Such is the headline of a column in today’s Seattle Times. While Seattle is over an hour’s drive from my home, it dominates Washington State politically and inflicts on the rest of us the same misgovernment that it endures itself. The surest sign of governmental failure is inability to carry out the fundamental duty of keeping citizens safe from lawlessness. The progressives who run Seattle are at long last beginning to see that the symptoms are bad; they remain desperate not to treat the disease.
Yesterday, the police chief presented last year’s dismal crime report – violent crime up four percent, homicides up 24 percent – to the City Council.
Not long ago, a majority of the City Council thought that it would be a splendid idea to cut the police budget in half and replace cops with social workers who would rehabilitate criminals through the force of good intentions. That brainstorm happily never got implemented. The mood is somewhat different now. After the presentation of the chief’s report, he and the Council members –
had an extended group struggle session about how the city hasn’t been able to either hire more cops, or stand up much in the way of alternatives to the traditional gun-and-badge response.
To put some numbers to it: Since 2020 the department has lost 515 officers and hired 190. That’s a net loss of 325. Last year, nearly 160 officers left and fewer than 70 were hired, despite Mayor Bruce Harrell’s much-publicized recruitment efforts and hiring bonus programs.
At the same time, the council and two mayors have talked for nearly three years about forming responder teams of social workers or mental health counselors to go to some calls in lieu of police.
Two council members, Alex Pedersen and Andrew Lewis, said during Tuesday’s hearing that they’ve noticed when meeting with police that morale is low. “There’s a real skepticism from front-line officers,” Lewis said about the city’s plans to set up alternative responder groups.
Right. That’s because back in the defund-the-police days, the council vowed to whack the police budget by 50% and use that money to fund alternative responders. So there’s a very human reason the cops aren’t really down with this program – it was proposed at their expense.
Or maybe men who encounter lawbreakers on a regular basis doubt that violent criminals will be either restrained or deterred or miraculously healed by mental health professionals, particularly when the current generation of that profession is more interested in excusing and even promoting dysfunctional behavior than curing it.
Many malefactors are indeed drug addicts, schizophrenics or otherwise mentally impaired. Getting help to them is a wonderful idea, but the first priority should be to protect the innocent. Moreover, desirable as treatment would be, anybody who has known sufferers from addiction or mental illness is depressingly aware of how difficult treatment is and how low the rate of success.
The columnist whom I’ve been quoting is something of a right-winger by Seattle Times standards. The paper says that he “takes an opinionated look at the Puget Sound region's news, people and politics”. While one would think that being opinionated is an essential job qualification for an opinion columnist, I don’t think that the Times means the adjective as a compliment. His rightward tilt is, however, a matter of very few degrees, as illustrated by his reaction to small businessman’s lamentation.
“I’m done,” he said. “I’m getting out of having a retail business in Seattle ever again.”
Gassmann owns School of Bike, a popular bicycle shop in Wallingford [a Seattle neighborhood, reputed to be “one of the best places to live in Washington”]. Like a lot of businesses in Seattle he’s suffered repeated break-ins, including one this month where someone smashed a rock through the front glass door to steal bikes. And another last week when a man lying on the sidewalk, who got angry after being asked to move, forced the door while Gassmann was inside.
An officer who stopped by later commented Gassmann should consider moving his shop to Bellevue. That’s when he knew it was over.
The columnist’s response:
By the description of three recent incidents at Wallingford’s School of Bike, there’s a strong chance these cases wouldn’t be best handled by traditional policing anyway. (I say this because the men who broke in all were sleeping in the doorway beforehand, or were in some stage of crisis, according to Gassmann.) The bike shop needs protection, but the people most likely need a clinic, not jail.
But jail would at least keep them from stealing merchandise, vandalizing property and intimidating passers-by. Nor would arresting them be inconsistent with making treatment available to those who are willing to be helped. Mr. Gassman and the guys who sleep in his shop’s doorway are not equally deserving. Safeguard him first. After that, do what can be done for them.
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