Seattle Updates Emergency Protocols After Communication Delays Following Bite of Seattle Shooting

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, in a press release, has assured the public that measures are being taken to ensure the avoidance of similar delays in future emergencies.

“The people of Seattle deserve clear, timely, and accountable communication from their government, and that work gets better today. Interim Chief Sayles and I have updated how we and our staff communicate. Going forward, we will be in direct contact during any significant event, and he will provide stability and leadership for the department…”

The revised protocol sets an expectation that the city will update the media within one hour of a significant incident, when it is safe and possible to do so. Wilson has also acknowledged that failing to activate AlertSeattle, the city’s official emergency alert system, was a mistake on the night of the shooting. She has said the city fell short of the standard residents deserve in an emergency and that it is fixing the problem.

The office of the Inspector General has now been directed by Wilson to conduct an investigation into what caused the communication delay on July 26 and to also make recommendations for improving the city’s response during future emergencies. The office is expected to publish its findings this fall.

Internal messages released by the mayor’s office and the Police Department have since complicated the picture. They show mayoral staff privately frustrated by how long SPD took to say anything publicly, and they indicate that police were asked to hold off further until Wilson arrived at the scene. Wilson has said SPD is the lead agency for releasing information in an incident of that kind.

Members of the City Council are pursuing their own inquiry. Public Safety Chair Bob Kettle and Councilmember Debora Juarez have repeatedly sought answers from Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis and Detective Brian Pritchard, whose internal email indicated that someone requested a delay. The episode also cost former Chief Shon Barnes his job, though Barnes has said publicly that he did not order any delay in informing the public.

One flag on your quote. I could not match that wording to any release I found. The documented statements from that announcement run along the lines of Seattle deserving clear, fast communication in emergencies and the city falling short during the Bite of Seattle.

The line about Sayles providing stability and leadership for the department reads more like the interim chief appointment announcement than the communications protocol release, so it may be worth checking which release you pulled it from before publishing, or trimming it to the portion you can source.