Durkan urges Seattle City Council to lift hiring restrictions on police amid wave of shootings

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is asking the city council to remove the $7.5 million in restrictions it placed on the Seattle Police Department’s budget in hopes that the department will be able to solve its current hiring crisis.

In addition to lifting the restriction, the ordinance Durkan sent to the council Thursday would reinstate the hiring bonuses — $15,000 for transfers and $7,500 for new recruits — the council nixed last year.

Following a summer of tempestuous protests over the murder of George Floyd, the council slashed the department’s budget by nearly 20%, cutting tens-of-millions from overtime, salaries and other items. Those cuts came amid an exodus of police officers. According to a recent report from the mayor’s office, the department has lost 286 sworn officers since June of last year.

Durkan hopes the ordinance will allow the department to recruit enough officers to meet its 2021 hiring goals.

"We don’t need to rehash the budget debates of last year on defunding, cuts, and out of order layoffs," she said in a news release about the ordinance. "But Chief Diaz needs to act to address the current real hiring and staffing issues while we continue to advance alternatives that are critical to reimagining policing."

Adding to the urgency, gun violence is on the rise in the region. Data from the county prosecutor’s office shows that, in the first six months of this year, 196 people were shot and 42 of them died of their injuries. The number of deaths represents a 48% increase over the average for the same six-month span in 2017 through 2020, and the number of total shooting victims represents a 61% increase over the average.

In the last week alone, police say 13 people have been shot in Seattle and five of them died have died from their injuries. Twelve of the 13 people were shot between Friday night and Monday morning. The latest shooting happened Thursday afternoon, when police say a 21-year-old man was shot in the torso near Ella Bailey Park in Magnolia.

The recent wave of shootings has sparked renewed community focus on the staffing problems the Seattle Police Department is facing. A day after Durkan sent the ordinance to the council, an association representing local grocery and convenience stores said its members fear for themselves and their customers.

Tammie Hetrick, the president of the Washington Food Industry Association, said the city’s policy decisions have directly resulted in fewer police and longer response times to emergencies.

"Simply put, we need the city council to work with the Seattle Police Department to bring staffing levels up in a way that meets basic levels of public safety," Hetrick said in a news release on Friday. "Action must be taken to increase the number of police available to respond to emergency calls in a timely manner. The current response times are simply unacceptable. When you call 9-1-1, you expect a timely response."

Ty Kwon, who manages Belltown Market, told KING 5 that he’s made hundreds of calls to police but said officers either don't show or arrive too late.

"I'm 53 years old and I have to fight more now than when I was in high school," he said. "It's crazy."