Seattle Mayor Katie Hopkins has been getting a lot of criticism over her response (or lack thereof) to some high-profile shootings and violence in the city, and honestly, that criticism should only grow in the wake of the release of her new “gun violence” prevention plan.
Instead of adopting a strategy of focused deterrence that would prioritize going after repeat violent offenders, Wilson’s plan calls for the passage of more gun control laws, using “gun violence interrupters” after a shooting has taken place, and targeting suspected violent offenders with “red flag” orders instead of prosecutions, along with teaming up with anti-gun academics at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The plan includes increasing police bike patrols in Belltown, Little Saigon, Rainier Beach and along Aurora Avenue North, measures Sayles said are already underway. CARE, the policing alternative program responsible for responding to 911 calls that do not require armed officers, will be the city’s new “command center” for gun violence reduction strategies. And nine community violence interrupter programs will be housed within the CARE Department’s 911 call center.
According to the mayor’s office, a gun violence reduction director and coordinator will be hired to oversee the plan.
Amy Barden, who heads up the Community Assisted Response and Engagement Department, said the strategy “prioritizes looking at ‘high utilizers’ — a small group of people responsible for an outsized number of crimes, who continue to churn in and out of jails and courts.”
On the surface, that sounds like focused deterrence, but remember, CARE is the policing alternative that supposedly doesn’t require armed officers. If you’re focusing on the small group of people responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime, the best way to do that is to stop cycling them in and out of jails and courts by refusing to offer them plea deals and putting them away for as long as the law allows. That starts with arresting them, and that requires armed police officers, not violence interrupters.
Sending those community workers to the scenes of shootings makes some sense in terms of trying to prevent retaliatory violence, but that violence tends to happen hours or days after an initial shooting takes place. What, exactly, are these violence interrupters going to do at crime scenes?
The community violence interrupter would set up “a circle of support around a young person,” creating an environment of coordination, Barden said.
This is a word salad, not an actual strategy to reduce violent crime. And sadly, that’s probably the least objectionable part of the mayor’s plan.
Wilson also wants to hire a new lawyer for the City Attorney’s office who will work with the Seattle Police in filing Extreme Risk Protection Orders by “reviewing violent crime intelligence, retaliation threats, witness intimidation, and other risk indicators for ERPO eligibility to prevent violence before it happens.”
Are most of these violent crimes being committed by legal gun owners? Not a chance, which means these ERPOs are going to be of little use in stopping violent offenders who are illegally armed.
Wilson is proposing teaming up with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions to establish a “Violence Reduction Council”, which her plan describes as a public health model that brings together “public health, social service agencies, and criminal legal system partners to review every homicide,” which in turn “creates an accountable process for learning from each incident, identifying system failures to guide coordinated improvements.”
Honestly, that sounds like a paper-pushing exercise more than anything else. And it should come as no surprise that Wilson is relying heavily on the advice of gun control activists, since her plan also includes lobbying the state legislature for more gun control. That starts with “policies that limit firearm possession in parks, select public buildings, and major public events where children are highly likely to be present.”
In other words, put more “gun-free zones” in place that will prevent lawful citizens from carrying, but won’t do anything to stop a violent criminal from doing so.
We’re seeing homicides decline to historic lows across the country, and that’s actually the case in Seattle this year. Violent crime, however, is up by nearly 3 percent compared to this point in 2025, and after seeing Wilson’s plan I don’t have high hopes for a quick turnaround. Wilson seems determined to do everything she can to keep repeat, violent offenders out of prison, and I think her new strategy is a recipe for disaster.
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