Everyone is getting shot in Seattle. It’s becoming a war zone. Shootings are up and the number of police officers that are available to respond to multiple crimes appears to be very limited. I know this may seem very strange to liberals, but being pro-crime is not popular. Defund the police is not popular, but this communist city council has done all it could to denigrate and gut resources to police. You reap what you sow, Seattle. Over 200 cops have left the force over budget cuts and the overall atmosphere at the department. Now, Mayor Jenny Durkan, who allowed armed leftists to seize portions of the city last year, made a plea for more cops (via KUOW):
More than 200 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in the last 17 months. Mayor Durkan said that's likely to increase to about 300 officers by the end of 2021. In an interview with KUOW, Durkan says she is not surprised about the number of officers leaving, after other city leaders took up calls to cut the police department's budget.
But the mayor argues that the city can support its police force and community-based programs to reduce violence.
"It's a false choice if we say 'do you need community-based solutions or do you need police?'" Durkan explained. "We need both. But we need them to be working in harmony to provide true community safety."
Durkan points to SPD's Community Service Officer program, which she plans to expand. She says those officers have been successful in gaining trust and are effective in situations when traditional armed officers may not be.
That's the other piece of the future of policing puzzle: replacing officers with service-providers when an armed response is not necessary.
The data is clear. People want more police. Voters want to feel safe. This isn’t a hard political revelation. Almost every city that played around with this academic exercise of defunding law enforcement which is mostly peddled by white liberals is now crime-ridden to the point where they need to provide more resources to cops. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio will be succeeded by a former NYPD police officer. You can’t sum up how voters feel about this issue any further than that situation.