How Seattle is working to keep Waterfront Park safe

SEATTLE – Graffiti gets cleaned up in less than 24 hours. Reports of car prowling total zero. Smoking, drug use, amplified music and attempts to camp make up the bulk of rule violations at Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, where park ambassadors and security officers rarely need to call police.

Public safety, maintenance and programming are guiding principles for ensuring the 2-mile-long pedestrian promenade along Elliott Bay is safe, clean and accessible, said Tiffani Melake, Seattle’s waterfront operations manager.

Waterfront Park stretches 22 city blocks along both sides of Alaskan Way. While the street and bicycle lanes fall under the jurisdiction of the Seattle Department of Transportation, the sidewalks, park amenities and piers 58 and 62 are considered park boulevard, Melake said.

That means park rules that go beyond city ordinance and state law, explained Lt. Jamie Smith, who supervises the park’s 22 security officers.

The officers, who are employed by Seattle Center’s Emergency Services Unit, patrol the park on bicycles, are trained to de-escalate tense situations and are issued handcuffs and pepper spray. They are at the park 24 hours a day, with up to six officers at a time.

On other privately owned piers and at state-owned Colman Dock, Smith said, his officers can talk to people to defuse situations but cannot take physical action. They respond to assess whether Seattle police or fire need to be called.

There is a four-tiered approach to public safety at Waterfront Park.

Through a contract with Evergreen Services’ REACH program, the first tier enables security officers to offer help to people experiencing homelessness or a mental or behavioral health crisis. Smith estimated 75% of people offered services will agree to meet with someone from REACH, which has an office a couple of blocks away.

“It’s a very humanistic approach to our public safety model,” Melake said.

It is a violation of park rules to lie down and cover up and Smith said his officers are “fairly aggressive” about enforcing it. Last year, there were 250 incidents of people trying to set up camp but no encampments were established.

“Within moments of someone attempting to camp, they would be approached,” Smith said. “The very first thing we ask, especially if they appear to be unhoused, is, ‘Can we help you? Do you need assistance?’ … We’ve helped quite a few people seek medical attention and other resources. We rarely go down the criminal road.”

The second tier involves park ambassadors from the nonprofit Friends of Waterfront Park. Fourteen ambassadors work in shifts daily from Memorial Day through the end of September, said Michael Johnson, the Friends’ director of park experience.

The Friends of Waterfront Park is responsible for programming, with nearly 300 concerts and other events planned this summer. Ambassadors help people with directions, educate visitors about park rules, facilitate activities like lawn games and hot cocoa nights and monitor public spaces like the floating dock at Pier 62, Johnson said. They serve as extra eyes and can notify security officers when needed.

All security officers and some of the park ambassadors carry Narcan and reportedly used it to reverse nine opioid overdoses last year.

Interventions by emergency services officers make up the third tier , with Seattle police and fire departments comprising the fourth. The Seattle Fire Department has been called to handle suicide attempts or rescues of people who jump off the docks.

Of 25,000 interactions between security officers and members of the public last year, a little over 2,700 required some kind of intervention, with Seattle police called in to handle 55 incidents, Melake said.

Not including police and fire services, the public safety budget for the waterfront this year is a little over $2.6 million, with $1.6 million of that coming from city funds and from Friends of Waterfront Park.

Smith, who was hired in December after working in Boeing’s security department and as a firefighter in Central Washington, said his staff are “still strategizing how to enforce park rules,” which includes no smoking, swimming or mooring.

He said it’s satisfying to see so many local residents using the park, especially people who walk their dogs every day and alert officers when they spot problems. Officers, he said, have taken to carrying dog treats, along with stickers for kids.

“During the day, it’s mostly tourists but the number of locals really jumps up in the evening,” Smith said, adding that 4 to 8 p.m. “is the absolute busiest.”

Though the pedestrian promenade remains open, other parts of the park close at 10 p.m.