In Seattle, there is a veto proof majority of the City Council that has vowed to cut 50% of the police department. The King County Executive Dow Constantine has also declared that the Seattle jail will be closed and replaced with a center for Community programs. In addition, all youth detention in King County will be outlawed.
Currently the council members have not been answering any/very little questions from their constituents on how this would affect public safety, and they currently have released very few details on the next steps or contingency plans.
One of the people that has had an enormous influence in this process is community activist/lawer Nikkita Oliver. Nikkita was also a leading contender for Seattle mayor in this last election.
Nikkita recently laid out plans for how she would like to see defunding of the police in Seattle plan to proceed, with the goal of getting rid of police entirely to be replaced by community social services in 2021.
Her opinion on this is especially important since she is one of the select few that has been allowed direct access to the City Council, and the organization that she advocates for, Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now, have had a large influence on their plans on the matter.
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I noted before in this forum, that in my view, "under policing" was once determined to be a tremendously racist policy that caused there to be fewer police in an area, and it led to many unnecessary deaths. In fact, the police station that was at the center of the Seattle CHOP controversy was established based on advocacy of Seattle's first black Council member, Sam Smith, who "pushed for the establishment of the precinct so that officers would be more able to serve those living in the Central District" (a historically black neighborhood in Seattle).
The really ironic thing, is that I don't think that many of the white protesters and politicians who support policies like these realize how incredibly racist they are being towards black people when they don't consider the consequences of their actions.
That may seem overly harsh, but I view this as an issue that would result in more unnecessary deaths. In another interview by Converge Media, they interviewed the head of the Seattle Police department guild and other officers who noted that they definitely agreed with increasing community public health services, they also had a number of other ideas on reforms.
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However in that interview, they noted that none of the Seattle Council members who support the 50% reduction have even reached out to the police to review plans on how the transition would be done safely, or their concerns on the matter. They simply won't return phone calls or answer any emails from them on the matter. They are also not responding to constituents who are asking for details on the plan. Even though they are fully set to move forward without hearing any input or considerations on the potential challenges.
It is very unclear to me how an active shooter, or sexual predator, or organized crime incident, or murder investigation, or even an armed burglary would be better suited by a squad of social workers.
There are very real reforms to address the issues of Systemic Racial Oppression, but this plan would almost certainly greatly increase the amount of death and suffering in the communities that proponents of 'defund the police' are most trying to "help."
In the Nikkita interview, they talk about a tragic mental health situation with Charleena Lyles that resulted in a shooting death after Charleena, who was a pregnant mom, charged police with a knife. She notes how a social worker trained in mental health response would have made a positive difference, and Charleena may have been alive if that had happened. I agree. However, that is not the correct solution to every 911 call.
The increased time to respond by police where life or death matters, and the increased impunity for criminals to engage in armed robberies, murders, and rape will only increase under this plan. Situations like George Floyd and Charleena Lyles are tragic, but they should absolutely not be used as justification to kill 100's or thousands of more people. Their future deaths, and the loss and pain from their families will be just as tragic. The choice whether or not to kill them is entirely up to the Council members across this country, and other supporters of the 'defund the police' movement. Their fingers are on the trigger, and they are expressing as much callous disregard for the lives they are about to take as seasoned murderers.
Gun sales throughout the Puget Sound region are surging dramatically. Those unable to wait in the long lines at gun stores in King County, are going to other counties where lines are also stretching around the building. People are preparing for a large increase in shootings and violence, and the lack of planning or concern from Seattle Council commissioners are giving them little reason to believe otherwise.
How do people here view Seattle's plan, do you think my reservations or concerns are somewhat valid, or overblown? Some have stated that any concerns about public safety are racist, even if those concerns come from people of color.
As someone who has to live through the results of this plan, I am more than just academically interested in the results.
Currently the council members have not been answering any/very little questions from their constituents on how this would affect public safety, and they currently have released very few details on the next steps or contingency plans.
One of the people that has had an enormous influence in this process is community activist/lawer Nikkita Oliver. Nikkita was also a leading contender for Seattle mayor in this last election.
Nikkita recently laid out plans for how she would like to see defunding of the police in Seattle plan to proceed, with the goal of getting rid of police entirely to be replaced by community social services in 2021.
Her opinion on this is especially important since she is one of the select few that has been allowed direct access to the City Council, and the organization that she advocates for, Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now, have had a large influence on their plans on the matter.
[yt]NlQN0Dif4CY?t=27650[/yt]
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Nikkita Oliver in July 20th Converge Media interview
Our first set of demand as it related to defund in 2020, is we see three million dollars go to a participatory budgeting process. Because we need to have as much time as possible to get as much community involved as possible in deciding what is the next phase of services that we move into, and we want that process held by community. We want it to be in partnership with King County Equity now, Decriminalize Seattle, and the organizations that are under those coalitions.
Because we know that community is going to better administer that process than bureaucracy will right? The next step is also scaling up community-based services. So we're looking at 10 million dollars to help those organizations that already exist, that are doing public health and public safety work to be able to scale up so that in mid 2021, those organizations can start taking a much higher level of calls from 911, which is also about civilianizing 911 infrastructure. As it stands now, police officers are involved in determining when people call into dispatch, what gets sent out to respond to that call. And so it is really important that we get this armed police mentality out of the way that we respond to crises, and really get a true social work understanding of what it means when someone in crisis calls. You know, we have services in our city that know how to respond to domestic violence, know how to respond to mental health crises, know how to support people through courts, and other processes within the criminal punishment system, and those systems need to be well funded. The truth of the matter is that many of those organization are doing far more work, but are grossly underfunded, and we want to get to a place where those organization have exactly what they need. The fourth bucket that we are looking at right now is housing, because we know that when people [don't have] housing and are stable, there's no way that they can live a totally safe life. When you're worried about where you are going to live, or what you're going to eat, you're inevitably going to be pushed into the criminal justice system. Your going to have to commit quote unquote crimes of poverty, and you're going to have to do things that otherwise you would not have to do if we made sure that everyone in our city who wanted it, had access to safe affordable housing. So that's 2020, when we get to 2021, we're going to be asking the Seattle city council to also still commit to that 50% cut of SPD's budget, which is going to be 205 million dollars, because their budget right now is 410 million. That is a new opportunity to grow our civilianized 911 infrastructure, and to ensure that we grow those services that we know sociologically, we know scientifically, this is not some stuff we made up. There's tons of research that shows this, that we know actually keeps people from ever having to have having an encounter with police, and as we strengthen those services, we can continue to decrease SPD's budget, until we get to the place where they are no longer needed." |
I noted before in this forum, that in my view, "under policing" was once determined to be a tremendously racist policy that caused there to be fewer police in an area, and it led to many unnecessary deaths. In fact, the police station that was at the center of the Seattle CHOP controversy was established based on advocacy of Seattle's first black Council member, Sam Smith, who "pushed for the establishment of the precinct so that officers would be more able to serve those living in the Central District" (a historically black neighborhood in Seattle).
The really ironic thing, is that I don't think that many of the white protesters and politicians who support policies like these realize how incredibly racist they are being towards black people when they don't consider the consequences of their actions.
That may seem overly harsh, but I view this as an issue that would result in more unnecessary deaths. In another interview by Converge Media, they interviewed the head of the Seattle Police department guild and other officers who noted that they definitely agreed with increasing community public health services, they also had a number of other ideas on reforms.
[yt]mrW2dEHdQTI[/yt]
However in that interview, they noted that none of the Seattle Council members who support the 50% reduction have even reached out to the police to review plans on how the transition would be done safely, or their concerns on the matter. They simply won't return phone calls or answer any emails from them on the matter. They are also not responding to constituents who are asking for details on the plan. Even though they are fully set to move forward without hearing any input or considerations on the potential challenges.
It is very unclear to me how an active shooter, or sexual predator, or organized crime incident, or murder investigation, or even an armed burglary would be better suited by a squad of social workers.
There are very real reforms to address the issues of Systemic Racial Oppression, but this plan would almost certainly greatly increase the amount of death and suffering in the communities that proponents of 'defund the police' are most trying to "help."
In the Nikkita interview, they talk about a tragic mental health situation with Charleena Lyles that resulted in a shooting death after Charleena, who was a pregnant mom, charged police with a knife. She notes how a social worker trained in mental health response would have made a positive difference, and Charleena may have been alive if that had happened. I agree. However, that is not the correct solution to every 911 call.
The increased time to respond by police where life or death matters, and the increased impunity for criminals to engage in armed robberies, murders, and rape will only increase under this plan. Situations like George Floyd and Charleena Lyles are tragic, but they should absolutely not be used as justification to kill 100's or thousands of more people. Their future deaths, and the loss and pain from their families will be just as tragic. The choice whether or not to kill them is entirely up to the Council members across this country, and other supporters of the 'defund the police' movement. Their fingers are on the trigger, and they are expressing as much callous disregard for the lives they are about to take as seasoned murderers.
Gun sales throughout the Puget Sound region are surging dramatically. Those unable to wait in the long lines at gun stores in King County, are going to other counties where lines are also stretching around the building. People are preparing for a large increase in shootings and violence, and the lack of planning or concern from Seattle Council commissioners are giving them little reason to believe otherwise.
How do people here view Seattle's plan, do you think my reservations or concerns are somewhat valid, or overblown? Some have stated that any concerns about public safety are racist, even if those concerns come from people of color.
As someone who has to live through the results of this plan, I am more than just academically interested in the results.
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