This effort, designed to increase the number of mental health professionals available to assist officers with incidents like the Space Cowboy bomb threat, will be discussed today at a regular sit-down that Mayor Mike McGinn is having with reporters. It's an interesting initiative, and I'm sure there will be more to say about it after the session, but here's what's even more interesting:

McGinn has invited Interim Police Chief John Diaz to the reporter sit-down to help roll it out. In other words, at a moment when he's trying to decide who should be Seattle's new police chief, McGinn will be parading this new, community-sensitive initiative in front of reporters with the help of Diaz, who's come under fire after some of his officers became national symbols of highly insensitive policing.

Readers of city hall tea leaves might wonder: Is this McGinn trying to help rehabilitate the image of the man he quietly wants to lead Seattle's police force?