About Us
The City of Seattle’s Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) department is responsible for 911 emergency calls in Seattle. When you call 911, we’re here to help.
The CARE department’s 911 Center handles approximately 900,000 calls per year and is staffed 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and serves callers with interpretation needs and those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The CARE department was originally known as the Community Safety and Communications Center (CSCC) and was home of the Seattle 911 Center, formerly part of the Seattle Police Department. In 2023, Mayor Harrell renamed the department as part of an expansion of its work and scope to become a third public safety department to provide alternative responses to public health and safety incidents.
Our Mission
The mission of CARE is to quickly and professionally answer all requests for emergency services in Seattle; to provide professional emergency dispatch, notification, and communication services; and to facilitate reporting of minor incidents via telephone and online systems.
Our Priorities
- Emergencies. Our top priority is to quickly answer emergency requests for service, regardless of how they are received, properly screen those requests, connect callers to the right team, and effectively dispatch resources to address the emergency.
- Notifications. We operate paging and communications systems notifying CARE and Seattle Police Department employees of mission specific information on a 24/7/365 basis, and to notify the public of specific emergencies and conditions.
- Non-Emergencies. We answer non-emergency calls and route them for dispatch if appropriate.
- Reports. We take police reports when appropriate via telephone or assist with referral to the Seattle Police online crime reporting system.