According to the Seattle police union, at least 118 police officers have resigned or separated this year. The union is warning residents that their 911 calls may go unanswered because of the dearth of officers on duty.
Some of the officers were victims of the budget cuts promised by the “defund the police” crowd. But most were resignations.
The 39 seperations occurred in September after the Seattle City Council made good on its promise to approve sweeping proposals that would slash the police department budget by $4 million and cut as many as 100 officers from the force.
The previous four months saw a high of 16 separations in August, compared to a low of 10 in both May and July. There have been at least eight separations in October so far, a source told Rantz.
According to the department website, there were 1433 total officers on the police force. The union president says there are now about 1200 officers. That’s the lowest number of police in a decade.
It’s just too bad the criminals can’t turn the clock back as well.
The mass exodus of officers started in May with 10 separations, followed by 16 in June, 10 in July, and 14 in August. In September, that number jumped to 39. So far in October, there have been eight separations according to a source, though this is not in the mayor’s report. Police Chief Carmen Best, who resigned this year, is included in the statistics.
Not all of these monthly numbers directly match a partial list of data circulated internally within the SPD or mayor’s office. They have, however, been confirmed by two police sources and match the total number of separations outlined in the mayor’s forthcoming report.
The union president wasn’t kidding when he told residents that their “911 call for help will go unanswered for a significant amount of time.” Response times to serious, in-progress crimes have gone up to 9 minutes in some precincts from July through September.
The reason is simply a matter of numbers.
The mayor’s office believes the number of deployable staff could drop to 1,072 officers if the trends and hiring freeze continues, along with the council’s vote to fire 70 officers.
But these numbers don’t tell the whole picture. Sources reveal that many officers are using sick time at higher than normal rates. Many of them are looking for other jobs in different agencies. When they leave, some officers fear the separations could hit 200.
While the number of officers has dropped to 1990 levels, the population of the city has increased by 44 percent. Year-over-year murders have increased by a whopping 60 percent.
The radicals are doing a great job “reimagining police,” making Seattle a hell-hole with a horrific murder rate.
Maybe this had something to do with the exodus.
Black bloc terrorist tries to kill a Seattle police officer by hitting him in the head with a bat. The Council and Mayor will say nothing. pic.twitter.com/L7Giudj8Ey
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) September 24, 2020
It should be noted that if police lay a glove on an activist in Seattle, it becomes national news. A cop gets bashed and suddenly the media has other stories to cover.
Nationally, rioters have been mostly behaving themselves in the lead-up to the election. If they don’t, the media has lost interest anyway and their destruction goes unreported. There’s a reason for that, as Trump’s law-and-order message has virtually disappeared from the campaign trail.
That will change if the president is re-elected or if there’s a post-election tussle over who won.
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