Seattle Police Officers Guild president says ‘ignored majority is pushing back’

Seattle City Council will decide whether or not to defund the Seattle Police Department by 50% in just a few days. There was a council meeting Thursday with time for public comment, and one of the many speakers was Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

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“What’s quite clear [is] that there is an activist class that is deeply entrenched in the political public safety conversations here, and they bombarded the public comment line,” Solan said about Thursday’s hearing. “It was close to 300 people.”

Solan is confident, however, that there are a number of people against defunding the police, and he has the signatures to show the support.

“In 36 hours, we have over 20,000 signatures that are being used to push against this defunding nonsense and tell the Seattle City Council ‘no’ on their defunding, naive, dangerous proposal of removing 50% of our budget,” he said.

The petition is being held for now until it reaches as many signatures as possible, but then SPOG may release it to the city council.

“We may possibly release this to the city council to show them, hey, we’re not being controlled by the unreasonable activists that you’re governing to, and I call it governing by Twitter. This is the majority, the ignored majority I talked to and referred to,” Solan said. “The reasonable majority of Seattle citizens and residents across this region that are showing support for law enforcement, saying no, no more, no more of your unreasonable activism.”

Dori’s concern is that a petition won’t change the mind of the councilmembers, but Solan is keeping a glass-half-full perspective.

“When we come in heavy with thousands and thousands of signatures to say no more to your unreasonable activism, that just paves the way for future issues such as referendums, or you name it,” Solan said.

The council’s next vote is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 3.

“Now, if they punt due to the political public backlash, it wouldn’t be surprising,” Solan said. “Because then it shows that the ignored majority is pushing back and their message is being heard. That’s why it’s still so important for people to go to stopdefunding.com and sign that petition.”

Right now, the council has a veto-proof majority, so Mayor Jenny Durkan would not be able to reject the council’s decision. Dori thinks councilmembers would be too scared to flip their vote anyway, citing the possibility that people could come to their houses.

“Anytime you bend to mob justice, it doesn’t do anything positive for our society,” Solan said. “That’s why I’m so positive about this. In 36 hours, we have over 20,000 signatures. The ignored majority is saying ‘no more,’ and they will not bend to the mob. When we bend to the mob, we lose as a society. We lose as a nation.”

“These unreasonable activists, the loud fringe is what I refer to them as, that dictate public safety political discourse in this city are [only a] small microcosm of our community. But they’re very loud and they’re violent,” he added. “But it’s going to take people to stand up, to say enough is enough. Hopefully, these political leaders have courage to say no more.”