Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Police Chief Issues Scathing Response After City Council Makes Move Against Cops: ‘I Cannot Imagine What Would Have Happened’ With Half the Number Of Officers


Oh, good. As property becomes increasingly destructed on a wider scale and police are being attacked (which is ironic that everyone was so against police brutality, but I digress), Seattle’s city council thought it would be helpful to disarm the police of any and all of their protections.

What are police officers supposed to do to control crowds of people? Play Simon Says?

Oh, but the city council wants them to keep shields and batons. Cool, a bunch of Captain Americas without the superpowers.

Western Journal reported:

Seattle Police Department Chief Carmen Best slammed the city council on Thursday for creating a “dangerous” situation for officers by attempting to ban the use of pepper spray and other items often used to control crowds.

Earlier this month, Seattle police cleared out a downtown occupied zone that had been set up by protesters in June.

Although a period of relative calm followed until recent attacks on law enforcement, protests have been scheduled this weekend in favor of defunding the police.

That’s something the Seattle City Council already supports, having signaled that it wants to cut the police budget by 50 percent.

The council also passed an ordinance last month banning police from using pepper spray and blast balls, among other tools, though a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the law from going into effect, according to The Associated Press.

Does no one care to think about all the massacres that have occurred in large crowds where the police officers actually saved lives???

In a violent crowd, where the people are against the police force, it would be a death sentence for police officers to attend.

Maybe the city council should make some wheat skirts, wear braided blades of grass as headbands, and sing around a campfire at the front lines of these violent gatherings. Don’t forget your shields of love, folks!

Check out this quote by Seattle’s Police Department Chief, Carmen Best, as reported by Western Journal:

On Thursday, prior to the judge’s decision, Best wrote to the council to warn it “of the foreseeable impact of this ordinance on upcoming events.

“It is a fact that there are groups and individuals who are intent on destruction in our City. Yes, we also have seen weeks of peaceful demonstrations, but two recent events (Sunday, July 19th and Wednesday, July 22nd) have included wide-scale property destruction and attacks on officers, injuring more than a dozen, some significantly,” she wrote.

“This weekend we know that several events are planned across the city that will foreseeably involve many of the same violent actors from recent days. There is no reason not to assume we will continue to experience property destruction, arson, looting, and attempts to injure additional officers throughout the weekend and beyond.”

She then noted that the use of “less-lethal tools by SPD officers to disperse crowds that have turned violent have been completely banned by City Council.”

“Under these circumstances, as created by Council, we cannot manage demonstrations as we have in the past,” she wrote. “If I am not allowed to lawfully equip officers with the tools they have been trained to use to protect the community and themselves, it would be reckless to have them confront this level of violence under the current legal restrictions imposed by Council.”

Best tried to explain crowd control to the council, saying that “in large crowds, there is no safe way for officers to effect arrests when their colleagues do not have the tools necessary to protect them.

“As City Council’s legislation goes into effect, it will create even more dangerous circumstances for our officers to intervene using what they have left — riot shields and riot batons,” she said.

“The Council legislation gives officers no ability to safely intercede to preserve property in the midst of a large, violent crowd. Allowing this behavior deeply troubles me, but I am duty-bound to follow the Council legislation once it is in effect,” Best wrote.

“If the Council is prepared to suggest a different response or interpretation of the legislation, I stand ready to receive it.”

As for the council’s concept that police officers are not needed, Best said violent incidents appear out of nowhere and that “I see no feasible option where non-sworn individuals respond to and investigate these tragedies.

“Additionally, no one knows when a mass casualty event is going to happen. When one thinks about the mass shooting at 3rd and Pine earlier this year, and how officers rushed in and saved lives, I cannot imagine what would have happened if there had been half the number of officers available to respond.”

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