Corrections:
The July Data Bytes had two errors that we have corrected below. The first error was due to duplicate 2020 Seattle Animal Shelter call numbers in all categories. The second correction involves the 2018 to 2022 cumulative numbers for SAS calls. Originally, this only included 2018 numbers instead of 2018 to 2022.
Neither correction changes the pattern or conclusions we identified. Almost half of all calls to SAS from 2018 to 2022 were for park patrols. While 2020 park patrol calls significantly dropped due to the pandemic, they were still the largest number of calls and have increased since then.
Majority of SAS Field Officer Work is Patrolling Seattle’s Parks
An analysis of SAS field officer work shows that the majority of calls involve park patrols, followed by enforcement work centered on loose or noisy animals. A distant third is responding to calls involving cruelty or neglect, although there was a significant reversal in 2022.
Parks patrols are a significant part of SAS field officer responsibilities. In fact, the last City of Seattle budget included Parks Levy funding for two additional SAS field officers due to increased security issues at parks. Park patrols are important particularly with our increase in human and animal populations. Three additional dog parks are under consideration at the time of this data bite. This will potentially require even more resources.
This finding raises questions, however. Are the field officers being used to conduct work for which these positions are intended? Is there enough work for cruelty and neglect investigations? Is there enough staff to adequately handle the staggering number of calls? Is there any future planning? Who’s doing that planning and is it reasonably transparent with opportunity for citizen input?
There are currently 15 field officers.
A second point of interest is the increase in animal cruelty and neglect calls. We identified this increase last month. Now we see that these calls actually exceeded park patrols for the first time in 2022. At the same time, park patrols dropped by an astonishing 64 percent. There is no corresponding increase to imply a change in coding. In fact, all calls to SAS dropped by 22 percent from 2021 to 2022. It is possible that COVID disrupted patrols or the data is being logged in a different program.
Parks cases are generally patrols. Enforcement cases are dominated by animals “at large” and “noise.”
