Seattle lost its first black police chief to a 40% pay cut.
The 30-year police veteran has agreed to step aside as the head of the approximately 1500 police force in Washington State’s largest city. Carmen Best was appointed as interim chief of police on January 18, 2018, to replace outgoing Chief Katleen O’Toole. On August 13, 2018, the Mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, made her officially chief of police — she was the first black woman to hold that position in Seattle, an Island city of Washington State.
Carmen Best joins a cloud of about half a dozen chief of police — across the nation — who have stepped down in the wake of the George Floyd protests and riots. Since the wide-spread rioting, looting and burning, there has been a call to “Defund the police.” Seattle police annual budget of $410 million would be reduced by about 2% (three million dollars) stems mostly from cuts from the salaries of the command staff, attrition, and the layoffs of about 100 officers. Chief Best’s annual salary will be reduced from $294, 000 to about $194, 000. According to a national survey, Best makes about 45% more than the national average salary of police chiefs. Nine of the thirteen Seattle Police Commanders make more money annually than the governors of all fifty states.
Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant
Kshama Sawant is at the forefront of the movement to slash police salaries. Sawant and leaders in the Black community are at odds with the way Chief Best is handling the leadership role of the SPD. Many Seattle residents have decried the brutish tactics used by SPD in the early days of the George Floyd protests.
The wave of discontent that flows against Best “in some ways grew out of the shocking tactics used by the SPD in response to peaceful protestors.” In an ominous forewarning of the crackdown to come, on the first night of the protests, May 29th, the video was taken of a seven-year-old child maced by police officers. In response, rather than arresting the officers who committed this heinous assault, Seattle police under Best’s watch tracked down and arrested the photojournalist who captured the video.”
The Independent
“Clouds of teargas soon filled the streets of Capitol Hill, along with the sounds and smells of flashbangs, pepper spray and rubber bullets used against nonviolent protesters, legal observers, and nurses. The severity of the Seattle Police crackdown on Black Lives Matter was also documented in shocking detail by a journalist at The Independent after his arrest while covering the Seattle protests.
Since then, many Seattle residents have come to see Carmen Best as a weak and unimportant front taking orders from her white underlings. At the first sign of a disturbance, she takes the city pension and flees the scene. Carmen’s resignation will go into effect on September 02, 2020.
Another snowflake Seattle cop cops out with his chief (Carmen Best) tells protesters he’s quitting because of Black Lives Matter.
Guess Writer: Victor Magni
Below is a story in Politico about Seattle cop who quits because of BLM.
‘I’m leaving, you guys won: Moment furious Seattle cop tells activist he’s quitting because of constant unrest caused by BLM protests – just days after city’s Chief of Police resigned over huge budget cut
- While the circumstances surrounding the video remain unclear, the officer, who is not named in the clip, tells an activist ‘you guys won.
- The cop says he’s quitting the Seattle PD, and he will be relieved of duty in two months, adding ‘I’m f***ing gone, bro.’
- The officer is asked if he is stepping down because of police brutality, to which the officer says he isn’t, rather that he’s tired of dealing with BLM protesters.
- The Seattle PD hasn’t returned a DailyMail.com request for comment on the clip.
- Unrest has been rife in the city, with protests and clashes with police occurring daily in the city ever since the Memorial Day police killing of George Floyd.
- The undated video emerges just days after Seattle’s first black police chief, Carmen Best, announced she’d be stepping down amid defunding policies.
An information “junkie” and admitted reformed liberal. Victor likes to push the envelope to evoke healthy debates and conversations that will lead to a better understanding of each other and all of his neighbors.