A new public safety package adopted by the Seattle City Council could add about seven new sworn police officers in West Seattle by mid-2009, but some wonder if that's enough to address major staffing shortages in a police department that hasn't grown in decades.

The council revised the biennial budget proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels' to expand the Seattle Police Department by 37 officers at a cost of about $3 million. Ten officers will be added in 2007 and 20 in 2008, in addition to retaining several temporary positions.

The staffing boost is a reaction to community groups that have lobbied the city to put more police on the streets.

Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, who originally proposed adding 250 new officers in the next six years, said the plan is a good start but still inadequate.

"It's far from my expectations but we didn't come up empty handed either," he said. "We are off to a good start and it bodes well for the future."

Seattle Police Guild president Rich O'Neill criticized the proposal for not going far enough.

"It's something but not enough," said O'Neill. "It's not rocket science, we need more officers."

Since the 1970s, the department has not grown significantly in numbers but it has sprouted several specialty programs like community police and crime scene investigation teams. Those programs have pulled officers off the street, said O'Neill.

"We have less people patrolling the neighborhoods than in 1971 and that's scary," he said.

The police guild is concerned the city does not understand the state of the department as a result of the staffing shortage.

"We are in a crisis," said O'Neill. "I don't think either side of city government showed much vision here. Communities all want more police officers. They're so frustrated."

But Steinbrueck said it's not that easy. Adding officers to the budget means cutting funds promised to other constituencies. In this case, money was cut that would have gone towards expanding social services and programs for at-risk youth.

"People want concerns addressed immediately but it doesn't work like that," said Steinbrueck, noting that other changes could occur before the mayor and council approve the budget no later than Dec. 1.

Police have grown frustrated too. An officer with the Southwest precinct said an average of four to six officers at a time patrol West Seattle neighborhoods. The officer, who spoke on the condition he remain anonymous, said there is little time to patrol neighborhoods because officers spend most of their shifts responding to emergency calls.

Lois Grammon-Simpson, West Seattle's program coordinator for the Seattle Neighborhood Group, said the plan would likely do little to make the Southwest precinct a more proactive unit.

"In reality, 37 additional officers, assigned to five precincts and spread over three shifts will not significantly decrease 911 response times," she said.

The council is asking the mayor to develop a strategic plan to address these issues as well as create performance measures and outcomes, such as tracking emergency response time and providing regular crime reports to the council.

"If we are asked to fund more officers, we need improvements," said Steinbrueck. "In every precinct, in every neighborhood, citizens should expect fast and reliable response time in an emergency. The department has not achieved that and they need to."

But to effect real change, the department needs to add at least 1,500 new officers, said O'Neill.

"And even then, we would just be average compared to other cities our size," he said.

While Seattle is the 23rd largest city in the nation, it has the 38th largest police force, employing about 1,200 officers, 686 of which are patrol positions.

There are roughly 100 police officers a day patrolling Seattle's streets, spread out among five precincts, 88.5 square miles and about 600,000 residents. Lower priority crimes like car theft and burglaries are often neglected while officers handle emergency calls, said O'Neill.

"(The police department) is hugely under resourced," said Steinbrueck. "There were 1,500 robberies last year and only five detectives to investigate them. The mayor needs to take that more seriously."

Pete Spalding, chair of the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council, said the city is putting too much energy into studying methods that are supposed to address staffing inefficiencies instead of lobbying for more officers.

Violent crimes have not significantly increased, but drug activity, vandalism and trespassing are up. It's these "quality of life crimes that people are upset about," said Spalding.

The issue is now alive in public debate and there has been early talk about a citizen's initiative to hire about a thousand more officers in the next five years, said O'Neill.

"The citizens have to be the ones to keep this on the front burner," he said. "They are organized and they won't take this as a solution to the problem."

See OpEd, Editorial on Page 6

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at rebekahs@ballardnewstribune.com or 783.1244.