Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best complained Thursday about a demoralizing effect of the “Defund the Police” movement for law enforcement officers.
Best, who retired in September 2020 after the Seattle City Council had approved proposals drastically reducing the police department budget, appeared Thursday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” where she commented on the implications of the “Defund the Police” movement on cops.
“I believe that police departments should reflect the communities that they serve. We should have a wide level of diversity within all our organizations,” she said. “But as you know, policing has been in the crosshairs especially over the last year with all of the demonstrations and the issues around race and racism.” (RELATED: POLL: Growing Number Of Americans Want Increased Funding For Police)
“[T]he defunding movement in many ways makes people so demoralized. I know in Seattle when officers left, many of them on their exit interviews laid the blame mostly at the city council for not supporting them through budget and other avenues,” Best added.
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Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday, Best pointed out how challenging police chiefs‘ jobs around the U.S. have become under the conditions of rising crime and reduced funding.
Carmen Best, former Seattle police chief, speaks out on the rising crime in cities across the country:
“We really need to have the numbers [of police officers] increased.” pic.twitter.com/vCjZyvpptt
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 26, 2021
“We really need to have the numbers [of police officers] increased,” she then suggested.