Seattle Police Department losing officers at ‘record pace’ amid budget cuts and lack of support

It has been reported that 66 officers had left SPD already this year.

Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers are leaving the job at a “record pace” — with at least 249 people leaving over the past year alone — as statistics show manpower has been declining in recent years, according to union and city officials.

SPD boasted a police force of 1,276 uniformed members at the end of February 2020, but staffing levels dropped by 249 people to 1,027 by the end of February 2021, according to the most recent department statistics available to Fox News.

“Morale is not good, and that’s because we don’t have the political support from our elected officials,” Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan told Fox News. “And as we’re seeing officers flee this area, it’s a direct result of that lack of political support.”

Prior to 2020, SPD’s staffing numbers had already been shrinking, though not steadily and not nearly as drastically.

SPD staffed 1,283 members at the end of February 2019 and 1,367 uniformed officers at the same time in 2018. Personnel numbers remained the same in February 2016 and 2017, with 1,343 each year, statistics show.

“Hundreds” of SPD officers were injured during the riots, elected officials blamed them “for being the instigators,” which further contributed to the decline in police morale.

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“I think that the overall anti-police sentiment has really accelerated the separation aspirations by police officers in this city,” he continued, with “separations” referring to retirements or resignations.

In January, Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz said in a public memo that 50 people were murdered in 2020 – a 61% jumped from the 31 murders reported in 2019 and “the highest number of murders in 26 years.”

So far this year, there have been 1,047 violent crimes reported in Seattle, with seven murders and 614 aggravated assaults, according to SPD statistics.

Speaking to KING5 earlier this week, Diaz said SPD staffing was at “record lows.” Over 180 officers left SPD in 2020.

“We are at record lows in the city right now. I have about 1,080 deployable officers,” Diaz reportedly said Tuesday. “This is the lowest I’ve seen our department.”

Officers often attributed their decisions to leave to the city’s anti-police climate, according to the report.