On Wednesday, Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans announced that her office is adding two specialized prosecutor positions to strengthen the city’s response to human trafficking and gun violence. One position will expand the city’s partnership with King County prosecutors to pursue felony human trafficking cases, while the other will focus on obtaining court orders restricting firearm access for people who pose a serious threat.
The positions will expand the Seattle City Attorney’s Office’s involvement in matters generally handled by county prosecutors. The city attorney’s criminal jurisdiction ordinarily covers misdemeanors committed within Seattle, while felony cases, including human trafficking and most firearms offenses, fall under the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
“After years of experience prosecuting people who commit crimes in court, I know firsthand how hard it has been for Seattle to disrupt sex trafficking, disarm pimps, and impose real criminal consequences on offenders,” said Evans. “Public safety is a team effort where different agencies and offices play different roles. Normally the City Attorney’s role stops at misdemeanors, but these two new city prosecutor positions will mean we can also contribute to work normally handled at the felony level. It’s important to me for CAO to do our part to help take more guns off the street and increase capacity to prosecute sex traffickers.”
The new human trafficking prosecutor will be cross-deputized with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, allowing the attorney to handle both felony trafficking cases and city misdemeanor cases. The prosecutor will review referrals from the Seattle Police Department and pursue felony charges when investigators have developed sufficient evidence.
According to the City Attorney’s Office, King County previously had two deputy prosecutors dedicated to felony human trafficking cases across the county. The additional position is intended to increase the capacity to evaluate cases and prosecute people accused of trafficking and sexually exploiting children and other vulnerable individuals.
King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said additional prosecutorial resources are important, but investigators also need the capacity to develop cases.
“The sexual exploitation of children, women, and others from vulnerable communities along Aurora is unacceptable, and prosecutors need every available resource to hold the people who are profiting off of this violence accountable,” said Manion. “We also need additional police resources to investigate these serious crimes. I am grateful for City Attorney Evans’ leadership and partnership in addressing these crimes and increasing capacity for our Extreme Risk Protection Order Team. This collaboration is important, and I’m hopeful these resources will be sustained to ensure this effort is as successful as possible.”
The trafficking position grew out of discussions earlier this year involving Evans and Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez. Juarez subsequently worked with Evans and Manion to advocate for resources to expand the city’s ability to pursue trafficking cases.
Much of the concern has centered on Aurora Avenue, where officials have reported longstanding problems involving commercial sexual exploitation, including the trafficking of minors. The corridor, sometimes referred to as “The Blade,” has been a particular focus of efforts to identify and protect children being exploited.
Juarez said the problem has had a disproportionate impact on Black and brown girls.
“The sex trafficking of underage children is an inhumane and illegal commerce. ‘The Blade’ corridor along Aurora continues to be a high-crime area where black and brown girls are disproportionately targeted and exploited. When girls as young as fourteen are taken from their families to be sold for heinous acts, something has to be done. I
applaud the leadership of City Attorney Erika Evans and King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion for taking action against these deplorable crimes. Having a unified and cross-deputized approach towards justice to keep children and families safe is the type of leadership we need in Seattle,” said Juarez.
The City Attorney’s Office also reported that Seattle police detectives have been recovering multiple children from the Aurora corridor each week. That figure was provided in the city’s announcement and was not accompanied by a breakdown of the circumstances of those cases.
Building trafficking cases can require months of investigation, particularly when prosecutors must establish sufficient evidence to support felony charges. According to the City Attorney’s Office, an average of six cases per year over the past five years had sufficient evidence for charges to be filed in Seattle. The announcement did not specify which categories of trafficking-related cases were included in that calculation.
Evans said the additional prosecutor would allow the city to pursue more cases in coordination with police and county prosecutors.
“As I warned the world in May, anybody who comes to Seattle thinking they can turn out children or buy sex along Aurora and not face consequences is badly mistaken. Our police will arrest you and you will be prosecuted,” Evans said.
The second position will focus on extreme risk protection orders, commonly called ERPOs, through the City Attorney’s Office’s newly organized Firearms Unit.
ERPOs allow a court to temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms when evidence establishes that the individual poses a significant risk of harming themselves or others. Unlike criminal firearms prosecutions, these proceedings take place in civil court and do not require a criminal charge or conviction.
Washington voters approved the state’s extreme risk protection order law in 2016. King County prosecutors have used the process for years, including through the Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit, which has worked with the City Attorney’s Office since 2018 to help enforce court orders requiring people to surrender firearms.
The new prosecutor will lead Seattle’s Firearms Unit and coordinate with King County prosecutors, Seattle police and regional firearms enforcement partners. The position is intended to expand the city’s ability to seek protective orders when investigators identify individuals who may pose a serious threat.
The orders are not a substitute for criminal firearms charges. Instead, they provide a separate legal process for addressing potential danger before a criminal offense occurs or when criminal charges are not warranted.
“Washington’s successful implementation of Extreme Risk Protection Orders, which we passed on the ballot statewide in 2016, has provided a leading national model for states across the country,” said Ryan Disch-Guzman, interim executive director of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility. “The city’s ongoing commitment to finding innovative and successful ways to use this proven tool continues to set an example for how Extreme Risk Protection Orders can be used to reduce gun violence and save lives.”
Seattle Police Department Interim Chief Andre Sayles said the additional positions would strengthen cooperation between investigators and prosecutors.
“The Seattle Police Department is grateful for this well-thought-out multi-department partnership,” said Sayles. “Taking guns off the streets and arresting the violent criminals who traffic and exploit our most vulnerable has long been a key focus for our officers and detectives. Creating these two new prosecutor positions will elevate the already intense focus on these types of crimes, resulting in greater public safety and holding criminals accountable in a court of law.”
Mayor Katie Wilson said she included funding for both positions in her proposed budget despite a projected general fund shortfall.
“Every neighbor deserves to feel safe — walking home, raising their kids, building a life in this city,” Wilson said. “I prioritized funding these two new prosecutor positions in my proposed budget, despite a major general fund shortfall that forced tough decisions and tradeoffs. It’s important that we can act faster when someone is in danger and hold accountable those who prey on our most vulnerable neighbors. This is what it looks like when we take public safety seriously: not just words, but people on the ground doing the work.”
Funding for the extreme risk protection order prosecutor was included in Wilson’s midyear supplemental budget, which the City Council approved. Both prosecutor positions are included in the mayor’s proposed 2027 budget, which remains subject to council review and approval.
Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, also supported the announcement, citing the need for stronger coordination between city and county agencies in addressing gun violence and trafficking.
The announcement did not specify when both prosecutors would begin work, whether either position had been filled or the individual costs of the positions. Their continued funding will depend on decisions made during the city’s 2027 budget process.
