BLM PROTESTS CAUSED THE SEATTLE PD TO BE DEFUNDED

Seattle does not have enough cops to investigate adult sex assaults after ‘defund the police’ cuts: report 

 

By Lee Brown

 

New York Post 

April 12, 2022

 

 

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell in February called for more police

 

Nearly two years after Seattle led the way in defunding the police, the Washington city’s force is so understaffed, it did not assign a detective to investigate a single case of a sex assault on an adult last month, according to a report.

The depleted department now only has four detectives in the squad handling sex assaults, nearly all dedicated to child abuse cases, local NPR station KUOW revealed.

Not a single sexual assault case involving an adult was given to a detective throughout the whole of last month, aside from any that already had arrests, the outlet said, citing documentation from a whistleblower.

“The Seattle Police Department sexual assault unit is not at all investigating adult sexual assault reports or cases unless there was an arrest,” one police department source told the station.

The lack of manpower even means people reporting sex assaults are sometimes routed to an automated telephone hotline designed to handle non-urgent crimes such as stolen checks, the report said.

Seattle’s council in 2020 voted to slash the police budget and cut officers’ jobs as the city saw some of the most troubling Black Lives Matter protests in the US, including a deadly cop-free “autonomous zone.”

The 1,281 deployable officers the force had at the end of 2019 were slashed to just 958 at the end of last year, after the cuts, KUOW said.

 

The city saw some of the most troubling Black Lives Matter protests in the US in 2020

In 2020, Seattle’s council voted to slash the police budget and cut officers’ jobs

The city’s new mayor, Bruce Harrell, in February called for more police, partly blaming the early defunding and cut in manpower for a troubling surge in crime there.

However, KUOW’s anonymous sources also blamed the moderate mayor for pushing the already widely stretched manpower into meeting his campaign promise of cracking down on “visible crime.”

They claimed that an Alternative Response Team that largely helps break up homeless encampments has seven officers, nearly double the number of detectives in the sex crimes unit.

“A general funding and staffing crisis for SPD is being exacerbated by politics,” a Seattle police employee wrote anonymously on social media, according to KUOW, which said it confirmed its authenticity.

 

Signs hang on the exterior of the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct on June 9, 2020

 Some people reporting sex assaults are being routed to an automated telephone hotline designed to handle non-urgent crimes

Harrell’s spokesperson confirmed to KUOW that the sexual assault and child abuse unit only has four detectives, insisting the problem existed before he took office on Jan. 1.

“Any lack of urgency around sexual assault investigations or arrests is wholly unacceptable. Sexual assault cases must be exhaustively investigated, and offenders must be held accountable — period,” the spokesperson insisted.

“Our administration’s proposed budget will reflect this priority by increasing detectives, resources, and specific training for investigations,” the spokesperson said. The Seattle Police Department declined to provide KUOW with details on caseloads and which units officers are assigned to, citing the “fluid nature” of its work.

Interim Chief Adrian Diaz has focused on deploying officers to high-priority emergency calls and deterring “crime through proactivity,” his spokesperson told the station.