CPC votes to form Police Wellness Workgroup, SPD and others say they’d like to partner in the work
Q13 News reported on the creation of our Officer Wellness work group. The formation of the work group comes after Chief Carmen Best said she's concerned about low morale within the department.
The work group will do things like identify the best ways to address these problems in partnership with Seattle Police and our police accountability partners. It will also look at making sure officers have access to comprehensive mental health resources, ensuring officers are receiving equitable compensation, exploring the possibility of giving assistance to officers paying off student loan debt, and betting SPD's current hiring, retention, and recruitment practices.
While she didn't call out the CPC as a reason for that, we want to work proactively with her to address the problems she's identified in ways that are good for the community and good for officers. Throughout this work, the CPC remains committed to protecting the police accountability reforms that have been promised to community.
• “I think it’s a good start,” Officer Carl Wilson said.
• "We are not going to reject anybody’s offer to work with us,” Chief Best said.
• "We can have both high morale and constitutional policing in line with accountability reforms passed through the democratic process. We’re committed to doing both," said the CPC co-chairs. "Chief Carmen Best has identified a problem, and we want to help be part of the solution."
Read the CPC's statement here.
