SEATTLE – Seattle politicians and activists believe black or Native American criminals should get a pass from criminal activity. The sentiment comes after a new report by the federal monitor that oversees the department. The report noted that use of force is historically low and declined 33% between 2015 and 2019 and almost 50% between 2015 and 2021. The force analyzed included lower force options such as handcuffing.
While the report should have been a positive for the agency, activists and politicians complained that the report was proof that the agency was systemically racist because blacks and Native Americans had force used on them at a higher rate than their population percentage.
The report stated that “the distribution of use of force across races does not resemble the racial makeup of Seattle, with Black subjects and American Indian subjects comprising a larger portion of use of force subjects when compared to their share of the population.”
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell says the data is “troubling” yet simultaneously claims he’s not pre-judging the data.
“It’s troubling that people of color, in particular African Americans, are still the recipient of force in disparate numbers,” Harrell told KOMO. “I’m not going to prematurely reach any conclusions but as you well know, I drafted and passed a biased-free policing law, so this is near and dear to me.”
Travis Yates, author and trainer of “The Courageous Police Leader,” called the allegations one of the biggest scams in American History.
“The idea that police activity should mirror the demographics of a population is an argument that holds no significance and considered ‘junk science’ in the scientific community. The fact that media outlets including their political allies continue to use this as an example of systematic racism shows an unbelievable amount of corruption and lies that are designed to sew discord and distrust between law enforcement and the communities that they serve,” Yates told us.
Indeed, Seattle is one of the most dangerous cities in America and that violence increased 20% in the previous year so the fact that in the midst of this violence, law enforcement used less force should be applauded.
But the narrative of racist cops is so important, officials can’t stop lying about it.
It is difficult to know the racial makeup of who is committing violence in Seattle because those that preaching that disparity always equals racism don’t want anyone to see the disparity in crime. After all, shouldn’t crime be committed by the exact racial makeup of the city?
That idea may seem nice if we lived in Disneyland but we live in reality and reality is far different than demographic parity.
As an example, African American males make up approximately 4% of the population in Seattle but are suspects in 55% of the homicides.
While the mayor, media, and lying politicians continue to scream racism, the federal monitor actually noted that “the distribution of use of force across races, however, is nearly identical to the distribution of arrests across races. For 2019 to 2021, White subjects represented 55% of arrests and 54% of uses of force; black subjects represented 36% of arrests and uses of force; Asian subjects represented 5% of arrests and uses of force.”
There you have it.
Rather than be honest and report on what the Federal Monitor actually said, those that we should be trusting for accuracy and honesty are going out of their way to scream systematic racism.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell could have praised his agency for showing absolutely no bias in use of force and for the historic lows in the force but rather than telling the truth, he had to virtue signal his trouble with the report.
The monitor made it very easy for him and his media partners by saying “SPD officer use of force roughly matches arrest rates across race.”
Which is exactly what every leader across America should be looking at but don’t hold your breath for that common sense approach.
Screaming racism is a powerful political tool and when you have no ideas to actually help the community, the default position is to blame the very men and women behind the badge that are serving that community.
