SPD tours the emptied East Precinct (Image: Matt Mitgang)
In a video message posted Thursday she says was prepared for her rank and file officers, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best backed away from the show of unity she has held with Mayor Jenny Durkan over the course of two weeks of anti-police protests here to express her anger in the decision to empty the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine.
“The decision to board up the precinct — our precinct, our home, the first precinct I worked in — was something I was holding off,” Best says in the three and a half minute video, addressing officers. “You should know, leaving the precinct was not my decision.”
Meanwhile, the chief and top SPD brass visited the building Thursday morning for a tour and to assess damage of the graffiti-covered but still very much standing building. Above her, the station’s sign has been spray painted to read “Seattle PEOPLE Department East Precinct.”
As they toured inside, a crowd of neighbors, media, and protesters gathered in hopes of learning more about the fate of the building.
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While critically important to those living and doing business in the neighborhood, and a core element of why the protests are centered here in the first place, the drama around the building is overshadowing larger efforts and progress around police reform and increased equity for Black communities in Seattle as activists and elected officials push to cut SPD’s budget and increase social spending following the nationwide outcry against law enforcement brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd.
Starting Sunday, SPD hastily evacuated the 61,000-square-foot building of equipment, loads of paperwork, and personal items and made a surprise announcement it was pulling officers off the blockade around 12th and Pine. What followed was the formation of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, a few-block, Cal Anderson-encompassing camp and protest zone that now serves as the center for Seattle’s rallies, marches, and actions for Black Lives Matter and anti-brutality protests against police.
https://twitter.com/mmitgang/status/1271128241214877697
Durkan and city officials have maintained the pullback from the precinct was made “as part of the proactive effort to guard against potential damage or fire” after what the mayor said were decisions made by SPD based on “specific information from the FBI” about threats to the 12th and Pine facility and other buildings in Seattle.
Best’s video now seems to counter that narrative. In the speech, Best expresses her anger about the Durkan administration’s “change of course.”
“You fought for days to protect it,” she tells the officers.” I asked you to stand on that line day in and day out, to be pelted with projectiles, to be screamed at, threatened, and in some cases hurt. Then to have a change of course nearly two weeks in — it seems like an insult and our community.”
Chief Best
“Ultimately, the city had other plans for the building and relented to severe public pressure. I’m angry about how this all came about,” Best says.
UPDATE 3:50 PM: In an afternoon press conference, Best elaborated on the situation around the exit of the precinct, describing the process in tactical terms that stemmed from her decision to remove the protest barriers and allow demonstrations to gather outside 12th and Pine.
“We took down the barricades because we really wanted to establish trust,” she said.
But that decision was followed by actions from Best’s command that the chief now says were not approved by her. While she would not pin the decision on her command staff, Best again made it clear she does not intend to take responsibility for the decision to empty the building. “It didn’t come from me,” Best said.
The gymnastics left Mayor Durkan in the awkward position of supporting her chief’s non-decision Thursday afternoon.
Durkan also dismissed talk of her and Best resigning in the wake of the protests. “We thought about a Thelma and Louise moment,” the mayor said, referring to the climatic scene in the 1991 story of two outlaw women on the run.
Given the emerging fractured priorities in Durkan’s office and in Best’s command that resulted in a city police precinct being emptied without either Durkan or Best’s approval, can either leader assure neighbors, Black Lives Matter, or the CHAZ organizers that they aren’t just pawns in a battle over police reform?
Meanwhile, Best’s video also repeated SPD’s concerns about reports of armed checkpoints and mob-like shakedown of businesses in the zone — reports that CHS and others have reported do not include specific investigations or evidence.
“We have heard anecdotally of citizens and businesses being asked to pay a fee to operate within this area; this is crime of extortion,” Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette said Wednesday in a short press briefing, referring to a comment posted to CHS by a purported area business owner. That commenter has not replied to our requests for more details about the allegation and the FBI told CHS Wednesday it had received no reports and no information about that kind of activity in the area.
“If anyone has been subjected to this, we need them to call 911,” Nolette said.
SPD also says it has “been hearing from community members that they have been subjected to barricades set up by the protesters with some armed individuals running them as checkpoints in the neighborhood,” another claim being repeated on social media and in comments on sites including CHS. Accounts from residents describe a small number of people armed with rifles who have been seen serving as guards near parking garages and areas where motor vehicles travel near the camp. In her video, Best also says SPD leaders “have heard” about the armed patrols.
UPDATE x2: The mayor and chief Best said Thursday afternoon that there are no documented reports to back up the stories. The mayor said there has been “some vandalism,” and “a fight,” but nothing serious has been documented. The department had “heard anecdotally” about the reports,” Best said.
Sunday’s show of force by police now appears to have marked a turning point (Image: Noah Lubin with permission to CHS)
Gov. Jay Inslee, meanwhile, also made a statement “about the situation on Capitol Hill.”
“Although unpermitted, and we should remember we are still in a pandemic, the area is largely peaceful,” Inslee wrote. “Peaceful protests are fundamentally American, and I am hopeful there will be a peaceful resolution.”
While directed at her officers, Best’s video was posted by the SPD public information office to its public blog and Twitter accounts. “I understand that my comments in this message may be leaked to the public but I’m not concerned about that,” Best says. “I stand by what I’m saying. We have solid information to believe that anti-government groups would destroy the precinct once we left whether through vandalism or arson.”
Thursday, Best acknowledged that nothing of the sort has transpired and, also, whether she meant to or not, made the case for standing down SPD’s aggressive show of crowd control tactics.
“Today the precinct remains standing,” Best said. “No officers were hurt, no force was used.”
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