We've had quite a season of controversy in our good city related to police incidents, including events captured on videotape that have shocked many of us. The most serious was the unfortunate death of John T. Williams, shot and killed on a downtown street by one of our Seattle police officers.
The accumulation of these incidents has damaged the public's trust and confidence in our officers and in the police department and maintaining public trust in the police is very important. Keeping our neighborhoods safe for everyone is city's government number one priority. This task is made more difficult when there is a lack of trust between citizens and the police officers employed to do the job. I've written previously about my perspective on all this here and here.
I believe the Council needs to be more proactive on this issue. Our police officers deserve it and the people of Seattle demand it. The longer we wait to seek specific and effective solutions, the greater the damage to police-community relationships. So, today, the members of the Council's Public Safety and Education Committee sent a letter to Mayor McGinn, Chief Diaz, and the leaders of the two unions representing our police officers laying out 11 specific policy initiatives we believe will strengthen public trust and confidence in our police officers. These policy initiatives will help the Police Department in accomplishing its mission of preventing crime, reducing the fear of crime and building peace in our city.
You can read the letter here.