SPD reports hiring surge but flags potential $6.8M$10M salary shortfall; 911 response time improves to 7 minutes

Seattle Police Department officials and council central staff told the City Council's Public Safety Committee that SPD's recruiting has accelerated and that the department is likely to add more officers than originally budgeted this year — a development that could leave a salary shortfall if the city does not identify offsets.

Greg Doss, council central staff, briefed the committee on the department's quarterly hiring, overtime and performance report. Doss said the department has seen "about 14 hires per month," a recent and sustained increase that has produced a net gain of 19 officers in the first quarter (12 more hires than planned and seven fewer separations). Angela Sossey, executive director of budget and finance for the Seattle Police Department, joined the presentation and described the department's updated projections and operational context.

The department provided multiple projections. Sossey said SPD's conservative, revised annual hiring projection is 32 hires. Doss described a high-end projection based on the current 14-per-month pace that would yield 69 hires by year end; later in his summary Doss said the department could see as many as 76 new officers under more optimistic assumptions. The committee heard that SPD had reported 60 hires through April 18 in a separate…