Free Republic

SEATTLE - Already facing a staffing crisis, the Seattle Police Department is bracing for the possibility that hundreds of officers will fail to meet an Oct. 18 vaccination deadline. As of Oct. 6, 292 sworn personnel had yet to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination. That number is down from 354 on Tuesday. To add another layer of concern, Seattle PD Spokesperson Sgt. Randy Huserik confirmed to FOX 13 News that there are an additional 111 officers awaiting results of exemption requests. Those 111 are not counted in the 292 figure – meaning if their accommodations are denied, the actual...

Seattle has had a rough go of it for 2020, and that’s not even taking into consideration the pandemic. Liberals have overtaken the city. First, they had to deal with CHAZ, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Now, they’re dealing with radical leftist leaders who want to allow the criminals to rule while punishing the law-abiding citizens. Seattle officers are done with it all – and many are retiring years before anticipated just to distance themselves from the stupidity. While they could turn in their paperwork and go silently, they’re standing up to their oppressors. They’re being bold and honest in...

Seattle police have released bodycam footage revealing how protesters have targeted and injured officers by throwing explosives, rocks and bottles in a riot over the weekend. Nearly 60 Seattle police officers were injured in Saturday clashes with anti-police demonstrators and one was hospitalized as a riot was declared in the city. The police department released video footage of Saturday's unrest where cops dodged explosives, flying bottles and pieces of wood during a protest in Capitol Hill. During the Saturday protest a large group of demonstrators tried to destroy the East Precinct police department building, shattering windows, burning holes and damaging...

Just hours after the Seattle Police Union accused that city’s leaders of losing “all the political will toenforce the rule of law,” the police chief has had her say. It may be too late. It’s not clear that Chief Carmen Best’s words on Thursday will do much to quell the anger the cops are feeling about being ordered by the chief to abandon the East Seattle Police Precinct on Monday. This was after two weeks of holding the line and being attacked by protesters. They abandoned the building, allowing the violent protesters who’d been amassing there for days to take over the...

Seattle’s Police Chief told her department on Thursday that it was “not my decision” to abandon a precinct in an area of the city now taken over by protesters — and blasted city officials for giving in to the demonstrators. In a video address published on the department’s YouTube page, Chief Carmen Best said the city “relinquished to severe public pressure.” “You fought for days to protect [the precinct]. I asked you to stand on that line. Day in and day out, to be pelted with projectiles, to be screamed at, threatened and in some cases hurt,” Best told the...

A dash cam video from the officer who shot and killed Native American woodcarver John T. Williams was released Friday, showing Williams ambling slowly across the street in a crosswalk before the officer opens fire. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=956_1292627716

Officers lament new use of force policy, established after DOJ report found pattern of excessive force.A Seattle police department internal email said officers aren’t using enough force and that the softer approach could endanger both the police and the public, local media reported. The letter, obtained by local television news network KIRO 7, comes amid a national dialogue on excessive force by law enforcement in the wake of racially-charged protests in Ferguson, Missouri, where black teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white officer, Darrell Wilson, on Aug. 9. But officers of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) argue...

More than 100 officers from the Seattle Police Department are suing the city and the Justice Department, claiming their department's new use-of-force policies put them in danger and violate their constitutional rights. In 2012 Seattle officials agreed to an independent monitor and court oversight of the city's police department as part of a deal with the Justice Department following a report that found officers routinely used excessive force. The civil suit, which was filed Wednesday, names Attorney General Eric Holder, the City of Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray, City Attorney Pete Holmes, and federal monitor Merrick Bob. In the suit, the...

A Seattle police officer has been charged with fourth-degree assault in connection with a December 2010 fight outside a bar. But the police union president said not only was the officer a victim of a brutal attack, but the victim of a hate crime.(edit)"The Seattle Police Officers Guild is outraged by the decision of the city Attorney Peter Holmes to charge Seattle Police Officer Garth Haynes with assault. The whole story has yet to be told regarding this incident," said police guild president Rich O'Neill.(edit)Haynes faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine if convicted of...

Incident in Seattle started over jaywalking, things escalated and an officer throws a punch connecting right in a girls face...(Video report from KING5 + Raw unedited video of the incident)

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske thinks having more guns in the community doesn't deter crime, and he plans to argue that Tuesday night in a New York City debate. Kerlikowske will appear with leading researchers and advocates on both sides of the gun issue during the debate at Rockefeller University in New York City. (edit) "It's a little different forum for police chief to be in -- at Rockefeller University in New York City in an 'Oxford style' debate," Kerlikowske said from his hotel room."I think they just wanted a practitioner. I think they wanted a little more color...

SEATTLE -- Fifty-thousand-volt jolts from Taser guns nearly knocked Seattle's police chief and local NAACP head off their feet in a demonstration to reporters Friday. Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske and local NAACP President Carl Mack winced, buckled and appeared to be stunned when Tasers were simultaneous switched on for two seconds by training officers. "It's very painful," Kerlikowske said. "You can't move, you couldn't blink if you wanted to. ... There are shock waves going through your body. It's a scary feeling." Mack said he felt a burning sensation where the electricity entered his body. The pulsing "affected every...