XPost: seattle.politics, alt.niggers, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: nigger-lovers@disney.com   
      
   SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council approved proposals Monday   
   that would reduce the police department by as many as 100   
   officers through layoffs and attrition — an action supported by   
   demonstrators who have marched in the city following the police   
   killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but strongly opposed by   
   the mayor and police chief.   
      
   Measures that would cut less than $4 million of the department’s   
   $400 million annual budget this year passed out of committee   
   unanimously last week. On Monday, only council member Kshama   
   Sawant voted against the budget package, saying it does not do   
   enough to defund the police.   
      
   Seattle currently has about 1,400 police officers and the   
   reductions fell far short of the 50% cut to the department that   
   many Black Lives Matter protesters are seeking. Several council   
   members on Monday said the changes were a starting point in a   
   long process to reimagine policing and public safety.   
      
   The City Council also cut Police Chief Carmen Best’s roughly   
   $285,000 annual salary and the pay of other top police leaders,   
   although the final cuts to Best’s salary were significantly more   
   modest than those approved last week. The council plan also   
   takes officers off a team that removes homeless camps.   
      
   “While we can’t do everything in this summer rebalancing   
   package, we have set the path forward for tremendous work in   
   front of us as a council and as a city,” Council member Teresa   
   Mosqueda said.   
      
   Council member Dan Strauss said the council will keep working   
   toward providing public safety that works for everyone in   
   Seattle, providing “the right response to 911 calls right away,”   
   which he said in the future may not always include an armed   
   officer.   
      
   Mayor Jenny Durkan and Best had urged the council to slow down   
   its discussions about police budgets, saying the issue could be   
   taken up in earnest when the 2021 city budget is considered.   
   They also said any layoffs would disproportionately target newer   
   officers, often hired from Black and brown communities, and   
   would inevitably lead to lawsuits.   
      
   Durkan has proposed cutting about $20 million from the police   
   budget this year largely because of reduced revenues amid the   
   COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, the mayor sketched out a plan to   
   reduce the police budget by about $75 million next year by   
   transferring parking enforcement officers, the 911 call center   
   and other areas out of the department.   
      
   “It is unfortunate Council has refused to engage in a   
   collaborative process to work with the mayor, Chief Best, and   
   community members to develop a budget and policies that respond   
   to community needs while accounting for — not just acknowledging   
   — the significant labor and legal implications involved in   
   transforming the Seattle Police Department,” Durkan said in a   
   statement after the vote.   
      
   As U.S. attorney in Seattle, Durkan previously pushed a Justice   
   Department investigation that found officers too quick to use   
   force, leading to a 2012 consent decree with the federal   
   government. Reviews by an independent monitor have determined   
   that the changes under the consent decree have led to a drop in   
   how often police use force. But critics have said the   
   department’s actions during recent protests show not enough   
   progress has been made.   
      
   “Your elected officials are striving to seize this historic   
   moment in the wake of the brutal and wrongful killing of George   
   Floyd and countless other Black, Indigenous and people of color   
   so that we address systemic racism, rethink policing and   
   revitalize community health and safety,” council member Alex   
   Pedersen said before the vote. ”It’s not an easy process. It’s   
   messy, it’s difficult, it’s uncomfortable — but it’s necessary.”   
      
   https://nypost.com/2020/08/10/seattle-city-council-approves-cuts-   
   to-police-positions-budget/   
      
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