SEATTLE — The Seattle City Attorney’s Office is adding two specialized prosecutor positions: one focused on human trafficking and another leading a new unit that will pursue Extreme Risk Protection Orders, which can temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms when evidence indicates a risk of harm. City Attorney Erika Evans announced the positions Wednesday. The trafficking prosecutor will be cross-deputized with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, enabling that prosecutor to handle felony and misdemeanor cases in Seattle. The prosecutor will review referrals from Seattle police and file charges when the evidence supports them. Seattle’s City Attorney’s Office generally handles misdemeanors committed within city limits; King County prosecutors handle felonies. Most gun crimes and all sex trafficking crimes are felonies. The county prosecutor’s office previously had two deputy prosecutors assigned to felony human trafficking cases countywide, according to Seattle officials. The new role is intended in part to address sexual exploitation along the Aurora Avenue corridor. City officials said police detectives report recovering multiple children from the area each week. Trafficking cases can take months of police investigation to assemble, the City Attorney’s Office said. In the past five years, an average of six Seattle cases annually had enough evidence for charges to be filed. The second prosecutor will lead the city’s new Firearms Unit and focus on Extreme Risk Protection Orders, or ERPOs. These are civil court orders that can temporarily limit a person’s access to firearms based on evidence that they may harm themselves or others; an accompanying criminal charge is not required. The prosecutor will coordinate with Seattle police, King County prosecutors and the Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit, which has worked since 2018 to enforce court orders requiring people to surrender firearms. The City Attorney’s Office said the new position will help Seattle expand its use of ERPOs. Funding for the ERPO prosecutor was included in Mayor Katie Wilson’s midyear supplemental budget, which the City Council approved. Both positions are fully funded in Wilson’s proposed 2027 budget, according to the City Attorney’s Office.