SEATTLE ANIMAL SHELTER STAFFING: Seattle City Council Requested Analysis in 2022
- seattleanimalwatch
- Jan 19
- 5 min read
Seattle Animal Watch is an all-volunteer group committed to evidence-based advocacy for improving animal welfare in Seattle. Its current focus is on developing an animal welfare needs assessment for the city. We have started the project by looking at the question of how one determines whether a jurisdiction has adequate staffing to address the many animal-related needs within its boundaries.
In the course of our research, we encountered a 2022 memo to the Seattle City Council addressing the challenges of Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS) staffing in relation to field officers. In this particular case, the Council was concerned about field officer capacity for park patrols, off-leash areas, and scoop law enforcement.
The Seattle Park District Board had already approved funding for two additional field officers beginning in 2023. At the time, these two positions would add 40 additional hours of field officer parks patrols per full-time officer per week to the already dedicated parks patrol hours.
Adrian Matanza, FAS Departmental Relations Director at the time, responded to the City Council with a memo dated September 30, 2022. You can read the memo here.
This memo further substantiates what Seattle Animal Watch has already determined through its research and interviews.
Animal welfare services are complex
Animal welfare intersects with social issues such homelessness
Animal welfare requires support from local police departments
Elected officials need public pressure for them to address animal welfare needs
Field enforcement garners more attention than the equally important in-shelter services
A STATEMENT OF LEGISLATIVE INTENT
In 2022, then Councilmember Lisa Herbold sponsored a Statement of Legislative Intent (SLI). This SLI requested the Department of Finance and Administrative Services (FAS) provide a report on potential increases in efficiencies that would improve the enforcement of leash and scoop laws in city parks (SAS is a division within FAS). Such improvements would include increased time spent in the field and additional officer positions.
According to the Statement of Legislative Intent, the report should evaluate the following:
Potential means to increase parks enforcement by field officers
Minimizing negative impacts on other duties, including those benefiting homeless and underserved communities and responding to animal cruelty and aggressive animal issues
Potential outcomes of increased use of informational materials and expansion of community-based services.
SEATTLE ANIMAL SHELTER STAFFING
SAS 2022 Staffing Matrix
The table below shows the staffing levels in place in 2022. An ACO I is an in-shelter officer while an ACO II is a field officer.
SAS Animal Care Unit
In 2022, there were four in-shelter officers at any given time caring for animals in the shelter. The Animal Care Unit (ACU) was composed of eight ACO I positions in 2022, including one underfilled ACO II (aka field officer) assigned to in-shelter duties. The ACO Is are responsible for the daily care and routing of animals at the shelter. They also manage animal adoptions, surrenders and redemptions as well as phone and email communications related to these tasks for the seven-day per week operation.
SAS Field Services Unit
In 2022, the Field Services Unit (FSU) of the Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS) was composed of 14 ACO II positions with one underfilled as an ACO I and one vacancy. Of these, 12 full-time ACO IIs were responsible for all animal control authority and activity within Seattle. They worked closely with the City Attorney's Office (CAO) and, when necessary, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to manage cases, prosecute, investigate and serve warrants.
Responsibilities
The FSU have special commissions that enable them to:
Issue citations
Serve warrants
Testify on criminal cases
Retrieve Washington State Department of Licensing data and
Access properties marked "no trespassing."
FSU responds to animal related complaints, including:
Aggressive animals
Animal cruelty
Wildlife
Outreach to homeless encampments
Neighborhood disputes
Violations resulting from FSU park patrols
FSU Staffing Assignments
In 2022, a maximum of six ACO IIs were on duty at any one time. One ACO II per day was assigned as an in-house dispatcher, leaving four to six ACO IIs to respond to requests for assistance in neighborhoods, homeless outreach support and parks patrols. The ACO IIs can also provide support to the shelter for cleaning, feeding and care of the animals in times of staffing need. When fully staffed, one ACO II could be assigned to each neighborhood patrol area in the North, Central and South and Southwestern parts of the city and a pair of officers was assigned to patrol parks.
PARK PATROLS
In 2022, ACO IIs were assigned to patrol City parks in pairs for 80 hours per week. ACO IIs worked together for safety and to simultaneously engage with multiple individuals with off-leash animals. Patrol areas were rotated daily to ensure coverage of the North, Central, and South and Southwest districts of the city. ACO IIs worked in cooperation with Seattle Parks & Recreation (SPD) Rangers to:
Enforce leash, scoop and licensing requirements
Respond to requests to patrol specific parks
Conduct routine patrols of parks in an assigned patrol area.
In 2021, ACO IIs patrolled 344, or 70%, of the city's 489 parks. While not all parks are patrolled by ACO IIs each year, the ones that are patrolled are those identified by residents or SPR site staff.
Lack of Assistance from the Seattle Police Department
Challenges with park patrols were increasing in 2022 while assistance from the Seattle Police Department (SPD) was decreasing. (SPD also has delayed responses to animal cruelty calls).
Among the challenges faced by field officers:
Residents regularly ignored officers' requests for identification
Residents walked away or fled when contacted
Violators used social media platforms like Facebook groups to communicate field officer locations and to encourage non-compliance with officers' requests
SPD historically assisted ACO IIs in obtaining identification from resistant residents. Identification is necessary to issue an infraction for violating the Seattle Municipal Code and to issue citations. Only sworn SPD officers can retrieve identification from resistant residents.
SPD’s decreasing level of assistance left SAS unable to issue citations from people who refused to show identification. Instead, SAS issued a verbal warning on first contacts with education about the negative impacts of off leash dogs on park grounds. Field officers also warn the individual of a possible infraction for future violations of city leash laws.
Parks Enforcement Options
The memo included the following suggestions for improved efficiency of park patrols.
1. Increase the partnership between field officers and Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) Rangers. Prior to 2020, field officers and SPR rangers paired up to patrol parks. While this didn't increase the total number of hours field officers were dedicated to parks, it increased the number of patrols overall.
2. Add a Foster Care Coordinator position and a Behaviorist position to reduce demand for field officers doing animal care work.
3. Conduct educational campaigns. Increase compliance with leash and scoop laws by engaging with the public using campaigns showing the very real impacts of off leash pets. These campaigns would include social media, advertising on local blogs, and public service messaging.
4. Maximize outreach by further partnering with SPR to maximize both departments' outreach potential by the following:
Training volunteer Off-Leash area (OLA) stewards about dog behavior which could decrease the number of fights and make OLAs more inviting.
Simplifying parks signage for maximum compliance, or
Surveying residents not using OLAs to understand their choice.
In-person engagement at town halls, community meetings and events
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