Greater than 200 Seattle law enforcement officials stop over the past yr, many citing anti-police local weather

More than 200 Seattle police officers quit their jobs last year after months of frequent law enforcement, protests against racial injustice and civil unrest in the city.

Many of the officials cited an anti-police climate in the city – including in the city council – and disagreements with police management over their reasons for moving on. On Tuesday, the department left what Police Chief Adrian Diaz described as a “personnel crisis”.

He said 180 police officers resigned last year and another 66 police officers this year.

Some of the officers were retiring early while others took on police jobs in other cities or transitioned to other careers, officials said in exit interviews in Seattle, according to KING-TV.

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Diaz said the number of officers remaining in the department is at “a record low”. “I have about 1,080 officers ready,” he told KING. “This is the lowest level I’ve seen in our department.”

Kelly Thomas Jackson, 20, was sentenced to jail last month for allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails at two Seattle police vehicles during a May 30 protest that led to a riot.
(Ministry of Justice)

He said the department is hiring more community service and crime prevention officials to handle non-criminal calls, but said that would not make up for the lack of officials at the frontline.

“I hope it flattens out,” he said. “I see a significant number of people could be leaving this year.”

Seattle Mayor’s Office Jenny Durkan said in a statement: “Despite an increased focus on recruitment and retention, the Seattle Police Department continues to lose sworn officers at a record pace due to ongoing budget uncertainty,” a finding that defund the police “see as a success.

“We know from exit interviews that the council’s threats of continued layoffs or cuts have a direct impact on decisions to leave the department,” Durkan’s office continued.

City council is considering new cuts to the police department’s budget by $ 5.4 million. However, Durkan warns of additional cuts without looking at the hiring and retention of officials.

Councilor Lisa Herbold, chair of the public security and human services committee, said Tuesday that the council had fully funded the police agency’s 2021 recruitment plan, including the money to hire 114 sworn staff to work with officials on issues of the public safety deal.

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“The cuts considered come from wage savings by outgoing civil servants and do not reduce the number of civil servants the SPD can hire,” she said.

In other cities such as New York, where protests against the police have prevailed, the trend can be observed for officers to leave in large numbers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.