City council hit with waves of Seattle police distrust
Aug 10, 2016, 4:33 PM | Updated: 5:24 pm
On one hand, you have a community pleading with the Seattle City Council to abandon plans for a new police precinct. They want to shrink Seattle police presence. On the other hand, you have a different community saying their neighborhood is not safe enough and needs to have more cops engaging with people on the street.
Related: Seattle police union president defends north precinct building plan
In the end, despite the diverging voices, one message was clear: People distrust Seattle police. And the city council was getting hit from all sides Wednesday morning.
“It is an act of war to invest in white supremacy and terrorism with this bunker,” a man told the city council.
“To even think that the militarization of police will make us safer is white supremacy,” he passionately said. “It is white privilege and we know that these people have never protected us. They never have. And they never will.”
Seattle police ‘bunker’
A Black Lives Matter crowd packed City Hall to voice opposition to a proposed North Seattle police precinct. It was a meeting of the council’s Gender Equity, Safe Communities Committee to discuss a variety of issues, including the construction of a new north precinct station, as well as public safety issues in the International District.
The opposition to the proposed building call it a “bunker,” in reference to plans that show walls in the building are blast proof. There will also be bullet-proof glass inside. The building will essentially be a replacement of the current north-precinct building, which Seattle police say is now too small. It will include a garage, a shooting range, offices and a community center. But to those opposed, it is a symbol of police militarization and an extension of a police force they do not trust.
“How can we possibly think that bolstering the police who have been murdering black and brown people of all ages for so long is going to help anything?” one woman told the council. “You are creating a military bunker that is bomb proof. For what? What are you afraid of? We are afraid of you. You kill us.”
“We see our community being terrorized,” a man said. “We see (police) not ever showing up to help anybody. In fact, when you report a crime, the crime is over by the time they get there. So they are not even putting in any safety. But nobody considers this because this city doesn’t care about black people.”
Others argued that the $160 million slated for the new precinct could be better spent — some saying that Seattle should be closing and shrinking police stations.
The Black Lives Matter crowd spoke for more than an hour during the time allotted for public comment, then left as the committee began its meeting.
International District
The committee’s first discussion involved a public safety study on Seattle’s International District. The study was produced by researchers from Seattle University and representatives of the community. It is the result of a task force formed after the murder of Donnie Chin.
The study analyzed 911 calls from the neighborhood but also surveyed members of the community — a total of 323 people.
“The trend here is that there are overwhelming, pervasive levels of low-level crime that decreases the sense of public safety in the community. And it’s chronic,” said Erik Kiffe, with Seattle University’s Criminal Justice Department.
“This is suspicious activity, missing property, harassment, trespassing, vandalism, alcohol related activity, etc.,” he said.
The council committee was informed that 73 percent of people who witnessed non-violent crime in the International District never reported it to 911. Sixty percent of those who witnessed violent crime never called police.
“There is a disconnect between the Chinatown-International District community and the police who are supposed to be serving them,” Kiffe said.
“The main reasons stated as to why they did not report it to 911 is that they did not expect police to follow through, or they didn’t think there was anything police could do,” he said.
Sokha Dahn, with the Public Defender Association, was also involved with the survey.
“A number of respondents replied, talking about their past experiences calling the Seattle Police Department and that it was not a timely thing,” Dahn said. “It is mostly based on past experiences, why people don’t call. They have had that redundancy — nothing has happened before.”
Jamie Lee, with the Seattle Chinatown-International District Preservation and Development Authority, also chimed in and said that younger residents are more likely to distrust Seattle police.
“Younger respondents were more likely to disagree with the statement that ‘police keep the (Chinatown-International District) safe,'” she said. “A total of 71 percent of younger respondents somewhat disagree or disagree with that statement.”
The study group noted that Seattle police have limited resources. They recommend that the city create more opportunities for officers to be among the community. Safe places were also a hot topic — many residents did not feel they had a safe place to go during an emergency. The study group said that the city should support community initiatives to create those places, or programs similar to the Safe Place program for Seattle’s LGBTQ community.
