In a remote budget committee meeting Wednesday, multiple council members voiced interest in executing police officer layoffs this year, targeted at units such as the Navigation Team that removes homeless encampments.
Mayor Jenny Durkan is cautioning those council members to slow down for more careful analysis, describing a push to reduce the department’s remaining 2020 budget by 50% as impractical. Yet Durkan is grappling with a recall petition over her response to Black Lives Matter protests and a drive among Democratic Party groups for her to step down, possibly reducing her clout.
“I really don’t know where we’re headed,” said Victoria Beach, who chairs the Police Department’s African American Community Advisory Council, expressing frustration with the mayor and council alike. “I think it’s going to get ugly.”
The protests against police killings and institutional racism have brought intense scrutiny to the Police Department, which began this year with a budget of more than $400 million. Defunding advocates have seized the moment, noting the department mostly responds to noncriminal calls and winning widespread political support for the concept.
Last week, seven of nine council members said they would support a high-level proposal — laid out by the coalitions Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now — to cut police spending by 50% and redirect the money to alternative 911 responders, community services and affordable housing.
