Seattle City Council OKs Move of Defunding Police Department

By Mary Anne R. Aug 11 2020, 00:12 AM EDT

Seattle Police budget cut — David Ryder/Getty Images

The Seattle City Council has approved Monday the proposal to begin defunding the city's police department.

The 7-1 vote was made despite opposition from the city's police chief, mayor, and the Police Officers' Guild. Seattle has around 1,400 police officers, and the current proposal would include cutting about 100 cops.

According to a Fox News report, the police department's funding would also be reduced by about $3 million from the previous budget of $400 million.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant was the only one who voted no as she felt that the proposal did not go far enough. Debora Juarez, on the other hand, abstained from voting.

The council reviewed a final set of amendments on Monday before the vote. It includes reducing the police department by up to 100 officers through layoffs and attritions.

The proposal also involves decreasing the $285,000 annual salary of the Police Chief Carmen Best and other top officials. Best is the city's first Black police chief. The pay cut would put her below her White predecessor.

The council's proposal also removes officers from a team that dismantles homeless camps.

"While we can't do everything in this summer rebalancing package, we have set the path forward for tremendous work in front of us as a council and as a city," Councilwoman Teresa Mosqueda said.

Jason Johnson, Interim Director of Seattle's Human Services Department, told the council through a letter last week that the budget cut would be redirected to homeless outreach services. He added that it would also "dramatically restrict the city's ability to address unauthorized encampments."

Some council members said the initial budget cuts are the first step to more sweeping reductions and rethinking of law enforcement in the city. Mosqueda said it is important to show community members that they are being heard. She added that it is also vital that they realize they are working towards the same goal.

Mayor Jenny Durkan and Best told council members to slow down its discussion on police budgets. They said the layoffs would widely affect newly hired police officers, who were often hired from minority communities.

Concerns on the Budget Cut

Black Portland police Sgt. Derrick Foxworth said the calls to defund the police are really counterproductive to having well-trained officers.

Foxworth said there must be funding to train. He added that good cops could not come from money taken away from law enforcement.

In July, the city faced a huge rise in gun violence that widely affected Black people. There were 99 shootings, which is triple the recorded number from July last year.

Reducing the budget for police departments has been introduced by protesters in Seattle and other cities around the city after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Durkan initially pictured the plan to reduce the police budget by about $75 million next year by transferring parking enforcement officers, the 911 hotline center, and other areas out of the department.