When news broke this month that the Seattle Police Department’s sex crimes unit is too short-staffed to properly investigate rapes, some of the city’s left-leaning media outlets rushed to absolve anti-police activists of blame. Instead, publications like The Stranger and The Seattle Times suggested police were the ones failing survivors.
Yet some of the same activists being shielded from criticism have been pushing for the police department’s Sexual Assault Unit to be defunded since at least last fall.
Oops.
In September 2021, activists unveiled their 2022 “Solidarity Budget,” which called for a 50% reduction in funding for the police department’s Sexual Assault Unit. The budget proposal was endorsed by a long list of Progressive groups, including the King County Young Democrats and the King County Department of Public Defense.
The budget claims that prosecution of rape cases “does not work for the vast majority of survivors, especially Black, Indigenous, migrant, criminalized, young, drug-using, disabled, homeless and sex working survivors who do not call the cops because they are more likely to get a negative or no response.” Writers argue that the work of the sex crimes unit “is often used to justify continued police funding.”
It should be noted that the Sexual Assault Unit also handles cases involving child rape and molestation.
So, what would activists do with the $4.15 million they proposed cutting from the unit’s $8.3 million budget? Invest it in community programs.
“Support for survivors of gender-based violence to overcome abuse means ample affordable and decent housing, living wages, paid leave, childcare, access to transportation, health care, counseling, services for children that foster healing from trauma and strengthen resiliency, and civil legal services – all critical services that Seattle has demonstrated support for, but that remain underfunded, especially when compared to the policing budget. People who perpetrate gender-based violence should be held accountable - but arrest and incarceration does not equate to meaningful accountability that truly repairs harm.”
Backers of defunding the Sexual Assault Unit include twice failed political candidate Nikkita Oliver, who was endorsed by The Stranger in 2021 (the same publication now aggressively arguing that activists aren’t to blame for low police staffing and, should you suggest they are, you are “unhinged.” The article was written by Will Casey, a former spokesperson for the Washington State Democratic Party who worked on the campaign of police abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who once called cops “serial killers.” The Stranger also used to employ the Seattle Times reporter who broke the story on low staffing in the Sexual Assault Unit – a story that distanced defund supporters from scrutiny. The same writer actually ENDORSED Nikkita Oliver for mayor in 2017 while working for The Stranger, suggesting Oliver wasn't "that radical." Should anyone really wonder why those writers are so quick to vilify the police and give activists a pass?).
And lest one argue that activists seeking to defund the Sexual Assault Unit this year wouldn't support doing so without alternatives in place, remember that the very same activists pushed for a 50% reduction in the SPD budget in 2020, despite warnings that it would leave the city without a public safety net.
Oliver, a Socialist-endorsed abolitionist, led efforts to try to convince the Seattle City Council to defund the police department in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In fact, Oliver was a backer of the first iteration of the Solidarity Budget that year, which directly influenced proposals introduced in the Seattle City Council.
While the budget the city passed that year failed to meet all their demands, writers of the Solidarity Budget took credit for cuts to SPD.
“This year is the first time in Seattle’s history that we are shrinking, rather than growing SPD’s budget, via eliminating 35 unfilled positions and civilianizing functions like 911 response and parking enforcement. This is a step in the right direction, but it can’t be a stopping point: if we are truly reckoning with how to build healthy and safe communities, hiring new police officers will not help us reach that goal.”
The 2020 debate around defunding, marked by unrest and the abandonment of a police precinct, kicked off an exodus of officers from the city that has left the department short staffed across the board. Any attempt to suggest Seattle’s anti-police climate is not tied to the staffing crisis is negated by countless exit interviews in which officers cite vitriol from politicians, activists, and the press for their decision to leave.
Let me be clear: The Seattle Police Department has a duty to ensure serious cases like rape are investigated fully, even if there are fewer detectives assigned to such cases. It is of paramount importance. But to ignore or downplay how activists who claim to care about survivors have instead made getting justice more difficult is – as I stated in a June 6 commentary – nothing short of media malpractice.
And just in case it needs to be said: The idea of defunding an already short-staffed unit that investigates heinous sex crimes against kids and adults should be seen as the final straw for voters who, until this point, have been too afraid to turn away from Seattle’s activist class.
SOURCES:
BRANDI COMMENTARY: https://twitter.com/BrandiKruse/status/1533927571410264066
THE STRANGER REBUTTAL: https://www.thestranger.com/cops/2022/06/08/74782442/blaming-spd-for-failing-rape-victims-isnt-media-malpractice
2022 SOLIDARITY BBUDGET: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1meeXTETSLaZEwdS9Ec2SF1_aTZOKs1JJhArY3J3wDvU/edit
2017 ENDORSEMENT OF OLIVER: https://www.thestranger.com/news/2017/07/12/25280763/the-case-for-nikkita-oliver
2021 ENDORSEMENT OF OLIVER: https://www.thestranger.com/news/2021/10/13/61926578/the-strangers-endorsements-for-the-november-2-2021-general-election
Washington state Democrats deny there is evidence of capital flight when rich people are targeted for taxation. Apparently, they've never heard of Jeff Bezos. Plus: Trump vs. The Fed. And: Can tariffs replace the federal income tax? Unlikely.
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Seattle’s socialist mayor wastes no time in halting sweeps. President Trump considers Insurrection Act in Minnesota, while administration renews threats against sanctuary jurisdictions. New bills attack the initiative process. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis takes a swipe at Washington in his final State of the State.
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Governor Bob Ferguson says ICE should stop enforcing federal immigration laws, Democrats applaud wildly. Even Governor Gavin Newsom opposes targeting the rich for taxation ... or so he says. Proposed bill would eliminate three strikes for offenses committed by juveniles. High school athlete Frances Staudt joins us from DC.
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These remarks were delivered to the Snohomish County Lincoln Day Dinner on May 17, 2024.
The following remarks were delivered to the Whatcom County Lincoln Day Dinner on March 23, 2024, in Ferndale, Washington.
I struggled with what to talk to you about tonight.
Well, that’s not true. I didn't struggle with what to talk to you about – I struggled with whether I was brave enough to say what I wanted to say.
When I'm invited to speak to groups, I don't want to offend anyone or be too controversial. So, I reached out to a few of your fellow party members to ask whether any topics were off limits or wouldn't go over well with the crowd.
I got some good advice.
Then I decided to ignore that good advice entirely.
Too much is at stake to be polite.
As we sit here tonight, we are in the final battle of a war.
A war that has pit sanity against insanity.
Pragmatism against idealism.
A war that has sacrificed the public good, in favor of a twisted idea of progress.
It's a war that began long before I moved here 15 years ago. It started silently and it was mostly waged in the shadows.
Most of us didn't even realize that a war was being fought. We were too caught up in our own lives and our own problems. ...
There will be no live show today, 1.19.26. Our regular live show will return tomorrow.
FBI AGENT MIKE TEMPLETON(OR HOWEVER HIS NAME IS SPELLED NEEDS TO BE FIRED AND PUT IN JAIL FOR VIOLATIONS OF HIS DUTIES TO THE PEOPLE OF THE USA, FALSIFYING EVIDENCE, THREATENS RAPE UPON POLYEXAMS. THREATENING AND HARMING USA CITIZENS AND THEIR FAMILIES FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE !
THESE FBI AGENTS WHO ARE DOING THIS CRAP NEED TO GO AND PUT IN JAIL NOW !
Scott Ritter "They STOLE My Money!"
