Posted on 08/10/2020 6:17:38 PM PDT by Mount Athos
The Seattle City Council voted Monday to move forward with a controversial proposal that would begin the process of defunding the police department.
The 7-1 vote comes despite objections from the city's police chief, mayor and the Seattle Police Officers' Guild.
The plan would ultimately slash funding to the department but not the 50% some had sought. Seattle currently has around 1,400 police officers, and the current plan would see about 100 cut. It was also cut the police department's $400 million budget by about $3 million, according to KOMO.
Councilmember Kshama Sawant was the sole "no" vote because she felt the proposals didn't go far enough, while Debora Juarez abstained, according to MyNorthWest.com.
The council reviewed a final set of amendments Monday before the vote, which included reducing the police department by up to 100 officers through layoffs and attrition as well as cutting the $285,000 annual salary of the Police Chief Carmen Best and other top officers. Best is the city's first Black police chief and the pay cut would put her salary well below her White predecessor.
The council's plan also removes officers from a team that dismantles homeless camps.
The move to defund the city's Navigation Team, and redirect the money to homeless outreach services such as REACH will “dramatically restrict the city’s ability to address unauthorized encampments,” Jason Johnson, Interim Director of Seattle’s Human Services Department, wrote in a letter to the council last week.
Some council members have said the initial cuts are a first step to more sweeping reductions and a rethinking of law enforcement in Seattle.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
0.7% budget cut and 7% cut in number of officers
they basically chickened out ...
Enough to own blame when crime skyrockets
What taxpayers ? LOL
This means that the court system will not receive any new
cases. Officers will not be enforcing the laws. Anarchy
will follow.
Seattle is melting down.
Maybe when it’s crap starts flooding into the ocean, the
environmentalist will step in and cry fowl.
I’m guessing some of the city’s business owners are suffering some serious 20-20 hindsight right now.
Maybe they can take the insurance money for their burned out businesses and move to a red state, start up again and vote in lefty loons to start the process of devolution all over again.
I seriously doubt that many, if any, of these people who are taking up the rear financially there are getting religion and going conservative. Progressives have absolutely no idea of the concept of cause and effect or the immutable law of unintended consequences.
Someone’s looking to buy on the cheap.
The Wall Street Journal found that homicides have spiked in 36 of the nation’s 50 largest cities, all democRAT-run, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Rarely do is the cause and effect so apparent to see.
Mayors and city councils everywhere are lurching to the far-left fringe, dismissing the majority’s concerns over crime, defunding and demoralizing police, and empowering violent criminals. That’s the cause. The effect is the rising murder rates in Democrat-run cities all over the country.
But in a year where almost every major American city is experiencing a surge in violent crime, surprisingly one city in Texas is leading the race to the bottom.
Austin, Texas' homicides are up 64 percent over 2019 — well more than second place in this ignominious contest, Chicago, which saw a 52 percent rise. It is even ahead of Los Angeles and New York City.
Americans are dying in record numbers because democRATS are embracing the far Left, radical Marxist group, Black Lives Matter, whose goal is the destruction of America by any means necessary.
Cut first. Figure out new solution later. Sounds like a pla.
It looks as if some of the councilmen and women are middle-aged and older; how in the dickens could anyone that stupid live so long?
Great news! With all that extra money they won’t need the federal government to bail them out.
Wimps! If you want to defund something, go all the way, not a paltry sum. This is a political stunt.These clowns know the ramifications of complete defunding and would never have the testicles to do it.
Carmen Best... is the city's first Black police chief and the pay cut would put her salary well below her White predecessor.
These people are worried Seattle’s NOT becoming a hellhole fast enough?
What happens when you fire 100, and then 300 quit?... then 600 quit... then your department implodes.
Bad guys win...
Batman will surely quit then.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.