Seattle Homicides Skyrocket As Police Budget Cut By Democrats
Council members overwhelmingly voted to slash police funds
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Homicides in Seattle have reached a record high as Democrat Mayor Jenny Durkan moves to sign a new city budget reducing the police budget by 18%.
Last week, city council members overwhelmingly voted to slash police funds and eliminate dozens of vacant positions within the Seattle Police Department.
The Democratic council also transferred parking enforcement officers, mental-health workers, and 911 dispatchers out of the police department.
Durkan said in a statement last week:
“I believe we are laying the groundwork to make systemic and lasting changes to policing."
“We have rightly put forward a plan that seeks to ensure SPD has enough officers to meet 911 response and investigative needs throughout the city, while acknowledging and addressing the disproportionate impacts policing has had on communities of color, particularly Black communities."
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“I applaud the City Council for taking a more deliberate and measured approach to the 2021 Seattle Police Department budget than occurred this summer, which led to the resignation of former SPD Chief Carmen Best,” Durkan said in a written statement issued by her office.
The budget also ordered the city to invest up to $100 million into projects in communities of color.
The budget cuts come as Seattle recorded its fifty-fifth murder of the year.
The city is now seeing a sharp rise in violent crime.
Earleir this year, outraged Seattle residents blasted their city's Democrat leadership over plans to slash the police department's funding.
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Infuriated Seattleites thronged to the phones to blast the city council’s plans before they took effect.
In August, Seattle's Chief of Police Carmen Best quit her role after the Council voted to defund the police department.
Best, Seattle's first black female police chief, was forced to resign from her position following ongoing pressure from far-left Black Lives Matter protesters to slash the city's police force.
"This was a difficult decision for me, but when it's time, it's time," Best said in a letter.
"You truly are the best police department in the country, and please trust me when I say, the vast majority of people in Seattle support you and appreciate you," Best said at the time.
"I am impressed daily at your skill, your compassion, and your dedication."
"I look forward to seeing how this department moves forward through the process of re-envisioning public safety."
