Seattle mayor calls for more police after six shootings in one weekend
Washington | July 29, 2021
Mayor Jenny Durkan said Seattle lost 250 officers over the past 17 months
The mayor of Seattle is calling on the city to rebuild its depleted police force after six separate shootings rocked Washington state’s largest metropolitan area over the weekend.
“As a city, we cannot continue on this current trajectory of losing police officers,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said during a Monday press conference. “Over the past 17 months, the Seattle Police Department has lost 250 police officers which is the equivalent of over 300,000 service hours. We’re on path to losing 300 police officers.”
Durkan added that the weekend violence is a “reminder” that there are certain emergency situations that require sworn police officers.
We are creating meaningful alternatives,” Durkan said in reference to efforts in the city being made to redirect funding and manpower to community based groups. “But, as I said last year, the city has an obligation to still continue constitutional policing and respond to 911 calls.
“It is a false choice between community-led solutions and police officers,” Durkan said. “We need both.”
The mayor said she will be submitting a plan to hire more police officers and rebuild the depleted force.
“Not unexpected, losing these number of officers, when city leaders talk about cutting the department by 50%,” Durkan said. “You will lose employees. Families need security. Workers, even police officers, need working conditions that support them. We cannot just cut. We need a plan.”
Over the weekend, six different shootings in Seattle left four people dead and seven injured… (Excerpts from Fox News)