Seattle Council’s public safety priorities in 2026: Office of Emergency Management assessment, public drug use, SPD hiring, and reining in ICE

A table comparing OEM spending across four cities — SF totals are much higher due to that city’s organization of its 911 call center and EMS resources under its office

Seattle City Council’s public safety committee chair Bob Kettle will lay out his city legislative priorities for the year Tuesday morning in a meeting that will also begin a process to assess Seattle’s Office of Emergency Management.

Seattle spends about a third per capita on its office responsible for “planning and mitigation, disaster response, and recovery” than a similar city like Denver and only a quarter of what Portland budgets for it office, according to a presentation (PDF) for Tuesday’s meeting.

Kettle lists evaluation of the Office of Emergency Management as a first quarter priority for the committee along with an evaluation of the city’s Public Drug Use and Possession Ordinance and priorities around “Drug Diversion and Overdose Response,” according to his “Committee Work Planning & the Strategic Framework Plan” for 2026 to be presented Tuesday.

The public safety chair also ranks “police staffing” as the top priority for the city’s “Updated Public Safety Framework.”

Tuesday morning, Kettle also addressed ongoing concerns about the Trump administration’s ICE crackdown in Minneapolis and cities including Seattle.

“We need federal law enforcement to act responsibly and meet the high standards we set for our own Seattle Police Department: No masks, Identify themselves, Act professionally,” Kettle wrote in a message to constituents.

Sunday, hundreds including Mayor Katie Wilson gathered in Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park for a protest rally against ICE after the deadly shooting of Rene Nicole Good.

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