SPD Chief Best: ‘Policing will never be the same’ in wake of protests

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best stated over the weekend that she believes large scale changes could be coming to police departments across the country in the days ahead.

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Speaking to Face the Nation on CBS, Best detailed “an epiphany” she came to at Saturday’s silent march in Seattle organized by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County.

“This is a pivotal moment in history,” she noted. “We are going to move in a different direction, and policing will never be the same as it was before.”

One of the demands from protesters, which has come up frequently, involves qualified immunity, a regulation that shields police officers from legal liability for actions performed while in the line of duty.

When asked where she stands on the measure, Best declined to take a position, but did note that “the considerations of the public need to be infused in whatever that outcome is.”

Other changes to the Seattle Police Department already appear to be underway. On Friday, a judge granted a temporary restraining order against SPD on the use of tear gas, flash bangs, and other crowd dispersal methods during protests.

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Meanwhile, Seattle City Councilmembers are beginning the process of discussing a more permanent ban on those measures, as well as cutting funding for the department by as much as 50%.

Best did not go into detail on either proposal, but did close by reiterating that “we’re going to change policing.”

“We have to,” she added. “We have to re-imagine how we’re going to move forward as a county and an organization.”

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