Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and her Chief of Police, Carmen Best, have tried to present a unified front in response to the riots gripping their city but it hasnt been easy. Weve mostly seen them attempting to shift the blame (and the anger in the streets) against President Trump and the DHS officers protecting federal property in the city. Thats worked to a certain extent, but the anarchists are still going after the Seattle PD and local businesses with equal abandon.
One item I missed from last week was a letter that Chief Best sent out to business owners in the city. It had to do with the measure recently passed by the City Council that would ban the use of the most common crowd control tools available to the police. Without those options available to them, the Police would either be unable to protect themselves from the mobs or would be forced to resort to lethal force in some cases. Because of that, Best warned local businesses that the police response to calls for help wouldnt be as robust as they would normally expect. A copy of the letter showed up on Twitter this weekend.
The Seattle police chief informs business owners that they are on their own against rioters. The city council has tied her hands. The police do not have the tools to combat mob violence. pic.twitter.com/iLV0ne9Z2i
Mike (@Doranimated) July 25, 2020
Those restrictions on the police were put on hold by a judge this weekend, but thats only a stop-gap measure. My Northwest has more details on a second letter the Chief of Police sent to the City Council and some of the responses from the public.
Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best has penned another letter to the city council, this one warning members that Ordinance 119805 concerning crowd control tools goes into effect this weekend. Also this weekend are several known events planned across the city that potentially include some of the same individuals who may be responsible for the destruction seen in Seattle last weekend and Wednesday night.
As City Councils legislation goes into effect, it will create even more dangerous circumstances for our officers to intervene using what they have left riot shields and riot batons, Best wrote on the Seattle Police Blotter. For these reasons, SPD will have an adjusted deployment in response to any demonstrations this weekend. The Council legislation gives officers no ability to safely intercede to preserve property in the midst of a large, violent crowd.
Theres one quote you wont see showing up on CNN any time soon. The citys own Chief of Police sent a letter to the City Council referring to the peaceful protesters as a large, violent crowd. Somebody clearly missed a memo about what the media narrative is supposed to be. Chief Best wont be getting invited to sit down for any of the Sunday shows at this rate.
The situation in Seattle has long since spun out of control and may be heading for the point of no return. The Police force is essentially admitting to business owners and residents that they arent going to be able to help people calling for rescue during the nightly riots. If your store is being broken into and looted or someone has set your warehouse on fire, thats pretty much tough luck. Theres no point in sending the first responders out to try to help if theyre only going to have their access blocked and likely be attacked themselves in the process.
And its happening every single night, as predictable as the rising of the moon. Most of the mainstream media outlets refuse to cover this, of course. It flies in the face of the accepted peaceful protesters narrative. But Seattle and Portland are currently out of control. The rule of law has broken down and the elected officials in both cities have failed in their duty to protect the public. The Governor isnt sending in the required troops to bring things under control and theres only so much the federal government can do beyond protecting the federal buildings if theyre not invited to help by state and municipal leaders.
It appears that we truly are reaching the point of just sitting back and letting it burn. We can only hope that the innocent and the law-abiding can find a way to safely get out.