Seattle is a Socialist hell hole. That’s the technical term for what it has become. The location is nice but that’s where the nice ends.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) supported the opening of CHAZ. She abdicated a significant portion of the city to anarchy. Then she called the police-free autonomous zone a “block party.” That is her best judgment. Seattle experienced a “summer of love.” That’s her description, not mine. A better assessment would be the residents got bent over the barrel.
Well, surprise, surprise, surprise. Today the mayor is “deeply concerned.” Note she is not having second thoughts. No, she is not admitting having made a bad decision. Nope, Mayor Durkan is concerned about the exodus from the city’s police department. If you support a police free CHAZ: What could possibly be wrong with having a whole city without police? How can you possibly claim a winter of discontent?
The local Seattle television station is KING-TV. It is reporting a record number of officers left the department in September. The information came from a new Seattle Budget Office report. The report notes that 39 officers and officers-in-training “separated” from the department. An additional 14 officers extended their leaves. The exodus is part of a continuing trend. The trend is resulting in at least 118 officers leaving the force so far this year.
Another local station, KTTH is reporting “even this number is misleading.” It seems “many officers are using their accrued sick time as they begin their escape to other agencies or wait for retirement.”
The policy change
The total number of officers in the department currently is about 1,200. The report notes this is on par with police staffing levels in the early 1990s. Since that time the city’s population has grown 44% since then. The impact on the people of the city is seen in 911 call response times which are increasing. Additionally police investigative services have been crippled.
Who would have thought the levels of officer attrition would be “unprecedented”? But the Mayor is doubling down on the re-imagination of community safety. She is calling for “community-based alternatives” to policing. Here’s the Mayor’s comment on the self inflicted wound:
“We will continue to improve policing and reimagine community safety in Seattle by shifting some responses to community-based alternatives and civilian programs like Health One or Community Service Officers… We are losing an unprecedented number of officers, which makes it even more critical that we recruit and retain officers committed to reform and community policing that reflect the diversity and values of our city.”
Where is Seattle headed?
Don’t let the Mayor kid you. Seattle is one of the most progressive, cosmopolitan and diverse cities in America. But it is being turned into a crap hole. Why? Because of its political leadership.
The youngest officers are leaving at an extremely high rate. Those are the officers one might expect to be most likely and able to transform the department. They entered the department and received an emphasis on de-escalation training. They received the training in community-based, constitutional policing. There is a message here.
The exodus follows the City Council’s decision last month slashing the city’s police budget. The expectation is this will lead to the cutting as many as another 100 officer positions. It also ends the Navigation Team, which clears homeless encampments.
We need to stay abreast of the results of Democrat policy implementation. Don’t look for a happy ending here. Adding social workers in a war zone may be a better way to spread payola. But, it is not going to keep people safe.
