Seattle Police Chief wants to form department liaison to support families of murder victims

Seattle Police Chief wants to form department liaison to support families of homicide victims

Chief Adrian Diaz says he understands these families need support– not just from groups like the Parents of Murdered Children chapter in Washington state, but also from the Seattle Police Department.

SEATTLE – Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz The Spotlight that he is trying to create a position within the department told with the goal of helping and supporting families of homicide victims.

Diaz says he understands these families need support– not just from groups like the Parents of Murdered Children chapter in Washington state, but also from the Seattle Police Department.

“Because I’ve been meeting with the families, I really wanted to develop a family support liaison position. I’ve been in conversation with what that would look like with some of the mothers and that is one of the things, a suggestion they thought could be done and right now, our detectives are putting everything they can into those cases,” Diaz said.

However, Diaz said those detectives are not able to spend that extra time with families outside of the investigation.

“Having some sort of person who can be the liaison with families, it would be so valuable just to have that connection and do some follow-up things. The family could really appreciate in the midst of what’s going on,” Diaz said.

Diaz says detectives are hard at work learning every aspect of the victim in each case, and they’re going through records phone records, messages, and emails trying to find clues and bring closure to the family. He says they work countless hours, but at the end of the day, all the families really want is justice.

“I want them to know that it matters to me, that these cases matter to me, that their child matters to me, that everyone has a story. It’s really about humanizing each other, it’s really about trying to make sure that we know that their life was cut short and that their memory isn’t lost. So for me, it’s important for me to be involved with the family to be engaged,” he said.