I feel like there are a couple misrepresentations in your comment: SPD did not send people to DC. They went on their own time. There were 6 of them. Two were terminated after an investigation. For the others, there was not sufficient evidence of any illegal activity to take action. Just being there wasn’t illegal. Don’t think people didn’t take notice, though.
As for the protestors at the governor’s mansion… That has nothing to do with SPD. The state patrol had officers on standby for any violence at the capitol but they weren’t actively on site when people jumped the fence. Still, they responded and had the entire situation under control in 30 minutes. Nobody was hurt. The only damage was a broken gate. I don’t know if anyone was ever charged with anything. I think WSP have revised operating policies as a result. In their defense, nothing like that had ever happened at the governor’s mansion. Ever.
All that said, SPD has some serious issues. They were under federal DOJ oversight for over 10 years as part of a settlement over a pattern of excessive force. It was just lifted in September. I’m not sure it should have been. The fact that 6 officers went to DC for the protests shows that there’s a deep cultural divide between the police and the people of Seattle that they’re supposed to be serving.
I feel like there are a couple misrepresentations in your comment: SPD did not send people to DC. They went on their own time. There were 6 of them. Two were terminated after an investigation. For the others, there was not sufficient evidence of any illegal activity to take action. Just being there wasn’t illegal. Don’t think people didn’t take notice, though.
As for the protestors at the governor’s mansion… That has nothing to do with SPD. The state patrol had officers on standby for any violence at the capitol but they weren’t actively on site when people jumped the fence. Still, they responded and had the entire situation under control in 30 minutes. Nobody was hurt. The only damage was a broken gate. I don’t know if anyone was ever charged with anything. I think WSP have revised operating policies as a result. In their defense, nothing like that had ever happened at the governor’s mansion. Ever.
All that said, SPD has some serious issues. They were under federal DOJ oversight for over 10 years as part of a settlement over a pattern of excessive force. It was just lifted in September. I’m not sure it should have been. The fact that 6 officers went to DC for the protests shows that there’s a deep cultural divide between the police and the people of Seattle that they’re supposed to be serving.