By Erica C. Barnett
Citing a “double-digit” reduction in crime since the launch of a pilot that added police patrols in and around Northeast Seattle’s Magnuson Park last summer, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes announced that SPD will assign three full-time officers to the park. The officers will report to the North Precinct, and will essentially be on call there if needed, but otherwise, their jobs will involve patrolling the park and doing what Barnes calls “neighborhood-oriented policing.”
PubliCola first reported on the pilot expansion in January.
Barnes said SPD chose Magnuson Park, which is surrounded by some of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, “because it’s the second largest park in our city [and] we have housing on the property”—hundreds of low-income and affordable units run by Mercy Housing and Solid Ground.
“We also chose this location because I heard from the community about … the rise in disorder crimes” such as noisy parties and street racing, Barnes said.
In the expanded program, SPD will assign three full-time officers, working in pairs to do bike and foot patrols in and around the park, getting to know people who live in the area and “fulfilling our obligation of problem oriented policing and community policing, which is the hallmark of my leadership philosophy,” Barnes said. The officers will be assigned to the North Precinct and will still be expected to respond to calls from other areas if necessary.
Asked why the city didn’t expand the Magnuson pilot into neighborhoods that have experienced more crime, like Rainier Beach or Little Saigon, Barnes said, “It’s not always about [putting resources in] the highest-crime area. One of the reasons we chose this particular location [is that] it’s our second biggest park. It has homes here as well. We’re hearing from the community. It just seemed like a good place to start and kind of work through some of those bugs.”
SPD has assigned new police academy graduates “who are not quite ready for patrol” to the area around 12th and Jackson, Barnes added. Additionally, “We’re looking at a space now, I believe at Third and Pine, that could be available for us” in the future. An SPD spokeswoman declined to provide additional details about the space Barnes mentioned.
City Councilmember Maritza Rivera, who represents Northeast Seattle, said there are “people living in the park that I very much care about, and I want to make sure that our families and the kids that are living here at Mercy Housing and Solid Ground are living in a safe environment, as well as the surrounding neighbors and all the people that come to visit the park.”
PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.
The “double-digit” crime reduction Barnes mentioned appears to refer to a drop in reported crimes during the 90-day pilot period compared to the same period in 2024.
SPD’s public crime database shows that the number of reported crimes in the Sand Point neighborhood, which includes Magnuson Park, shows that there were 113 fewer reported crimes during the pilot period than the same period in 2024. However, a broader look at crime trends in the area and in Seattle as a whole shows that crime was lower across the city last year, and continues to trend lower in 2026 than in 2025, indicating a more general reduction in crime than the success of a specific pilot in one area.
One of the most infamous incidents of police violence in Seattle happened in Magnuson Park several years ago, before former mayor Bruce Harrell hired Barnes away from his previous position in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2017, officers shot and killed Charleena Lyles, a Black mother of four who called 911 during a mental health crisis, in her apartment. Lyles’ killing was one of the incidents that spurred calls for unarmed first responders with social work backgrounds to assist people in crisis. Although the city never admitted liability, Seattle paid $3.5 million in 2021 to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit by Lyles’ family.
SPD’s press event took place about 700 feet from where Lyles was killed.
When a TV reporter asked about past “officer-involved shootings” (shootings by police) in the park, Barnes appeared confused. “Officer-involved shootings?” he said.
After the reporter, who did not mention Lyles by name, attempted to elaborate— “there have been some tense events that have happened in the past”— Barnes responded: “I think no matter if it’s Magnuson Park or any other area in the city, we want to make sure that we’re policing in a way that’s procedurally just and that’s according to the expectations of our community. … That’s what policing is to me—knowing the people who may be dealing with issues, the people who may be dealing with mental health crisis, because when you know them and you can communicate with them, you have better outcomes.”
