Seattle City Wire

Former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert believes Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan "had an awakening" when she asked Seattle City Council members to once again properly fund the city's police department after supporting the defund the police movement last year.

Earlier this month, Durkan publicly stated she'd wanted the city council to lift restrictions on police funding and offer incentives to new hires like the city did two years ago, the Washington Times reported. 

"I think she felt the pressure from people living and operating businesses in Seattle," Reichert told Seattle Sounder. "She finally woke up and realized she needs to fund the police department because the city is falling apart."

Reichert, a Republican, is a board member for Stand with Cops, but previously served Washington's 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House. He said he supported Durkan when she sought a position at the U.S. Attorney's Office and was "disappointed" in the direction she went with cutting police funding by giving into "political pressure" and cutting police budgets, he said..

"She didn't have the courage to stand up and do the right thing," Reichert said. 

Reichert encouraged people to get involved and vote for candidates who'll support law and order. 

"One of the most important things they can do is elect people who will support the police department, who understand that 99.9% of police officers are people who want to serve the community, who want to help the community, who want to protect the community, who want to uphold the Constitution, who want to enforce the laws that are put in place by the people of the city, the county, and state," Reichert said. "Elect those people and throw the people out who want to be anarchist, who want lawlessness and chaos."

According to the U.S. Sun, the Seattle City Council cut the police department's budget last year by $3.5 million and put $17 million in community public safety programs. 

Violent crime in Seattle has spiked significantly with June 2021 being the deadliest June since 2008, 770 KTTH reported. 

According to a MSN article, people who are not sworn officers could have been sent to nearly half of the the 1.2 million calls Seattle police responded to between 2017 and 2019, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform said, although the Seattle Police Department disputed those figures.