Seattle’s always been a bastion for liberals.
Just take the whole Capital Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) area situation for example.
Radical ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter protesters take over a significant portion of the city and what does the Democrat mayor do?
Basically nothing!
Now, Seattle is taking things a step further, as a majority of the city council has pledged their support today for defunding the police by 50%.
The Seattle Times reports the details on the council’s announcement:
A majority of Seattle City Council members now say they agree with a high-level proposal by advocates to defund the Police Department by 50% and reallocate the dollars to other community needs.
Council members Lisa Herbold, Dan Strauss and Andrew Lewis added support Thursday to a road map set out by Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now.
They joined colleagues Tammy Morales, Kshama Sawant, Teresa Mosqueda and M. Lorena González, who previously backed the push to reduce the Police Department’s annual budget by 50% and promised quick action, while Mayor Jenny Durkan has asked the council to slow down.
That means seven of nine council members are on board with the idea, though they have yet to say exactly how they intend to make the cuts; six votes are needed to pass budget-related legislation and to override a mayoral veto. Durkan has not backed a 50% reduction.
Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now are new coalitions that have emerged during the recent Black Lives Matter protests and that count a number of community organizations led by Black people as endorsers.
In a presentation to the council’s budget committee Wednesday, they said the Police Department’s 2021 budget should be reduced by 50% from the status quo (its budget is $409 million this year). They also said the department’s remaining 2020 budget should be cut by 50% this summer.
Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now laid out a four point proposal for defunding the Police Department:
- Remove Seattle’s 911 dispatchers from police control
- Scale up community-based solutions to public safety
- Fund a community-led process to “imagine life beyond policing.”
- Invest in affordable housing
The aim is “defunding the Seattle Police Department and building a world where we trust and believe in community to provide the safety that we need,” Decriminalize Seattle’s Jackie Vaughn said at a news conference Thursday.
A 50% cut would be an astounding blow to the police department.
Even woke Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City didn’t cut the NYPD budget by that much.
Check out responses on Twitter to the city council’s move:
Guess who this proposal would hurt most?
That's right, minorities!
In fact, MSN reports that the Seattle Police Department says 50% of the non-white workforce could lose their jobs in response to department cuts:
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) said it would have to lay off more than 50-percent of their Black, Indigenous and other non-white officers in response to the Seattle City Council’s proposed budget cuts.
Those substantial cuts, which seem likely to pass at present, are themselves in response to “Defund the Police” activism and organizing that quickly became a nationally recognizable aspect of the Black Lives Matter movement following the Minneapolis Police Department’s killing of George Floyd in late May.
Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now spearheaded the effort, premised on a four-point plan that would: (1) disassociate 911 dispatchers from the SPD; (2) increase civil society-based solutions to public safety; (3) fund community-led initiatives to “imagine life beyond policing”; and (4) drastically ramp up investments in affordable housing.
Decriminalize Seattle’s Jackie Vaughn described “the pathway to defunding the Seattle Police Department and building a world where we trust and believe in community to provide the safety that we need” during a virtual press conference on Thursday.
After that event wrapped up, the coalition had amassed pledges from a super-majority of Seattle City Council members in support of a 50-percent police department budget cut. The SPD quickly sprang into damage control mode after those commitments were made.
“While no decisions have been made yet, we wanted the community to be aware of the situation,” the SPD said via their official Twitter account on Friday. “Laying off 50% of the department would be catastrophic for public safety in the city of Seattle.”
“The Department has made a conscious effort to hire employees, both sworn and civilian, who represent the diversity and values within our community,” the thread continued. “Cuts this deep mean we would lose more than 50% of our (BIPOC) officers. These officers’ life experiences make us a better department and community.”
Watch the Fox News report on the announcement:
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