Seattle Police precincts citywide, including the Southwest Precinct serving West Seattle, are closing their front desk walk-in hours and reassigning several officers on July 3 to "ensure SPD is able to rapidly respond to 911 emergencies across the city," according to Jonah Spangenthal-Lee with the department.

Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Pierre Davis confirmed those changes are happening locally.

According to Spangenthal-Lee, the changes are needed to “meet an anticipated increase in emergency calls this summer.”

Those changes include redeploying 25 officers currently assigned to front desks, traffic units, community police teams (CPT) and federal task forces.

West Seattle's CPT officers will be reassigned over the summer, Lt. Davis said.

“Our primary mission is responding to emergency calls,” SPD Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer said in a press release. “We understand it’s going to cause some inconveniences, but we feel this is necessary. It is our goal to return to normal operations after the summer.”

A phone line to call 911 will be available outside the Southwest Precinct, and Lt. Davis said dispatch will have an officer meet citizens at the front door as soon as possible if needed.