Seattle will henceforth be known as Gotham City.
Seattle’s Murder Boom
Homicides hit a record, as the cost of ‘defund the police’ persists.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ
Dec. 20, 2023 6:29 pm ET
Once the dogs of disorder are unleashed in a city, it can take years to recover. A case study is Seattle, which is hitting a homicide record this year after a long political assault against police. The Emerald City recorded its 71st homicide this month, tying the record set in 1994. The violent crime rate reached a 15-year high in Seattle last year, though the city is on track for a modest improvement this year.
But murders are the exception, amid an increase in general lawlessness. The Seattle Times reports that this year’s killings “span the gamut of gang-related shootings, domestic-violence killings, violence in homeless encampments, road rage, drug- and prostitution-related killings, and homicides resulting from drug use or mental health crises.”
The crime surge follows the City Council’s votes to cut police funding, and an exodus from the police force. Some 600 cops have retired or resigned since 2020. As of Nov. 30 Seattle had 919 deployable officers, the fewest since at least 1991. There aren’t enough officers to cover all high-crime neighborhoods.
The hopeful news is that voters are fed up with the bloodshed. Candidates running on a law-and-order mandate won six of nine seats on the next City Council in the recent election, with another seat set to be vacant in 2024. Dan Strauss, one of the two remaining progressives, admitted in his campaign flyers that “defund the police was a mistake.”
Mayor Bruce Harrell has launched a police-recruitment campaign that includes hiring bonuses of $7,500 for new officers and $30,000 for experienced cops. City Attorney Ann Davison has done yeoman’s work in ending impunity for Seattle’s worst recidivists.
A continuing obstacle to order in the streets is that progressives have found ways to undermine criminal justice even as their political influence wanes. The Seattle-based nonprofit Northwest Community Bail Fund advocates “for an end to pretrial detention and to abolish the prison industrial complex.”
It has raised more than $7.7 million since 2020 and has posted bail for hundreds of defendants, including some with lengthy or violent criminal records. Some of the fund’s beneficiaries have later been charged with violent crimes, including murder.
Seattle is stepping back from the abyss thanks to voters, but this year’s murder count shows how hard it can be to restore public order when politicians treat police worse than they do criminals. It’s been a costly lesson.
Comments