Thank you in advance for taking a few lawsuits off Seattle's hands, Bellevue.

I'm in agreement with Major Tarantino - it's not a big deal. Certainly not worth much of The Stranger's scarce resources.

Everyone involved, including The Stranger, appears to be fumbling the laterals.

Awe poor police :,(
Seattle won’t let them tear gas peaceful protestors or mace old women.. what ever will they do?
I guess they can still shove reporters to the ground with their riot shield and watch the camera go smash brr

Bellevue is welcome to them. I hope those cops understand that Bellevue is much more racially diverse than Seattle.

Fuck the police, and especially fuck the Bellevue pigs.

The Mall isn't going to protect itself!

@3 Which is to be expected, of course. In the modern game, laterals are the hallmark of chaotic last-ditch plays ending in failure.

"police officers from the Seattle Police Department to the BPD"

If I were a black person living or working east of the lake, I would be "in fear for my life" and would already be looking for a different place to work and live. And as a white person, it's not that safe, either. Just glad I don't have reason to ever go across the "floating bridge".

Not safe to be within 20 miles of anyone who's ever been on the Seattle police force. No way no how.

What makes everyone think it's the bad cops that are leaving? Whenever an organization is floundering and lacking leadership it's the high performers that leave first because they have options.

@10 Police departments aren't anything like the sketchy software startups you're used to.

There aren't any of these "high performers" you're trying to valorize to begin with. The best police officer is the most boring one, the one who performs their duties according to their training with the greatest consistency.

Even if there were some sort of supcop out there who could produce 150% more lines of javascript than the other cops, police compensation is on government-set pay scales. When a cop quits, there aren't any offers out there at 50% higher pay with stock options.

The SPD officers who are leaving are the ones who feel disprespected when they're told they're not allowed to beat the crap out of protesters anymore, even if they their professional on-scene assessment is that the little shits deserve it.

@13 since when does high performance = productivity/pay? As you state in your own post the best cop is the one that does his job with the most consistency and is "boring". Do you really think those cops aren't the ones who are leaving? That seems like wishful thinking at best.

@14 Why would they leave?

Since Bellevue is 1000% nicer than Seattle, with few campers and druggie wastrels, I suspect the cops in Bellevue actually enforce the laws. As a resident, I welcome police who will enforce the laws.

Wow, Rich will get butt hurt over anything won't he.

@16 I thinks that's all very obvious to anyone who pays any attention but since this is a discussion forum I'll bite. Since the council has publicly stated their goal is to eliminate half the dept it would be smart to be proactive and look for a new role to protect their ability to support themself and their family. Especially when it's unclear what process will even be used to determine layoffs. Throw in the completely toxic environment that they deal with on a daily basis and I'd be more curious why they aren't leaving (hint: it's probably because they are either close to collecting their pension and retiring and/or have performance issues which makes a lateral transfer difficult).

@21 Good cops don't run away from their jobs every time the political winds shift.

There is no 50% cut in the SPD budget for the current year. There is no reason to think it will be politically viable next year. There is no reason to think any other city's police budget will be more secure than Seattle's in the next legislative cycle or beyond.

If we're losing these cops you imagine, cops who preemptively put a questionable improvement in their personal prosperity above their sworn duty to serve and protect, then we're definitely not losing our best cops.

@21: "Since the council has publicly stated their goal is to eliminate half the dept it would be smart to be proactive and look for a new role to protect their ability to support themself and their family. Especially when it's unclear what process will even be used to determine layoffs."

Indeed, our Council has made it clear they will violate the SPD's contractual layoff structure if they can. Imagine your job stability being dependent upon whatever CM Sawant decides will advance her glorious cause of world revolution this week, and then you'll understand why SPD officers with higher career mobility may leave.

(And if anyone says I'm being hyperbolic, her Showbox nonsense directly countermanded over a decade of coherent policy which successive Councils had made for that parcel. There's simply no reason for any city employee to feel safe with such behaviors from our Council.)

19, these are some intense looking Paul Blarts: https://static.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/05312020_bellevue_203013-780x509.jpg

@22 I think this is a bit more than the political winds shifting. We're not talking about a few new policy regulations. This is a direct threat to their ability to support their families. I tend to agree with you that the council overcommitted and there is no way they will ever get close to 50% nor be able to go down the road of layoffs that are not collectively bargained but if we were in their situation would you be willing to stake your livelihood on it? I doubt many of us would. I think you're also being naive if you think the political environment in Seattle is not any different that Bellevue, Everett, Spokane or any of the other cities that are actively recruiting SPD personnel right now. I guess we can agree to disagree and time will ultimately tell what happens here but I would hope the one thing we can agree on is these aren't just "bad" cops that are leaving SPD because they enjoy tear gassing people. There are officers leaving for a variety of reasons and some of them are the people we should want protecting us.

@25:

And yet, they're going to have some pretty serious sticker shock when they realize they're not going to make anywhere near the amount of overtime in Bellevue: no sporting events to earn $70 an hour waving their hands at slow moving cars, a lot less construction work to pad out their hours, and definitely fewer heads to bust; plus, they won't get to wear their Judge Dredd costumes on a regular basis. I'll bet BPD will even require them to do their report write ups during regular shift hours. OTOH, the commute from their homes in Snohomish or Mill Creek or Fall City or wherever will probably be shorter, so there is that.

@26 if you recall the council already committed to ending all OT this year anyway so that’s gone either way. Although I’d wager they’ll end up going back on that one as well. As anyone who has worked somewhere toxic can tell you going someplace you are actually valued is it’s own form of compensation.

@17, "officer in distress"? You're ridiculous. You're talking as though having one's ego challenged is equivalent to getting shot in the chest.

@26: You left out all of the OT which Seattle paid to SPD officers for demonstrations. Seattle pays far more for police to host demonstrations than just about any municipality in the state, I'd bet.

“ Bellevue is 1000% nicer than Seattle,”

Ok, Karen. It’s nice to know you found your safe space.

and then karen
there's taiwan
where no one
spits on the
streets

twice

@26:

I thought that was implied by "fewer heads to bust", but I suppose I could have been more explicit.

@32:

Your feigned concern is duly noted. Now fuck off, troll.

@33: Seattle saw many BLM protests without any "heads to bust," so no, one did not imply the other.

It seems not to have occurred to everyone here that the dependable, staid, 'boring,' experienced police officer we all want to have serving us might just be the first one to leave our city of high overtime and multiple events, for a quiet job in a town with lower cost of living. (Especially if that town's leadership is also so staid and boring, it doesn't grandstand to wacko activists at every possible opportunity.)