Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County calls Chief Best’s retirement a loss

Late Monday night, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best confirmed she would announce her retirement, following a city council vote to make major cuts to SPD’s budget.

Chief Best says discussion, dialogue necessary to bring change to SPD

Those budget cuts include slashing Best’s salary.

Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County released the following statement after Best’s memo sent to her staff:

Today’s news of the retirement of Chief Carmen Best is a loss.

It does nothing to further our fight for authentic police accountability and the safety of Black lives, that the first Black woman to hold the position of Chief of Police of the Seattle Police Department has been forced out of her job by the Seattle City Council.

Racism is racism.

We demand the Seattle City Council stop prioritizing performative action that solely suggests the appearance of change. We demand transparency and accountability for the series of actions and inactions that led to Chief Best’s resignation. And we demand a successor that serves Black Lives.

Best and Mayor Durkan are holding a 11 a.m. news conference on Tuesday.

SPD Chief Best pens letter to city council after crowd marches to her home

Chief Best’s lawyer says Seattle City Council ‘retaliating’ by reducing her salary

Ron Sims, former King County Executive and former Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, tweeted late Monday night about his disappointment:

As a Black man I found the Seattle City Council’s treatment of Chief Best to be incredibly offensive. They’ll say that they are liberals. It did not give them the license to publically “humiliate” the first African American Woman to be Chief of Police in Seattle’s history.

— Ron Sims (@simsron) August 11, 2020

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