Plans For Police Reform, Pay Equity Released By Seattle Mayoral Candidates Monday

SEATTLE, WA - Mayoral candidates Jenny Durkan and Cary Moon each released a policy proposal Monday on two very different topics. Three days after a federal monitor found that the Seattle Police Department is still not in compliance with a 2012 federal consent decree, Durkan released her "equal justice and opportunity agenda" for police reform. Moon meanwhile released proposals to equalize income for women and minorities.

Durkan on police reform

Durkan emphasized that her police reform agenda would focus on changing the police department's culture and addressing the "root causes" of crime, plus diverting people away from incarceration. Durkan, the former U.S. Attorney in Seattle, would prioritize bringing SPD into compliance with the federal consent decree. On Friday, federal monitor Merrick Bobb filed a status report saying the department was still not in compliance with federal guidelines.

"Fundamentally, we have to do more to move away from model of arrest and detention," Durkan said Monday.

Durkan's plan includes four tacks: Build accountability within the department; focus on young people; provide alternatives to jail; and give more resources to people reentering the city after a criminal sentence.

Some of the approaches Durkan favors: revisiting the construction of a precinct in North Seattle, but instead of one large facility, building several smaller ones spread out across the north side of the city; she wants to pass Initiative 940, also called De-Escalate Washington, which would provide de-escalation training for police and change the state law on prosecuting police for using deadly force.

Durkan would also seek to expand the A Beautiful Safe Place for Youth program, which aims to divert youth from incarceration in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.

Cary Moon on wage inequality

Moon is pushing several ideas to reduce wage inequality in Seattle. Chief among them, Moon would begin collecting a summary of wages paid to Seattle workers at companies with more than 100 employees. That data would be broken out by race, sex, and ethnicity. That's partly a response to President Donald Trump, who halted a federal program to collect such wage data, which was originally part of an Obama-era plan to tackle income inequality.

According to Moon's plan:

Women in Seattle are making just 78 cents on the dollars earned by men, and the wage gap is even wider for women who have earned bachelor's, graduate, or professional degrees. It’s no better in the tech industry, where female programmers make 30% less than their male counterparts. A recent survey also found 60% of women want employers to stop asking about salary history because it can lock women in a lower salary range during hiring negotiations.

Moon would also ban employers from asking potential employees about salary history. States like Massachusetts and Oregon have banned the practice, which some say perpetuates wage inequality because workers carry pay inequality between jobs. Moon would also establish a city program to train employers on how to implement city labor laws.

Moon's proposal on Monday comes after she introduced a plan last week to create a union for freelance and contract workers in Seattle.

Image via Jenny Durkan/Cary Moon