“I want to thank Mayor (Jenny) Durkan for her continued support through good times and bad times,” Best said in a letter to members of the Seattle Police Department received by CNN. “I’m sure the department will make it through these difficult times.”
She said her retirement Sept. 2 will be effective.
Durkan said the city is losing an unequal leader.
“Their grit, grace and integrity have inspired me and made our city better,” Durkan said in a statement. “These last few months, I knew Chief Best was the person to lead our city through this challenging time, to re-imitate politics and community safety.”
Best’s announcement came on the same day that Seattle City Council approved a mid-year budget that would cut nearly $ 4 million from Seattle Police’s 2019-2020 budget of $ 400 million.
“Reducing the budget of the Seattle Police Department is a response to the call to advocate for racial justice and investment in BIPOC communities,” González said.
The reduction to the budget of the police department will be equivalent to $ 11 million over the course of a year, González said, an amount much less than the 50% cut in the budget discussed.
The budget reduction calls for 32 officers to be cut from patrol, specialized units and administrative costs to be reduced, training and travel costs to be cut, victims’ lawyers to be transferred to the human services department and two sworn officers removed from the 911 emergency call center.
The city’s 911 calls include criminal activity 56% of the time, and González said resources and funds could be better distributed by involving other services.
“What we can do is allow our police to concentrate on what they are trained to do and fund service providers who address the more complex issues of housing, substance abuse, youth violence prevention, affordable health care, and more,” he said. se.
The budget has yet to go to Durkan, who can sign it into law, not sign it and allow it to become law or veto, said spokeswoman Kelsey Nyland.
Currently, Durkan is asking the police department to come up with plans to cut up to 50% of their spending in next year’s budget.
Joe Sutton and Jennifer Henderson of CNN contributed to this report.
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