post-dialogue feedback from participants. The 2022 dialogues involved 104 community members and 128 BTB personnel who participated in the dialogue sessions conducted from September 2022 - December 2022. The results presented in this report convey the essence of the dialogues and highlight the key themes in the precinct discussions.