‘This is how you lose trust’: Gee and Ursula dismayed after report finds SPD bias possibly escalated May Day rally

A new report from Seattle’s inspector general found Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer bias may have escalated tensions at a May Day rally last year, which resulted in 23 arrests and 16 reported uses of force.

The report found SPD expected violence from protesters and treated them as a single hostile group rather than a mix of community members, activists, and bystanders — a finding KIRO host Gee Scott said sows distrust.

“When you have a department that treats different groups differently at some of these events, this is how you lose some of the trust,” he said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “I also talked about consistency. The City of Seattle needs consistent types of behavior for all parties. That way, in all public safety, everybody feels safe, especially centered around any type of protest. That way, different groups don’t feel singled out, and you’re not in this situation in the first place.”

‘A lot more work that needs to be done’: Ursula disappointed in SPD

After all the reforms following 2020, KIRO host Ursula Reutin was dismayed by how SPD handled the rally.

“The thing that’s so disappointing to me was, Gee, you and I have been wanting SPD to do well after they’ve had horrible leadership,” she said.

“After a decade under federal oversight, Seattle police were declared compliant, the whole system was rebuilt, policies were rewritten, officers were trained to fix these issues with the use of excessive force or biased policing, supposed to have improved accountability, and then you get this report that identified 66 contributing factors and issued 24 recommendations to prevent repeat incidents,” she continued. “So, it sounds like it’s a lot more work that needs to be done.”

Even so, Gee remained optimistic about SPD’s path forward.

“Listen, SPD, we ain’t giving up on y’all. A minor setback, but it’s all good. We’re gonna get through this. You’re gonna learn, sometimes when you know better, what you’ve got to do,” he said.

“I’m gonna guess, though, that the people who were on the receiving end of this are thinking, ‘This is not just a minor thing.’ It’s like, ‘No, you need to do better,'” Ursula responded.

Event organizers sue Seattle, Harrell

In October, the organizers of the conservative Christian rally announced they were suing the City of Seattle and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell after the May Day event turned violent. They claimed the city’s permitting process forced their Mayday USA event out of downtown and into Cal Anderson Park, the heart of the city’s LGBTQ+ community.

The group held a permitted event that quickly descended into chaos after protesters, some masked and dressed in black, allegedly assaulted attendees and police. Russell Johnson, the lead pastor at Pursuit NW, demanded Harrell resign.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.