SEATTLE, WA– Sources tell Law Enforcement Today that Seattle is gearing up for a mass exodus of police officers.
Carmen Best was the first black woman to lead the Seattle Police Department, and was appointed as the city’s police chief back in July 2018. On Tuesday morning, August 11th, Chief Best announced her retirement.
[embedded content]At the time of her announcement, Best had served 28 years with the Seattle Police Department, rising through the ranks. Her retirement comes the day after the Seattle City Council approved slashing $3 million from the SPD, which includes a loss of 100 officers through a combination of layoffs and attrition.
#BREAKING: This is the full e-mail Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best sent to the entire Seattle Police Department at 9:32 tonight, stating she’ll be retiring from SPD, effective September 2nd, 2020. She writes, “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served as your chief.” pic.twitter.com/bEM0VOllw8
— Preston Phillips (@PrestonTVNews) August 11, 2020
During her press conference, she was very candid as she explained that she could not bring herself to carry out the layoffs. In the conference, she read a letter written to her from a new black officer.
She said:
“He is one of the people that will probably not keep a job here and that for me…I’m done. Can’t do it.”
She added:
“This is not about the money. And it’s not about the demonstrators. Be real. I have a lot thicker skin than that. It really is about the overarching lack of respect for the officers, the men and woman who work so hard day in and day out.”
[embedded content]Best’s shocking retirement adds an additional layer of stress to officer’s that have already been struggling with low morale over the last few months.
According to Mike Solan, the head of the Seattle Police Union, he is already hearing concerns from many of the 1,300 officers the Seattle Police Officers Guild represents.
Seattle City Council approves plan to defund police department, slashes jobs and salaries | Fox News https://t.co/PvUYospxAm HOW CAN ANY UNION MEMBER APPROVE OF THESE MEASURES, THIS ISN’T JUST AN ATTACK ON POLICE OFFICERS THIS IS AN ATTACK ON UNIONS
— James deprato (@deprato_james) August 11, 2020
He said many officers are struggling with morale and now losing their chief.
He said in a statement:
“It’s going to be really difficult to even get police officers to come here in the future because public safety is at risk. “
At the news of Best’s retirement, Solan flat out asked who would want to be Seattle’s Police Chief.
He said:
“It’s very frustrating where we are right now.”
He added:
“This is even bigger than Chief Best.”
The recent approval of the city council budget cuts, means that the department will have to protect and serve with 100 less officers. Solan insists that less cops equals more crime, and that in and of itself will keep people from wanting to be a Seattle Police Officer.
I just read that Seattle council passed a 7-1 vote to defund the police despite objections from the police chief, the mayor and the head of the police union. Good luck Seattle as you are going to be 100 police officers short. Let’s see how this is going to workout
— GotASecond? (@stef_saywhat) August 11, 2020
Jim Pugel, who spent a total of 36 years in law enforcement, 32 of them with Seattle Police said:
“Carmen was one of the best. Good police chiefs do not grow on trees, they are nurtured over years and they take time to develop. She was literally one of the best.”
Pugel also served as Seattle’s interim police chief for a year back in 2013.
He said:
“There are always some people that want to be chief of sheriff regardless of politics.”
Pugel also said that the city council’s lack of inclusion of Best in their budget cuts, and cutting her own salary may give future candidates a pause.
He said:
“I’d be very careful if I was an applicant. You are likely going to have some good applicants, people who like to lead and work with community, but I’d get an ironclad contract.”
The Seattle Police Officers Guild has already reached out to the city about the council’s suggestion that officers could be laid off out of order to preserve department diversity and target officers with more complaints against them. The union is demanding to bargain. #Q13FOX pic.twitter.com/j5Jl1kKJee
— Simone Del Rosario (@SimoneReports) August 11, 2020
Deputy Chief Adrian Diaz will be taking over as interim chief of police next month with an official start date of September 2nd. Diaz has over 20 years with the Seattle Police Department. Diaz said in a comment during a news conference:
“Our department has had rough times. I believe this is the most challenging time of our history.”
According to Mayor Jenny Durkan, there will be no chief recruitment until after the budget cycle wraps up in the fall.
Durkan said in a statement:
“We are fortunate that Deputy Chief Adrian Diaz was ready to step into the job and he will ensure SPD remains committed to continuing Chief Best’s vision to build a police department that is centered around true community policing.”
Here is another article from Law Enforcement Today that discusses how the defunding of the Seattle Police Department will harm their entire city:
SEATTLE, WA – The Seattle City Council held a budget meeting discussing a proposal of a police department budget cut by 50% on July 29. The proposal would suggest $85 million to be cut from the police budget for the remainder of the year.
As one may have guessed, there aren’t many Seattle residents who approve.
Over 300 people signed up to speak at the budget meeting, many of whom were against the drastic cuts.
They need to stand up for their community. They need to get rid of these Marxist politicians.
— Carrie ❤️ America 🇺🇸 (@carrieksada) July 31, 2020
One caller described the move as a “radical experiment that will hurt the vulnerable.”
Another person said:
“Seattle City Council, you are irresponsibly not fully representing your constituents by making the reckless decision of defunding our police department by 50 percent.”
Another caller, who said the department is already understaffed as it is, commented:
“I do not want less officers, I want more officers who are able to respond to priority calls in seven minutes or less. We don’t live in Utopia.”
What you’re seeing play out in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York and other Democrat-run cities is just a preview of the dystopia that would be Joe Biden’s Americapic.twitter.com/jn0QoSdB1Z
— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizRNC) August 2, 2020
As of Sunday afternoon, the Seattle Police Officers Guild garnered over 100,000 signatures for it’s “Stop Defunding” petition. In four days.
Michael Solan, President of Seattle Police Officers Guild, appeared Wednesday on Fox News. He said:
“Seattle will be a lawless wasteland. Fifty percent of the budget is 85% salary.
“The president of the Seattle City Council and the mayor are saying that the Seattle Police Department is the most progressive agency in this nation, that leads the way in training and de-escalation and policies.
“I find it ironic that the city council is now looking to defund us by 50%. That move will make CHAZ/CHOP, the experience that it was, look like child’s play when you have up to 800 officers that will lose their jobs.”
Back @SeattlePD, sign it, and retweet. #StopDefunding #BlueLivesMatter https://t.co/Kb3AFq9Ay2
— HaleyTheHalien (@HaleyTheHalien) July 29, 2020
Solan referenced the protests in Portland last weekend as well. To that, he said:
“[59] cops have been injured this past weekend by improvised explosive devices, projectiles, wood, frozen water bottles, and metal by rioters and denying police assistance would be unconscionable.”
Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said police seized a van that contained explosives at a weekend protest that had be organized in solidarity with demonstrations in Portland on July 25.
A group of protesters headed to the Youth Service Center, which is under construction, and tossed “incendiary devices, Molotov cocktails,” into the construction site, destroying several trailers.
When the group moved to the East Precinct, a van reportedly followed them, with people being spotted “removing items and distributing them to people within the group.”
The items described included baseball bats, pyrotechnic explosives, APR respirators, improvised shields, and face masks, said Best.
Moments later, an explosive blew and 8-inch hole into the wall of the East Precinct.
When the vehicle was parked and abandoned, Best said, there was real fear that it would contain devices that could detonate.
OUT OF CONTROL: Water bottles and fire works being thrown at police. Tear gas deployed near Cal Anderson Park at 11th and Pine St. We gotta move! @komonews #Seattle #SeattleRiots #SeattlePolice #CapitolHill #Riots #Police pic.twitter.com/zaIoEw6mgQ
— Jonathan Choe Journalist KOMO News (@choeshow) July 26, 2020
The vehicle was impounded and a judge granted detectives a search warrant. Best said investigators discovered one pyrotechnic explosive and smoke bombs bundled together, bear spray–using it on anything but bears is a federal offense– pepper spray, stun guns, and improvised spike strips.
Chief Best said:
“Not everyone that comes to these protests is peaceful…Peaceful protesters do not show up with a van full of bear spray, stun guns, spike strips, and explosives.”
The Seattle City Council, which has been mulling a proposal to defund the Seattle Police Department, drafted a resolution which would both defund the police and create a “civilian-led department of community safety and violence prevention.”
The resolution does not call for the total abolition of the police, but it does suggest replacing the police force with nonprofit programs and “community-led activities.”
The resolution seeks to fund organizations with certain characteristics, including “culturally-relevant expertise rooted in community connections and support” and “trauma-informed, gender-affirming, anti-racist praxis.”
Support our police! https://t.co/OveHruSfo3
— ladyg_2498 (@2498Ladyg) July 30, 2020
The council recognizes “the nation’s and Seattle’s history of racism” and the impacts racism has had on “communities of color and especially in Black communities.”
It also demands a commitment to expand housing access and explicitly states that the city should prioritize the “immediate transfer of underutilized public land for BIPOC community ownership.” The resolution further states that “all empty housing stock in the city should be used until any unhoused person who wants a place to live has one.”
The council will vote on a new budget on August 10.
Check back with Law Enforcement Today for updates.
Here’s more on the current shaky state of the City of Seattle brought to you previously by Law Enforcement Today.
Chalk another one up to “peaceful protesters.” KIRO in Seattle is reporting that the Seattle Police Department is investigating a case in which a 47-year-old was assaulted when he confronted some of those “peaceful” protesters outside of his home on Thursday.
#Seattle #WA #Police looking for protesters who beat up a 47-year-old man outside his Queen Anne home early Thursday. @SeattlePD
Protesters flashed laser pointers in his eyes, and then hit him in the head with an object like a flashlight.@mayorjenny https://t.co/C5PLuRAFSO— Linda Marie Lovison (@lilo623) July 31, 2020
Police were called to the Swedish Hospital, where the victims was receiving treatment for a head injury.
According to the victim, he said that around midnight he was unable to sleep due to the raucous protest outside his home making its way through the neighborhood. He went outside to record the incident on his phone.
Some of the protesters were angry that he was recording them, and started to flash laser pointers in his eyes, then struck him in the head with an object believed by officials to be a flashlight.
Some of the protesters actually provided first aid to the victim. While that was occurring, one of the people who was involved with the protest deleted the video from his cell phone. He was then driven to the hospital by a member of his family.
Investigators were able to confirm the victim’s story through witness statements, and they also found several surveillance cameras that captured the incident.
Officers took photos of blood splatter that was found at the scene.
According to Hot Air, around 80-100 protesters were walking throughout the neighborhood with the intention to protest at the home of Teresa Mosqueda, a member of the Seattle City Council.
However, neighbors said that Mosqueda doesn’t even live in the neighborhood anymore.
According to the police report:
“Officers met the victim at Swedish Hospital early this morning, where he was receiving treatment for a head injury. The victim told officer that around 12 am, he was attempting to sleep but was kept awake by a protest that had been making its way through the neighborhood. He said that he went outside his home near 10th Ave W and W Lee Street and asked the crowd to quiet down so that he could sleep, video recording the confrontation on his phone.
“The man said that members of the protest became angry that he was recording them, flashed laser pointers in his eyes, and then struck him in the head with a blunt object, possibly a flashlight. Several other protesters provided first aid to the victim, while according to the victim, a person with the protest deleted the video on his phone. A family member transported the victim to the hospital, where he met with police.
“Officers spoke with multiple witnesses who confirmed the victim’s story, found surveillance cameras that may have captured the incident, and took photos of blood splatter at the crime scene.
KIRO was able to acquire two videos of the incident posted by members of the protest group. It showed a woman shining a flashlight directly at the victim’s face from around two feet away. The victim then pulled the flashlight out of her hand and threw it onto the ground.
[embedded content]
At that point, several members of the group began to shove him, and he ended upon the ground. It wasn’t clear who exactly assaulted the man and struck him in the head, but there was no appearance that any of the protesters had been injured prior to the assault.
Hot Air noted that what occurred was “pretty standard operating procedure for protesters.” Cause a ruckus, confront anyone with a camera and then escalate the situation. That was done in this case by shining a flashlight in the man’s face to cause further irritation.
Police told Hot Air that they would try to identify those responsible, however without the video from the victim’s camera, it might be difficult to do so.
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