A new city directive to address youth safety was introduced at Cassie Franklin’s State of the City event.
In response to tragic events, like the teen stabbing in January, Everett’s Mayor Cassie Franklin has issued a directive today at the “State of the City event” to further commit to youth safety.
Here’s the full text of the directive:
Public safety has been the top priority of this administration for the past eight years. Under Mayor Franklin’s leadership, Everett has strengthened public safety programs by maintaining school resource officers (SROs) in Everett Public Schools and the Mukilteo School District, working in collaboration with youth service organizations, creating a dedicated violent crime unit, and supporting the Anti-Crime and Community Response Teams. At the same time, the city has made thoughtful, strategic investments to address complex challenges, including the national fentanyl crisis and growing mental health concerns.
Everett continues to lead with a balanced approach—expanding access to life-saving services and support while also holding individuals accountable and strongly encouraging the acceptance of services. This approach has contributed to positive progress, including a downward trend in violent crime. However, recent incidents of youth violence have been especially troubling. Even one act of violence involving a young person is one too many. We must protect our youth—both from being victimized and from engaging in violence themselves.
For those who do become involved in criminal activity, the juvenile justice system often facilitates access to critical services and support that can help address the root causes – for the young person as well as their family. In nearly all cases, the intended is to protect youth health and safety, provide opportunities for rehabilitation and redirect them to positive avenues. It’s not about punishment, rather safety and youth stability. Our partners have made it clear that greater support is needed communitywide, both for youth and their parents or guardians, to foster a sense of belonging and ensure every young person in Everett has the opportunity to thrive.
Through prevention efforts, community engagement, and strong partnerships, the City of Everett is committed to Mayor Franklin’s vision of zero youth violence. This directive builds on past initiatives, including the 2018 Youth Violence and Gang Reduction Initiative and the 2023 Violence Prevention and Reduction Directive, this directive introduces targeted actions to further our progress toward the elimination of youth violence in our city and greater community.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Cassie Franklin, mayor of Everett, hereby direct City of Everett staff to pursue the following four initiatives:
Initiative 1 – PREVENTION. Expand existing crime prevention programs and implement new community-focused strategies.
- Gang prevention efforts: Officers will attend the Northwest Gang Investigators Association Regional Gang Symposium to stay ahead of evolving recruitment tactics and strengthen intervention strategies, particularly focused towards youth.
- Service referrals and community partnerships: Everett will strengthen partnerships with organizations like the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Latino Civic Alliance (LCA) and Victim Support Services to help ensure at-risk youth and their families receive the support they need. This will include convenings to promote collaboration and information sharing. Staff will also explore new partnerships and funding opportunities to support new and expanded programming needs.
- Youth-focused work within our police department: The police department will further emphasize youth safety and early intervention by prioritizing connecting at-risk youth with supportive services, including LCA’s ‘I AM JAGUAR program. The department will also continue working to hold those who commit violent crimes against youth accountable, reducing the opportunity for them to reoffend.
- Continue programs that encourage firearm safety and reduce the likelihood of a weapon ending being used to harm someone: In 2025, the police department will host another “Guns for Gift Cards” event, increase distribution of free gun locks (confirm funding before finalized) and continue leading the county in successful court petitions for Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO).
Initiative 2: PARTNERSHIPS. Work collaboratively with existing partners on programs and initiatives that promote youth safety.
- Strengthen School Resource Officer (SRO) programs: The City of Everett has reliably invested in SROs through long-standing partnerships with Everett Public Schools and the Mukilteo School District – even through recent periods when other jurisdictions were trending away from SRO programs. SROs play a pivotal role in school safety: fostering trust with students, families and staff while proactively preventing violence.
- Expand School Resource Officer (SRO) program: In 2025, Everett will increase the presence of SROs across campuses, focusing on relationship-building, conflict resolution and early intervention.
- Enhanced training for SROs: In 2025, five officers will attend the National Association of School Resource Officer’s School Safety Conference to receive advanced training in youth mental health support, building trust within diverse student populations and de-escalation techniques.
- Identify additional resources: Staff will continue seeking external funding support that could enhance and grow our local SRO program.
- Youth Safety Roundtable: The City will bring together local youth services-focused partners for listening sessions and roundtable discussions with the goal of working collaboratively to break down silos, identify existing social infrastructure and enhance youth safety strategies.
- Improved interdepartmental coordination: To ensure coordination and accountability, the City will establish a Youth Violence Internal Workgroup. This staff-led group will meet regularly to track youth-focused initiatives, identify gaps in services and strengthen collaboration across city departments and community partners.
- Maintain awareness of local services, providers, and organizations supporting youth.
- Fosterpartnershipswithkeystakeholderstoenhancepreventionand intervention efforts.
- Serve as a central hub for sharing information, progress and best practices in reducing youth violence.
- Graffiti vandalism removal: Departments will work collaboratively to most efficiently utilize resources available for removing graffiti vandalism throughout the city as ways to help disrupt gang symbols and promote neighborhood pride.
- EPD will continue working with their Volunteers in Police Service on community graffiti clean-ups
- Code Enforcement will continue to manage the City’s private residence graffiti removal program
- Public Works will address graffiti on City-owned property and in rights of way o Staff will work collaboratively with Neighborhood Associations and other community groups to on graffiti vandalism removal, including best practices and public education on the City’s response.
- Establish youth safety as a citywide priority: At the Mayor’s direction, all City departments and the broader community are called upon to contribute to youth safety.Stakeholders are encouraged to identify and implement new strategies to prevent violence, whether addressing victimization, intervention or enforcement.
- Legislative and policy advocacy: Improvements to key legislation and policy at the state level would better support the families of youth involved in criminal activity as well as victims of violent crime.
- Continued advocacy for stricter firearm access laws, increased penalties for illegal gun possession, making unlawful possession of a firearm a violent crime and policies that better mandate responsible ownership.
- Reform the juvenile justice system to expand alternatives to detention while still holding the most dangerous and repeat offenders accountable.
- Improve transparency regarding charging decisions, pretrial releases, bail, convictions and sentencing.
- Advocate for funding to increase youth access to mental health services in schools and the community.
Initiative 3: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & ACTIVATION. Increase engagement and activate local youth, community members and public spaces.
Youth
- Expanded youth career development opportunities: Staff will continue collaborative partnerships with businesses and organizations to provide youth internships, mentorships and incentive-based programs as alternatives to violence. This includes increasing the number of City of Everett-hosted Everett Public Schools Career Link internship positions supported for 2025.
- Youth involvement in government: City departments will focus on growing opportunities for youth to engage with city leadership through expanded City-managed internships and the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board.
Community
- Community Watch program: Staff across relevant city departments will support public education efforts related to the new Community Watch program, a renewed version of the traditional Block Watch, that focuses on activating Everett residents and public spaces in strategic ways. Public outreach will include attending neighborhood meetings and other community events.
- In 2025, the program will prioritize activating public spaces frequented by youth including encouraging safe adults to intentionally incorporate a daily walk, roll or bike ride along nearby school routes during the times students commute on foot and other places youth spend time such as parks.
- Public outreach: The City will expand communication around violence prevention and other efforts through an ongoing educational campaign which will include social media and community events.
- Address the local ‘information desert’ by developing an Everett-specific youth and family resources bank: Staff will work with key stakeholders to identify available resources and programs geared towards supporting youth and families in Everett, create a publicly available information bank and promote the availability of this resource list.
Initiative 4: INNOVATION. Utilize technology to enhance the City’s response and investigation of crime.
- In recognition that new and emerging technologies can allow the Everett Police Department to respond more quickly to violent crime, the City will seek out ways to implement that technology as another tool to help victims, including youth victims.
- Support use of Flock Safety System: Funded with grants, Everett launched the Flock Safety camera system in 2024, deploying 71 license plate reader (LPR) cameras and three pan-tilt-zoom cameras near specific city parks. From Oct. 2024 to Jan. 2025, the LPR cameras helped with 66 arrests and assisted 89 cases and during this time, we saw car thefts drop by 25.5% including a 76.6% decrease in January 2025.Staff will develop a long-term funding strategy that would allow the City to continue operating the system.
- Explore other cities’ best practices and innovative tools for supporting public safety, including additions to the existing Flock Safety System, and pursue additional funding sources to support new programs.
A Citywide Commitment to Youth Safety
The City of Everett remains unwavering in its pursuit of Zero Youth Violence. Achieving this vision will require a united effort from government, schools, families, businesses and community partners. Together, we can build a future where every young person in Everett is safe, supported and has the opportunity to live up to their greatest potential.
One Everett. One Future.
Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin
Staff will provide regular updates to me on progress, challenges and any metrics used to gauge the impact and success of the initiatives outlined in this directive and keep Everett on the path toward Zero Youth Violence.
Dated this 27th day of March 2025
Cassie Franklin Mayor, City of Everett
Footnote:
The term “gang” is used in many different ways. It can evoke different images and stereotypes for people and often has a racialized connotation. The media and the public have a looser definition of what constitutes a “gang” than law enforcement, who rely on the legal parameters as defined in RCW 9.94A.030, making no assumptions about the race, ethnicity, gender or other identity-related factors of participants.
March 27, 2025
Everett Government, Police Blotter