It appears the results of legalizing recreational drug usage are starting to come in and this is only the beginning.
Seattle has long been a city known for being ahead of the curve, however, a jump in serious downtown crime and open pot smoking are threatening to open a rift between police and politicians that could heavily damage the city’s image.
Executive Director of the Downtown Seattle Association, Kate Joncas, says, “We were getting more and more comments from people who are working downtown, owning a business, living downtown or visiting, that they just weren’t feeling comfortable anymore.” Joncas wrote a letter to the city council saying the level of violence downtown was unacceptable and was putting Seattle’s economy at risk. However, one business not hurting is marijuana sales. While pot is now legal statewide for recreational use it is still against the law to smoke it in public. Whether at the annual hempfest event or on the streets downtown, it remains a law that is largely ignored by both the public or the police.
Meantime, violent crime in the downtown business district has jumped. Seattle police have been accused of de-policing and City Attorney Pete Holmes levied the charge, saying there was evidence officers were no longer dealing with nuisance crimes like urinating in public and open drug use. Officers however are turning the tables saying Holmes, an ardent supporter of legalizing marijuana, wouldn’t prosecute even if they did enforce the laws. Holmes calls that a cop-out. “If you ever hear an officer saying, ‘I’m not going to enforce the law because of x, y or z,’ I don’t care what the reason is, recognize that you got an admission that they’re not doing their job,” Holmes said. He does acknowledge that the city asks a lot of the officers. Under the mayor’s Center City Initiative, police are required to direct many of the poor and mentally unstable offenders into social service before arresting them for their crimes.
Complicating the issue is the fact that the Department of Justice found the Seattle Police Department frequently violated civil rights by engaging in a pattern of excessive force. The city entered into a consent decree and is now under the watch of a federal monitor. In a preliminary report, police reformer Merrick Bobb said there was significant resistance to his oversight and troubling rumors of de-policing among the rank and file officers.
Police Chief Jim Pugel denies his cops are turning a blind eye, yet he also argues his officers’ hands are frequently tied by City Hall. “We do have somewhat of a fickle group of folks that we serve,” says Pugel, “They want order, they want crime-free areas, but they want it done in a particular, what we call the Seattle way.”
Seattle officers are not allowed to speak with reporters on the record but in an off the record interview, several said that while there’s not an organized effort to de-police, cops are less willing to enforce the so-called quality of life crimes, saying elected leaders, including the city attorney, don’t have their back.