(The Center Square) – A tentative contract agreement between Seattle and the Seattle Police Officers Guild will permanently expand the city’s behavioral health response teams. The agreement will double the size of the Community Assisted Response and Engagement, or CARE, Department and permit its unarmed crisis responders to be dispatched directly to more types of 911 calls, including many that previously required a police presence.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the collective bargaining agreement on Monday. The contract covers rank-and-file Seattle police officers’ salaries and working conditions for 2024 through 2027.
The Seattle Police Officers Guild voted to approve the agreement last week, and it now goes to the Seattle City Council for approval. This agreement updates the one previously reached in 2024.
The contract removes limitations on CARE’s staffing levels, which were previously capped at 24. Harrell’s proposed 2026 budget included $9.5 million in funding to double the team to 48 staff members.
CARE consists of behavioral health experts who are dispatched to calls that involve people experiencing a crisis. In turn, police resources are freed up to answer other calls.
Seattle’s new 0.1% public safety sales tax, approved by the city council earlier this month, is also a factor in funding a significantly expanding CARE. The tax is projected to generate almost $40 million annually, with specific funds allocated to doubling the number of CARE responders and expanding their services.
That includes plans to extend CARE operations beyond the current noon to 10 p.m. daily hours of operation.
CARE members would also be allowed to respond to more types of incidents and could be solo dispatched to 911 calls that do not involve an immediate threat to life, health, or property, such as reports of people experiencing a behavioral health crisis; requests for resources like food, shelter or transportation; and welfare checks on individuals who appear to need help.
“Law enforcement officers can now be significantly freed up to respond to high priority police calls,” CARE Chief Amy Barden said in a statement. “The CARE Department represents a movement of both pragmatism and compassion.”
According to a news release, CARE has responded to more than 5,000 events so far in 2025.
Seattle police officers will receive a retroactive pay increase of 6% for 2024 and 4.1% for 2025. Officers will get an additional 2.7% increase in 2026, and the 2027 increase will range from 3% to 4%, depending on the Consumer Price Index. A recent article from PubliCola published prior to Harrell’s announcement found that the 2024-2027 contract raises starting salaries for new police recruits by 13% to $118,000.
