At a press conference outside the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct police headquarters today, Mayor Mike McGinn proposed repurposing SPD cops into Belltown, which has seen two high-profile shootings in the past month.

The city will now focus its West Precinct Anti-Crime Team, night SWAT team, and DUI squad on problem areas downtown on Friday and Saturday nights. In response, Downtown Seattle Association director Kate Joncas said the redeployment "acknowledges the concerns of downtown residents, small business owners, employees, and human service providers about the level of safety in our neighborhoods."

However, McGinn said he would not push for the city to fund the hiring of 21 new police officers, positions that are needed to fund the city's adopted neighborhood policing program. He said the police department has "really been focused on, how do we our existing resources most efficiently... working within the existing budget."

It's unclear from which areas of the city officers will be reallocated; PubliCola was only able to get in three questions at McGinn's brief press conference and his spokesman Aaron Pickus has not returned a call for clarification.

Last week, Pickus told us McGinn would announce his choice for a new police chief---a post that has been filled by interim chief John Diaz---"within the month." Asked whether Diaz' place at his side today indicated that he had made up his mind, McGinn responded, "We will have an announcement when we have an announcement."

However, in response to a subsequent question, McGinn said Diaz "has been acting like a chief and has been doing a great job in the department."