Seattle council incredibly cautious over budget language

The Seattle City Council tip-toed around language related to increased funding for police and public safety.

In the 2017-2018 proposed budget under the heading “Increase SPD Staffing,” it calls for adding 200 officers by early 2020. As they discussed the budget recently, council members made sure to note that the goal is to add 72 new officers by 2017-2018.

Council member Lisa Herbold said she didn’t want to feed into the idea that they were “massively increasing” the police department and the more accurate and clear the council can be will “help some of the difficult discussions.”

Related: Why the Seattle Police Department should have no problem hiring 200 more officers

Though no specific reason for the emphasis on that particular language was pointed out, it comes at a time when tension between the city and minority groups is high. The nationwide outrage over police shootings of black men is topped off with the local protests of a new police precinct in Seattle that caused enough upset within the community that people formed an anti-precinct group. The “Block the Bunker” group actually forced the city council to cancel a meeting.

Some in Seattle argue that there is too much militarization of police. That includes the debated — and eventually delayed — North Precinct.

It is somewhat unlikely, however, that the city will be able to “massively” increase police funding. During a recent budget meeting is was pointed out that the city is also having to replace retirees and people leaving to work elsewhere. About 30 percent of the SPD force was eligible to retire in June. Police are not required to tell the department exactly when they plan to leave and the department cannot hire ahead of time.

SPD previously said it is hiring about 100 officers per year over the next few years. Mayor Ed Murray had a goal of hiring 200 officer over attrition.

“I committed to hiring 100 more officers over attrition in my first term. We are on track to meet that goal. And we are doing it with a significant increase in diversity among recruits,” Murray previously said.

“I recognize we need more officers for better visibility throughout our city,” he said. “We will add 100 additional officers to my original goal for an overall goal of 200 net officers.”

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