The City Auditor presented an audit to the Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee on March 27 that recommends four no‑cost steps to improve Seattle’s understanding of and response to current gun‑violence patterns.

Claudia Gross Shader, research and evaluation director in the Office of the City Auditor, said the audit grew from a joint request by Mayor Bruce Harrell and Council President Sarah Nelson. The audit found Seattle has sustained a post‑pandemic increase in shootings and that city agencies and community partners do not have a shared framework for systematic information sharing and joint problem solving.

"Our report offers 4 concrete things that the city could do to better understand and address the current gun violence patterns that we're experiencing in Seattle," Gross Shader told the committee.

Key findings and data

The audit cites Seattle Police Department statistics showing shots fired events increased 71% between 2020 and 2024, nonfatal shootings increased 58% and fatal shootings increased 23% across the same period. Auditors said they encountered inconsistent location naming, differing time windows and varying incident types when attempting to combine data from multiple agencies and said that limited systematic sharing has hindered coordinated responses.

Auditors and technical partners recommended three broad operational responses: a public reporting and information‑sharing framework (a centralized dashboard or similar mechanism), expanded problem‑analysis capacity for place‑based or person‑based interventions, and a regular, citywide convening structure to coordinate city departments, other government entities and community partners around violence reduction work. The audit also urged the council to follow up on a separate review of Seattle Police Department investigative practices that found organizational gaps in investigations and training.

The audit drew on free technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs’ violent crime reduction roadmap, the Police Executive Research Forum and researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The auditors said Baltimore and Milwaukee were notable examples of jurisdictions that combined data dashboards, targeted interventions and rigorous evaluation to reduce shootings; the report invites Seattle to accept offered technical assistance to adapt models used elsewhere.

City response

Tiffany Washington, deputy mayor, and Natalie Walton Anderson, the mayor’s chief of public safety, said the executive agrees with the audit’s recommendations and noted work already under way, including the recently created CARE department and the 1 Seattle Restoration Framework.

"The mayor's top priority is public safety and in particular addressing gun violence is urgent and of the utmost importance to every member of our community," Walton Anderson said, noting existing investments in hospital‑based violence intervention, school mental‑health services and regional investigative partnerships.

Deputy Mayor Washington emphasized the administration’s intent to expand outward‑facing dashboards and to coordinate across city departments. SPD representatives said the department already performs sophisticated geospatial and diagnostic analyses, that most gun violence in Seattle is linked to person‑based networks and that legal limits often prevent public disclosure of investigatory detail while cases are active. Rebecca Boatwright, general counsel and executive director of analytics and research for SPD, reiterated the department’s commitment to evidence‑based approaches and said SPD would brief the council on progress implementing prior investigative recommendations.

Auditor recommendations (summary)

1) Develop a systematic citywide reporting and information‑sharing framework for gun violence (public dashboard and common location naming conventions).

2) Improve the city’s capacity for problem analysis (data and evaluation resources for place‑ and person‑based interventions).

3) Implement a convening framework to coordinate city departments, prosecutors, community organizations and regional partners (the audit cited models such as violence reduction councils and Baltimore’s public safety accountability dashboard).

4) Continue council oversight of SPD’s progress addressing investigative‑operation weaknesses identified in a separate independent assessment.

What this means locally

Audit authors and the executive both emphasized that the recommendations do not require new city funding but do require clearer coordination, recordkeeping and a commitment to data‑driven evaluation. The audit team offered technical assistance links and said federal and academic partners have offered to help Seattle adapt proven frameworks. Committee members pressed for clearer, front‑end communication between the executive and council on implementation plans and RFP timing to ensure community organizations and council members are aligned on program design and accountability.

No formal committee vote was recorded on the audit; committee members asked the auditor’s office and the executive to return with follow‑up briefings and implementation plans.