Rantz: Seattle Police Command warns cops will leave in droves if contract rejected

The Command Staff at the Seattle Police Department are deeply concerned that if the Seattle City Council rejects a pending contract for officers, they’ll see a dramatic decline in recruitment and an accelerated exit of officers leaving the force.

Related: Seattle police officer quit over mistreatment by council, Kshama Sawant

“I’m really, really gravely concerned if this does not pass,” Chief Best told KTTH’s Jason Rantz Show on Friday. “I’m worried that we will lose officers, I don’t know how many … because they won’t feel supported. I think that will happen. Not only that, we will not be able to hire officers. Why come in for lower than fair wages when you can go work for another organization? We are already competing with other police organizations, with the private sector for jobs. This is not going to be easy under the best circumstances. If we don’t have a contact, it’s going to be difficult times.”

“At [your] last story, the mass exodus was a concern but the contract was going to alleviate that,” a member of the command staff said, asking to remain anonymous. “If the contract is blocked, the city stands to lose body cameras and it would mean fewer officers on the streets, and providing emergency services for the next year and a half, while labor talks are mired in arbitration. We will see a mass exodus … officers will leave.”

Rumors are swirling that Councilmembers Kshama Sawant, Mike O’Brien and Lisa Herbold will vote against the contract. For the contract to pass, there must be 7 of 9 council members in support — a super-majority. Three “no” votes would stop it from passing.

“This will hurt our ability to offer basic police services,” the Command Staff member warned. “This contract is not a landfall, it just keeps up with our comparable agencies and the cost of living. People who were on the fence will leave to a department where the pay and benefits are competitive and public safety employees are supported.”

These concerns are warranted. Numerous officers that have contacted the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH to say they will leave the department if this contract is not approved.

“We will never pick up another lateral officer [if they reject the contract],” one SPD officer told me. “They don’t have to like us, but this is blatant disregard and disrespect.”

“I can tell you based what I’ve seen on Facebook last night, the outrage is enormous by the rank-and-file,” a second officer told me. “This is nothing more than moving the goalposts, nobody gets everything they want in a negotiation. In fact, the (Seattle Police Officer’s) Guild gave up way more than I would’ve ever agreed to in exchange for what we got back.”

The panic comes as the Community Police Commission unanimously voted to urge the city council to reject the contract, concerned the contract rolls back police reforms. Specifically, the CPC appears upset that the current contract, if approved, would make it more difficult to fire cops suspected of misconduct.

Mayor Jenny Durkan rejects this notion: “I respectfully disagree with the Community Police Commission. This contract advances both police reform and public safety. A failure to enact the contract jeopardizes both. The contract is also a question of fairness for the men and women of the Seattle Police Department who have been working without a contact or a raise since 2014. During that time, the cost of living in Seattle has skyrocketed, and the job we have asked them to do has gotten tougher. And they still showed up every day, instituted every reform, and as a result, the federal judge found them in full and effective compliance.”

Neither Sawant, O’Brien nor Herbold responded to a request for comment, made through Seattle City Council Communications Director Dana Robinson-Slote.

There is already “historically large numbers” of Seattle cops leaving the force, with exits outpacing the hiring. By the end of August 2018 (the last date with data available), the SPD had already lost a staggering 77 officers, with 29 officers resigning, outpacing the 63 officers they hired, many of which are recruits not in the field. If the situation continues at this rate, we’ll see 103 officer separations by the end of the year.

Recruitment has also suffered over the years. The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) — which trains new recruits to become officers — cut the allotted seats to the SPD because they were not being consistently filled.

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