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Capitol Hill Community Post | Violent Police Tactics

From Christopher Persons, CEO Capitol Hill Housing

Dear Mayor Durkan and City Council Members,

I am writing to implore you to order the police to immediately cease their use of pepper spray, smoke bombs and flash bombs against peaceful demonstrators on Capitol Hill and throughout the city.

The murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis and the murder of Breonna Taylor at the hands of Louisville police have stoked rage among Americans nationwide that is fully justified in the face of hundreds of years of racism, red-lining, Jim Crow laws, police brutality and slavery.  We at Capitol Hill Housing stand in solidarity with those who are able to march in the streets in protest.

The Seattle Police Department through its use of these dangerous and militaristic tactics is unnecessarily escalating tension and are demonstrating in real-time why these protests are needed.  In addition, tear gas makes its way into buildings causing unwarranted suffering among families, children and others while creating a warzone atmosphere that is especially troubling for our immigrant families and people of color who have felt the brunt of ongoing police brutality.

We have all seen the videos.  The behavior of those police officers who are deploying these tactics is unacceptable.   We denounce this behavior and the use of these tactics and demand that they cease immediately.

 

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4 Comments
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A
A
3 years ago

Absolutely right. The problem, though, is that I don’t think the mayor and police chief actually have the power to do this. SPD is a rogue organization with no accountability to the democratic and legitimate political structure of our city. They proved this by saying that they can’t even order officers to uncover their badges and name patches. This is why we need to immediately defund SPD, if not disband them entirely.

d4l3d
d4l3d
3 years ago
Reply to  A

+ + + .

Nope
Nope
3 years ago
Reply to  A

Tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons are very popular in Europe – look at France fro instance. The demonstrators need to also step up their game – block roads, freeways etc rather than hang out on Pine…

Lola M
Lola M
3 years ago

Defunding the police department is the stupidest demand I have ever heard. After school programs for kids and teens is the best idea.