For a long time we have been living in a city unable to solve the addiction and mental illness epidemic that is driving crime and disorder across our neighborhoods. This epidemic is the number one problem and our main focus. Every large problem plaguing our city is directly related to a lack of order and safety. Savage Citizens has a straightforward vision for policing and criminal justice. When you call the police, they should come in a reasonable time. When you report a crime, it must be investigated. Victims must have faith that justice will be delivered, and that criminals will be punished. Punishment should be swift and sure. These are the fundamentals of a safe, secure, and law-abiding society. We have strayed so far from these basics that we can no longer call ourselves a functioning city.
We are willing to fight for a safe, civilized and vibrant Seattle. We support policies that make sense for Seattle's future, not its past. If this is the Seattle you want to see, sign up and we'll keep you informed about what's going on and invite you to be a part of the change.
What Are We Fighting For? First The Basics.
A CITY WITHOUT POLICE IS NOT A CITY.
At the heart of the problem is the fact that over fifty years policing has been overtaken by the drug addiction and mental illness epidemic. This degrading of police work is the reason for the record numbers of officers leaving the force. We are at an absolute crisis level of staffing. Five hundred available officers is one third of our pre-pandemic level and is just 20% of the level of police staffing in world class cities.
Our first effort will be to use epidemic-level emergency powers to bring in the military to assist Seattle in building and staffing the facilities needed to restore law and order to our streets. In addition, military personnel would be able to assist with staffing at the King County Jail in order to open up the full jail capacity for the first time since 2019.
We must return policing to a job of arresting those who are breaking the law and proactively protecting our streets, our neighborhoods, our families and our businesses. Savage Citizens will work for five years to rebuild the police force to a level not experienced in Seattle in half a century.
By returning to the principles of the law and respecting the need for order, our Savage Citizens plan will stop the chaos and degradation of our urban environment.
Police
Secure Military Assistance To Assist Seattle In Ending The Epidemic.
Treating the deadly addiction and mental illness epidemic with the same level of urgency as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mayor should be securing the assistance of the National Guard and the US Military.
Savage Citizens first campaign includes a direct request to use the Mayor’s emergency powers to request that the national guard and the military be deployed to Seattle to assist the city in building and staffing temporary and permanent medical facilities. Facilities built at Century Link field in the early days of COVID should be the example. In addition, military personnel may be able to assist with staffing the King County Jail in order to open up the rest of the jails capacity for the first time since 2019.
A successful combined effort by Seattle’s politicians and emergency services to call on a supplemental US Military force needed to create facilities to end the epidemic will inspire the population of Seattle with their heroic efforts. This inspiration will help to drive the recruitment efforts of our police, fire and medical agencies.
Our Own Jail
A CITY WITHOUT A JAIL IS NOT A CITY.
We are now living the full consequences of not having a jail owned and operated by the city. How many citizens have been terrorized by criminals who have been repeatedly set free because the jail is closed to bookings? How many businesses have left or been lost due to our inability to arrest and incarcerate the thousands of criminals who are wandering the street day and night stealing and breaking into our businesses? The King County Executive has a plan to move the King County Jail to SODO. Savage Citizens supports that plan as long as the plan turns over the current downtown King County Jail to Seattle permanently. Never again should we be held hostage to another government for this most basic function of city life.
If the transition of the King County Jail is not a viable option then Seattle must use military assistance to build a temporary secure jail facility. This will allow Seattle time to go back to 2012 and to restart the effort to fund and to construct our own city jail.
Our Own Addiction Treatment Center Away From Downtown.
FENTANYL AND THE NEW METH HAVE CHANGED EVERYTHING.
People are dying from overdose in our streets. Seattle’s Downtown, International District, Capitol Hill, and Sodo districts are in the top percentages of areas in our state that suffer the most from addictions destructive effects on society. Allowing this epidemic to play out in public destroys our belief in society.
The people experiencing addiction in 2024 require far more time spent in long term residential treatment. The city of Seattle cannot wait for any other level of government to establish a long term addiction treatment center for those who are causing the city the most harm with their anti-social behavior. Individuals who are arrested for non-violent crimes and are assessed to be addicted, as well as those who seek treatment themselves, should be given a chance and a place to recover that is sufficient in scope to address the full extent of their problem.
This effort will require police and courts to arrest-book-charge and divert non-violent offenders as a way to compel late-stage addicts to accept treatment. Savage Citizens says we must do whatever it takes to end the harm severely addicted people are causing our citizens.
Our Own Mental Health Treatment Center Away From Downtown.
A CITY WITHOUT ANYWHERE TO TREAT THE SEVERELY MENTALLY ILL AWAY FROM THE CITY CENTER IS NOT A CITY.
People in incredible mental anguish are left to suffer in our streets for days at a time only getting attention if they commit a violent act. Seattle’s Downtown, International District, Capitol Hill, and Sodo districts are in the top percentages of the areas of the state that suffer the most from untreated mental illness in the streets. Allowing this epidemic of mental illness to play out in public destroys our idea of society.
The people experiencing mental illness in 2024 require far more in the way of long term residential treatment. The city of Seattle cannot wait for any other level of government to establish a long term mental health treatment center for those who are causing the city the most harm with their anti-social behavior. These individuals should be given a chance to recover that is sufficient in scope to address the full extent of their problem. Savage Citizens says we must do whatever it takes to end the harm to the severely mentally ill and our city.
Work With Olympia And Washington DC To Reform The Medicare and Housing Policies Preventing Long Term Solutions.
NO MATTER WHO IS IN OFFICE.
Savage Citizens is dedicated to solving our addiction and mental illness epidemic once and for all by creating city run long term residential treatment centers away from our city centers. Additional treatment centers must be built by the state and will likely require federal assistance. It is in the interest of Seattle to work to:
End Washington State policies and laws preventing abstinence based addiction recovery program funding and focus on a return to achieving abstinence from addiction as the goal of treatment.
End Washington State policies and laws preventing reasonable involuntary commitment of the chronically mentally ill.
End Medicaid’s “Institutions for Mental Diseases” exclusion.
Eliminate Housing First requirements in federal grant programs, which prohibit funding for sobriety-oriented housing.