A Democratic mayor is making a desperate move to keep people from moving out of his city amid a crime spree caused by his woke, defund the police agenda.
Mayor Bruce Harrell announced a $2 million plan to combat Seattle's declining number of officers in what he calls a "critical shortage" of police.
Since 2019, Seattle has lost more than 400 police officers, which Harrell said has led to a situation where "essential services cannot be delivered promptly and effectively."
The plan will offer reimbursement of moving costs, recruitment bonuses and possible tuition assistance.
The city council has already approved $1 million for recruitment and hiring bonuses, which came from savings in unspent officer salaries.
According to the plan, "to provide a minimum level of service, SPD must make up for this severe staffing shortage by relying on overtime-paid officers almost daily, a significant expense to the city."
Harrell says he wants to offer signing bonuses of up to $30,000 for lateral transfers from other police departments, and new officers would receive up to $7,500.
The plan also notes that Seattle currently has just 954 officers employed. This is the lowest number of trained and deployable officers the city has seen in more than three decades.
The police department has had a difficult time retaining officers ever since its violent response to the George Floyd protests that occurred almost two and a half years ago, prompting a city-wide effort to "defund the police," which turned out that the city is far worse off without a heavy police presence.