Seattle Police Officers Guild president says ‘activists are running the show’

Carmen Best announced her retirement from her position as Seattle Police Chief on Tuesday. Earlier this week, the Seattle City Council voted to cut the budget of the Seattle Police Department, which will include a reduction of 100 officers. Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, says the city is not in a good spot.

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best formally announces decision to retire

“We’re not in a good place in our city due to political pandering by the fringe majority of the Seattle City Council that, unfortunately, have our entire reasonable community of Seattle citizens basically at the mercy of their unreasonable activism,” Solan told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show.

Solan is worried about the future of public safety in the city of Seattle, especially with the chief resigning and the potential for even fewer officers when the department is already below minimum staffing levels.

“The unreasonable activism continues day in and day out, and obviously the chief resigning is a blow to the police department. I think it’s a blow of epic proportions in terms of just reasonable public safety service that is being literally taken away by the unreasonable activist group of the City Council,” Solan said.

At a rally Sunday supporting police, officers and the community came together in support of public safety, Solan explained.

“I just hope that our reasonable community holds our elected leaders accountable for [their] hypocritical actions,” Solan said. “And just out of decency and reasonableness. I can’t even wrap my head around the decisions that are being made right now.”

Solan and what he refers to as the “ignored majority” are concerned, which, he says, is why there are 165,000 signatures on SPOG’s website.

“People are fed up, and we have to get active,” he said. “That reasonable community has to get active because the activists are running the show here.”

“We need as many people as possible to put our heads together to try to stop this nonsense, because, Dori, public safety is at grave risk,” Solan added. “We’re already at a time where we’re below minimum safe staffing levels. Crime will spike, and I’m not being alarmist. This is being a realist.”

Solan does believes there is hope.

“There is hope and we [have to] support public safety,” he said. “Let’s come together as a reasonable community to find the light to shine this positive move forward. We can do this together as a community. We can stop this unreasonable activism together.”

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.