Public Safety
From my conversations within the community, this will be a major discussion point over the next year. The perception of safety varies dramatically between communities within Kirkland. As your Council Member, I will push for an open and honest dialogue around this topic.
Police - We have great officers working for Kirkland PD. This dialogue is not around the value the officers bring or the value they provide through the jobs they love and perform for our city. The dialogue is instead around the fact that police presence is felt differently by communities based on background and historic treatment. While some feel that police should be more visible and more accessible. Others see them as an oppressive force. Both perceptions can be true. Our challenge as a community and my role as a Council Member will be to find the right balance between maintaining safety and response times while not over-policing. The discussion around School Resource Officers is one that has changed considerably over the past couple of years and needs to be leaned into between the City and the school district. There is work to be done with LWSD, our teachers, our LWSD families, Redmond, and Sammamish that needs to start now. We need to take a fresh look at the intended benefit of increasing safety in our schools and the unintended negative consequences the addition of these officers has had on our learning community.
Fire - Our fire department showed their strength and value to the community in 2020 as they were at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. We have some exciting projects in the works over the next couple of years to replace aging stations and to add capacity to the system. As the city grows and the type of development evolves, it will be critical to plan strategically for growing our fire service to keep pace with our needs as a community.
Counseling - A clear message was given in 2020 that we need to get ahead of crisis through counseling and prevention. Adding crisis counselors and mental health specialists to the traditional police and fire umbrella of public safety will have meaningful results. Counselors can help diffuse issues before they escalate. They can help keep people out of the criminal justice system.
Police - We have great officers working for Kirkland PD. This dialogue is not around the value the officers bring or the value they provide through the jobs they love and perform for our city. The dialogue is instead around the fact that police presence is felt differently by communities based on background and historic treatment. While some feel that police should be more visible and more accessible. Others see them as an oppressive force. Both perceptions can be true. Our challenge as a community and my role as a Council Member will be to find the right balance between maintaining safety and response times while not over-policing. The discussion around School Resource Officers is one that has changed considerably over the past couple of years and needs to be leaned into between the City and the school district. There is work to be done with LWSD, our teachers, our LWSD families, Redmond, and Sammamish that needs to start now. We need to take a fresh look at the intended benefit of increasing safety in our schools and the unintended negative consequences the addition of these officers has had on our learning community.
Fire - Our fire department showed their strength and value to the community in 2020 as they were at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. We have some exciting projects in the works over the next couple of years to replace aging stations and to add capacity to the system. As the city grows and the type of development evolves, it will be critical to plan strategically for growing our fire service to keep pace with our needs as a community.
Counseling - A clear message was given in 2020 that we need to get ahead of crisis through counseling and prevention. Adding crisis counselors and mental health specialists to the traditional police and fire umbrella of public safety will have meaningful results. Counselors can help diffuse issues before they escalate. They can help keep people out of the criminal justice system.
