Chief Best: SPD’s East Precinct standing empty ‘presents a real problem’

Following the murder of George Floyd, protests and demonstrations have erupted around the world to demand justice. In Washington state and the Seattle area, protesters have been speaking out for more than two weeks. As news of what’s now referred to as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone has been picked up nationwide, the question is what happens next?

“That is the $1,000,000 question, isn’t it?,” said Police Chief Carmen Best on KIRO Radio’s Gee and Ursula Show.

“It’s not like there’s a game plan rolled out for this, that we had assumed this was happening any time before, so I think we’re all taking some time to step back and be thoughtful about any approaches that we take,” Best said. “I made it really clear that we want to have the officers functioning back in the precinct and responding to calls for service for a lot of public safety reasons. But at the same time, we don’t want to rush into anything and have anyone hurt or be rash in any of the decisions.”

Best says they’re working to determine the best mechanism, and hopes there can be a dialogue. That said, she admits it’s been challenging to determine who’s actually leading in the “CHAZ.”

“There’s a lot of different entities there, but we’re going to try to parse out who’s leading the cause, so to speak, so that we could have some dialogue,” she said. “I know that there were a number of requests that were delivered, and I think others will be looking through that to see what we might be able to accomplish.”

Reducing the police presence at the East Precinct

Right now, Best says there are a few officers in the area that have been in the precinct, but the department is not going to put anyone in harm’s way.

In terms of the decision to leave the precinct, there’s been a lot of discussion in the past few days about who made that call. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has said she decided to move the barricade, and Best has stated moving the officers out of the precinct was not her decision.

“It’s kind of a confluence of events,” Best said. “I said it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t. But I didn’t say it was the mayor either. People just assumed that was the natural thing. But what happened was everybody was moving very quickly. We were asked to have a potential evacuation plan, which we created.”

SPD Chief: Decision to leave precinct wasn’t hers, claims city ‘relented to public pressure’

As officers started removing sensitive material from the building to ensure they wouldn’t be compromised in any way, the fire department expressed concern about a fire risk for the building, Best explained.

“So the decision from the lower level command was to go ahead and remain outside of the precinct for that evening and then, with no intention of abandoning the precinct, but just that we were going to take them off site and have them respond back,” Best said. “But when we’re trying to respond back, it was clear that we weren’t going to be able to safely move back into that facility at that point.”

The chief expressed that she expected police officers would remain in the facility, but they also had to avoid putting anyone at risk or in harm’s way.

“That is why I want to make sure that we make sure that things are safe enough that we can get back into the precinct and do the work, right now it’s standing empty at the taxpayer’s cost, and none of the work that should be done there is being done,” she said. “That presents a real problem.”

The mayor, in a statement, said that she made the decision to remove barriers, the presence of officers, and the National Guard.

“We had all these officers that were in the precinct and National Guard that were holed up there as well,” Best said. “We decided to remove the barriers because that seemed to be a flashpoint for folks. And take out some of the sensitive material as the option. But once they were doing that, they got the additional information that there was potentially problems with the fire hazard and other things.”

“That’s when we said OK, we should probably go offsite … and then come back as we re-assess,” Best added. “But coming back became a problem, so we weren’t able to do it.”

Best said she was not there at the moment the decision was made, but stands by her staff.

“They thought it would be safer to be offsite for a little bit and not remain there while they assessed the fire hazard,” Best said. “And then coming back was not an option. And in some way, that bought us some time. I don’t regret that decision to be safe, and it bought us a little time and peace and a respite in some of the confrontations that we were having.”

Getting officers back in the building

However, Best does hope officers can return to the building soon. She recognizes it’s going to take some time and negotiation to figure out how to move forward from here.

“We want to talk, we’ve received some demands, and obviously there’ll be others, you know, in the city, we’re working on those issues as well, but we want to make sure that we’re doing it with the appropriate leaders and influencers of the group,” she said.

The last thing Best and the department want to do is put people at risk, whether that’s the protesters or the officers.

“Ultimately, … it’s my responsibility for public safety, and if it puts the residents or anyone else at risk because we decided to make a rash decision, that’s a problem,” Best said.

Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins is the point person at the site now, and Best said he has been building relationships and rapport with residents.

“I’m more than happy to be there as long as people want me there and we can have those discussions,” Best added, but she’s concerned her presence as a police officer may be unwelcome.

To the Seattle Police Department, Best said it’s important officers continue to do the job they swore to do and protect public safety.

Making progress during a challenging time

“People are looking at the murder of George Floyd. It’s brought up a lot of issues about race, racism, anti-black, and those issues need to be discussed, and I’ve seen some good things, lots of marches, lots of unity, lot of progress in that arena,” Best said. “But there’s also some challenges with some of the folks who’ve taken up maybe a different cause. And we need to deal with some of those issues, too.”

“I see my officers, I support them, I support the community,” she added. “I think that we really need some time to take a breath and have some healing, and reconciliation, and move forward to make things better.”

Best says every challenge is an opportunity.

“So while this is a challenging time, we’re going to come out of this probably a lot more insightful, a lot more thoughtful, and with some real change and reform that people are looking for.”

Personally, as a black women, Best thinks these issues and conversations are really important.

“While the focus is on the police department, which we absolutely can acknowledge there’s work to be done in policing, but also many other areas as well, health, education, so I look forward to those conversations because those are my grandchildren and others that will benefit from those discussions,” she said. “… It’s too bad that we’re being distracted with this, but we’re gonna have to deal with it.”

The chief promised that she is dedicated to her job, to the community, and will not waver in her mission.

“It takes a lot of work to lead an organization like this, especially when you’re in the … cross-hairs, so to speak or under extreme scrutiny,” Best said. “I don’t shy away from it. We know it’s happening, but that also means that we have to be particularly careful and sensitive to all of the various people and stakeholders that we’re responsible to, every single day.”

“It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and throw rocks until you’ve been there trying to lead an agency in a city where often, sometimes political agendas might not meet with your public safety interest.”

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.