MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) The Seattle City Council adopted a spending plan that envisions reduction of police department's funding by nearly $4 million to meet the demands of anti-racism protesters, Council President Lorena Gonzalez said.
"Reducing the budget of the Seattle Police Department is a response to the calls for advocating for racial justice and investments in BIPOC [black, indigenous and people of color] communities," Gonzalez said in a statement, as quoted by the council's press release on Monday.
According to the press release, the budget of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) will be reduced by "nearly $4 million in cuts, which actualized over a year will equate to an estimated $11 million".
The announced SPD budget spending cuts are far below 50 percent demanded by many Black Lives Matter protesters.
The decision will affect up to 100 officers through attrition and layoffs. Police Chief Carmen Best, the first black woman to lead the SPD, announced her retirement following the city council's decision, as the revised budget also envisioned deep cuts to her pay and to compensations for members of her command staff. Best's retirement will be effective on September 2.
Many cities across the United States have been hit by a wave of civil rights protests that have continued for more than two months following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American male, in the city of Minneapolis. Activists in many US states have been calling to defund police departments.
