Seattle PD declines by another 150 officers, up to 509 since City Council ‘defunded police’ in 2020

Seattle Police Officer Guild President Mike Solan told The Ari Hoffman Show on 570 KVI, “Crime is here to stay, unfortunately… since 2020, we've lost 500 cops and counting, and I think that's a recipe for disaster, which is the impetus in my view of crime sweeping this city.

According to the department, there were 153 separations in 2022, making a total of 509 officers who have left the force since the council began supporting the defunding movement. The department is well below minimum safety requirements for a city Seattle's size and continues to see increases in 911 response times.

The department now has only 966 deployable officers, the lowest staffing level it has had in over 30 years. Meanwhile, crime has spiked in the city. Seattle saw 57 homicides in 2022, up from 52 in 2021, which was a 26-year high, and 42 in 2020.

Solan added, “Then when we have bail reform, we have decriminalization, we have activists continuing the talking point in Olympia, I think it's a recipe that is more an advantage for the criminals than it is for victims, and it doesn't bode well for public safety in 2023.”

Seattle Democrat Mayor Bruce Harrell set a goal of SPD having 1,400 police officers by 2027 but according to Solan the department “only gained 58 spots.”

He added, “You gotta wonder how many of those 58 actually become workable police officers protecting the city. I would bet half. So, we have an overwhelming negative loss in staffing.”

Officers have been fleeing the department since 2020 when the city council defunded the police by 18 percent. It stopped short of its promised 50 percent cut after crime began to spike.

Council members marched with Antifa against their own police officers, demonized the department in statements, defended looters, and even supported the deadly Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

Compounding the separations were terminations due to COVID vax mandates, no contract for officers for two years, and “reforms” enacted by the Democrat-controlled that support criminals.

Last month, the Seattle City Council passed a $7.4 billion budget that permanently defunds 80 police positions in the department.

Solan told Hoffman, “Right now, we're two years into an expired contract, and when people are looking at this city in terms of maybe thinking about becoming a police officer, they're saying that they're being paid at a lower wage in terms of a fair competitive contract.”

“Seattle's politics tends to spread across the state,” Solan added. “There are some other entities in terms of a law enforcement conversation that work with these activist groups, in my view, as a detriment to everyone's public safety, and that's concerning for their own gain. So for us, it's trying to get everybody on board public safety-wise so we can continue this strong narrative to recapture, no pun intended, the public safety, so we can correct what's happening to this beautiful state, and I would say once beautiful city.”