Dear Members of the Seattle Community:

Mayor Nickels this afternoon presented his budget to the City Council. The budget reflects his priority and
commitment to public safety and sworn personnel, and I want to take this opportunity to complement the
Mayor's remarks related to the Seattle Police Department.

Seattle continues to be safe, and relative to violent crimes, ranks the 9th safest city among the 25 largest
cities in the nation. The number of serious crimes in Seattle last year declined to a level not seen since 1976.
Earlier this year, the Mayor and I announced a new effort to make Seattle even safer. Its called
Neighborhood Policing, and it represents the biggest change in how we deploy our officers in a generation.

A key element of that plan is adding 105 additional officers over the next five years -- 20 of those positions
will be added in 2008. That means more feet on the street in neighborhoods across our city, allowing police
to respond faster in an emergency and providing officers more time to work on crime prevention in our
communities. In order to house the additional officers, a search for a new location to expand the North
Precinct will also be conducted as the existing precinct is far too small to hold the currently assigned
personnel, much less the additional officers that will be added under the Neighborhood Policing plan.

When a hotspot of crime and public disturbances makes an area feel unsafe, we didn?t wait to respond. Last
month we launched an emphasis patrol to insure that our streets remain safe for those who live and work
downtown. The Mayor's budget continues that effort by providing nearly $1 million for stepped up police
presence in our Center City and in portions of the Rainier Valley.

The Mayor's budget also seeks to ensure the safety of pedestrians and motorists, and permanently install red
light cameras at 18 new intersections to hold accountable drivers who ignore red lights.

Finally, the Mayor has added money to provide a $5,000 salary incentive to attract recruits. This is one more
promising factor that can be used to attract new police recruits to Seattle as we continue to search for
potential candidates in our community and throughout the nation.

Mayor Nickels' budget speech can be found at www.seattle.gov/mayor.

Sincerely,
R. Gil Kerlikowske
Chief of Police

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