The Seattle City Council on Monday approved a reduction in the budget of the city’s police department of less than 1 percent after months of protests demanding that it defund the force, but signaled deeper cuts might be on the way.
By a vote of 7-1, the council approved a revised 2020 budget that reduced the department’s budget by US$3.5 million for the remainder of the year and invested US$17 million in community public safety programs.
The cut to the department’s US$409 million annual budget fell way short of the 50 percent demanded by protesters following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in police custody on May 25.
Local media said Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best had announced her resignation to staff.
According to a report in the New York Times, Best said in a message to the police department that she would retire next month and was “confident the department will make it through these difficult times.”
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Seattle City Council President Lorena Gonzalez called the cut a “downpayment for future potential reductions” to the department’s budget.
Defunding advocates oppose the militarization of US police forces and say officers are called on to deal with issues like addiction, mental illness and homelessness that could be better addressed by social services.
Law-enforcement supporters say cuts to police spending would lead to more crime.
The council begins budget talks for next year in September and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Best had earlier signaled their willingness to rethink policing and consider US$76 million in proposed cuts to the department’s budget for next year.
The revised 2020 budget came after a council inquest into the department, which showed that 56 percent of 911 calls are for non-criminal activity and only 3 percent of calls result in arrest.
The rebalanced budget reduces executive pay and eliminates 100 police officers.
It also reduces the budget for travel, public affairs, training and recruitment and makes cuts to specialized units like SWAT, harbor patrol, homeland security, mounted patrol and officers in schools.
The budget also removes officers from the city’s homeless outreach team. More than a dozen business and neighborhood groups signed a letter from the Downtown Seattle Association opposing that move.
“In defunding SPD, the council moved with speed and pettiness rather than with precision and thoughtfulness,” the association said in a statement.
Multiple demonstrations for and against “defunding the police” have taken place at city hall over the past week.
Anti-police protesters smashed windows at businesses perceived to support the police and set fire to the construction site at a juvenile detention facility.
The SPD has been under a federal consent decree for excessive use of force since 2011.
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