2019 CONFERENCE PROGRAM
REGISTER NOWSafe Palce Initiative
The history of the Seattle Police Department’s SAFE PLACE Initiative began in the Fall of 2014 when Officer Jim Ritter was appointed to the SPD’s first full-time LGBTQ liaison by Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole. Ritter recognized the immediate need for increasing public trust in reporting Anti-LGBTQ crimes and School Bullying incidents, and that Seattle’s business community and schools could play a critical role in assisting the victims of these crimes. The unique collaboration involves businesses placing SPD SAFE PLACE decals at their entrance, to serve as an easily recognizable symbol that the Seattle Police Department and the business community were actively collaborating with each other to assist the victims of hate crimes. These decals serve as notification to victims of hate crimes that the premise displaying the SPD SAFE PLACE decals will call 911 on their behalf, and allow them to remain on the premise until police arrive.
By May of 2015, SPD SAFE PLACE was launched publicly, receiving immediate interest and support from Seattle’s LGBTQ community, businesses, schools, local, national and international media, and other entities throughout the world. It was the first concept of its kind in history where a police agency was proactively coordinating an effort to actively assist the victims of hate crimes. As of 2018, over 6,000 businesses throughout Seattle participate in the program.
In the Spring of 2018, the SPD SAFE PLACE Initiative’s decal’s LGBTQ verbiage was changed to encourage the reporting of Hate Crimes in general.
The Seattle Police Department encourages other law enforcement agencies to adopt the SPD SAFE PLACE Initiative in their jurisdictions providing they follow the protocol provided to them. Over 130 police agencies from throughout the U.S. and Canada are actively working with the SPD, including police departments from Los Angeles, Denver, Tucson, Vancouver, BC, Miami, Orlando, Baltimore, Louisville, and many others. Corporations across the U.S. have also shown interest in supporting the concept and include Starbucks, Bank of America, T-Mobile, CHASE Bank and Wells Fargo. Additional countries have shown interest in this concept including Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Asia.