It’s now a crime to interfere with firefighters out to do their jobs under an ordinance passed by unanimously by a short-handed Seattle City Council.
Seattle Firefighters say they face a growing number of assaults while on calls – more than 50 in the past six months alone – from people throwing rocks at them to one who hurt his back when someone threw him down a stairwell. So they asked the City Council for an ordinance that would make it a gross misdemeanor to interfere with a firefighter.
Fire Chief, Harold Scoggins, says it’s important to have safe working space. “Every time we’re interrupted in providing care to a member of the community,” Chief Scoggins says, “that could cost them their lives, or a fire could get bigger.”
LéTania Severe, who told the Council they’re a firefighter in Pierce County firefighter and Ph.D. in social disciplines says what’s needed is better firefighter training and addressing system failures, like the homelessness and mental health crises. Severe says, “Criminalizing people who are going through these situations is not going to help firefighters or these people, and it’s also not going to help these systemic problems.”**1-2
With Council Members Kshama Sawant, Teresa Mosqueda and Tammy Morales absent, the measure passed 6-0 with amendments put forward by Mosqueda, also approved unanimously, meant to minimize harm to communities of color and those frequently considered over-policed.