(Image: CARE)

A heat map of CARE call for service responses so far in 2026 — Source: seattle.gov

By Brenna Gauchat

Seattle’s expanding force of crisis responders has been busy with calls across the East Precinct including Capitol Hill and the Central District about three times every day so far in 2026. Amy Barden, chief of Seattle’s CARE Department, says there is more to do to continue to address public safety around Capitol Hill.

After taking a brief sip of hot tea, helping a sore throat through a bad cold, Barden answered questions on how the new department plans to help tackle Capitol Hill’s most pressing safety concerns in the new year.

“Capitol Hill is not doing well,” Barden said this week in a community meeting with the GSBA chamber of commerce. “So it very much frustrates me when leaders are calling ‘mission accomplished’ about crime statistics.”

The neighborhoods of Capitol Hill and Central District aren’t the busiest areas for CARE right now. Currently, only around 18% of the department’s responses take place in the East Precinct. The city’s largest precinct geographically leads the way with CARE calls as the North Precinct generates more than 30% of the department’s current activity.

Still, the areas around the core of East Precinct near Broadway and Pike/Pine are some of the busiest for CARE, and responders can be seen there daily. Around 70% of East Precinct CARE work is currently taking place in these densely populated areas near downtown.

Chief Barden will remain under the Wilson administration (Image: City of Seattle)

Barden says there is reason for optimism for CARE and alternatives to traditional policing with Mayor Katie Wilson and help from people like Lisa Daugaard, co-executive director of Purpose.Dignity.Action and a member of Wilson’s transition team.

Barden said the new administration’s plans to tackle public safety beyond traditional policing now have the opportunity to be reconsidered and that CARE can help lead the way.

“I know that Katie really campaigned on homeless response and how we should do this. And there’s something in between ‘do nothing’ and sweeps,” Barden said, echoing Wilson’s executive order last week to expedite the expansion of emergency shelters and affordable housing following a series of encampment removals.

The Seattle CARE Department in 2026 is hoped to grow in sheer numbers of responders and responsibilities as a strategy of “solo dispatch” takes shape that officials hope will see more CARE responders able to respond to more issues without the requirement of a Seattle Police officer at their side.

Source: CARE Dashboard

Under the city’s new contract with the police union, Seattle can begin “solo dispatch” of the new crisis responders, meaning Barden’s teams can be sent to appropriate 911 calls without a Seattle Police Department officer to accompany them.

It’s currently a relatively small, limited set of circumstances that qualify but there is hope that will change as CARE grows.

Barden said callers are also able to request the crisis responders — “I need a welfare check” — as the city’s emergency dispatch team she also manages can determine which department to send.

CARE transitioned from a pilot to a permanent city department in late 2025. A new contract between the city and the police union removed staffing limits and authorized solo dispatch for civilian responders. This allows teams to handle 911 calls for behavioral health and welfare checks without requiring a police presence, provided the situation is non-violent.

The 2026 city budget includes $9.5 million from a new state-authorized bump in the sales tax to double the department’s workforce. This funding adds 24 crisis responders and 12 dispatchers to the 911 center.

Operations are to be sustained by the 0.1% public safety sales tax, providing a dedicated revenue stream for these alternative response models.

The department now provides citywide coverage across all five precincts. While the program started in the West Precinct, it has expanded to the North, East, South, and Southwest areas. Responders are assigned to specific beats using the same geographic boundaries as the police department to coordinate logistics and radio communication.

The Community Crisis Responders team – first responders who are dispatched to low priority 911 calls to help keep more police and firefighters available for high priority situations – quadrupled last year, Crisis Response Manager at CARE, Catriana “Cat” Hernandez said during this week’s meeting.

Hernandez plans to roll out longer operation hours to continue the team’s expansion, working toward a 24/7 service. CCRs are currently dispatched seven days a week between noon and 10 PM, Hernandez looks to extend those hours to 6:30 AM to 1 AM sometime later this year.

There are other challenges for the department ahead.

(Image: CARE)

While the Seattle 911 Communications Center increased its staff by more than a dozen in recent months, CARE’s Chief of Staff, Jacob Adams said the center itself suffers from outdated technology that underperforms with or without staffing concerns. He used their current translation and transcription practices as an example. When operators work with non-English speakers over the phone, their immediate translation resources are extremely limited: find a translator or use an online service manually.

Both Barden and Adams said there is too much room for mistakes in these situations. Not only do operators run the risk of misunderstanding the callers and vice versa, the pure inefficiency also wastes critical response time for the first responders.

Adams said he has been having conversations about how to positively approach new technology, particularly AI services, in a responsible way. Any new product, service or program would have to go through an “intense privacy and security review” before practical application, but Adams still had to answer a question about his hopes to create automated calls or alternative ways to contact the center.

“These days people don’t want to call, they want to text, they want to be online. And so that’s a technology that is vastly underused across the nation,” Adams said. “As these [technologies] keep advancing, we’re missing out on tools that could just make the job more efficient and speed up some of the delays. It’s not meant to roboticize the work at all.”

The department peaked at more than 700 responses in November. Expect the totals to rise in 2026

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