Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best told local businesses Friday that due to new city council regulations, the police force won’t intervene in the event of more riots.
“Please also know that the City Council Ordinance 119805 Crowd Control Tool goes into effect this weekend on Sunday, July 26, 2020. This ordinance bans Seattle Police officers the use of less lethal tools, including pepper spray that is commonly used to disperse crowds that have turned violent,” a letter addressed to businesses and residents in the city stated.
Best argued that this has resulted in her police officers having “NO ability to safely intercede to preserve property in the midst of a large, violent crowd.”
Seattle Police block the intersection of 12th Avenue and East Pike Street after police cleared the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) and retook the department’s East Precinct in Seattle, Washington on July 1, 2020. (JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
On Thursday, Best also informed the city council that she believes it has hamstrung the Seattle police and that she will have to avoid crowd control measures in the future in the interests of officer safety. (RELATED: Trump: Seattle Only Shut Down CHOP Because ‘We Were Going In’)
Best noted that the city remains under attack.
“It is a fact that there are groups and individuals who are intent on destruction in our City. Yes, we also have seen weeks of peaceful demonstrations, but two recent events (Sunday, July 19th and Wednesday, July 22nd) have included wide-scale property destruction and attacks on officers, injuring more than a dozen, some significantly,” according to the correspondence.
With more demonstrations anticipated, the police chief anticipates that the city will “continue to experience property destruction, arson, looting, and attempts to injure additional officers throughout the weekend and beyond.” (RELATED: Seattle Councilmember Says She Can’t Figure Out ‘Why Looting Bothers People’ When ‘People Are Dying Every Day’)
A signs reads “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” in area that has been referred to by protesters by that name as well as “Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, on June 14, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
Best insisted that deploying the police “under these circumstances, as created by Council, we cannot manage demonstrations as we have in the past. If I am not allowed to lawfully equip officers with the tools they have been trained to use to protect the community and themselves, it would be reckless to have them confront this level of violence under the current legal restrictions imposed by Council.”
Seattle is already in the process of defunding its police force by cutting its budget by 50%. The city is also reportedly planning to shut down its county jail, which currently incarcerates 60% of the prison population.