Will I don't know where you lived in the summer of 2020, but here in Seattle there were indeed riots every day. So daily riots is an appropriate description of that summer

@1 agree.

Will, this isn't a done deal yet. The council still has to approve of the chief as well. I'm pretty sure the progressive wing will be voting no so it will come down to Herbold, Lewis and Strauss.

@1 we call them "cop riots" as they were completely instigated and perpetuated by the members of our community who have a monopoly on violence: the SPD. While it's probably true that about 25% of the population prefers totalitarian solutions to ordinary problems, the rest of us are pretty skeptical of the daily riot definition of the human condition.

@3
Are you suggesting it was the police who smashed the windows of businesses and threw Molotov cocktails into their own vehicles?

Or are you suggesting that smashing windows is “peaceful?”

@1 cops managed that public expression of outrage by using chemical weapons and flashbangs on one part of the crowd, ignoring the other; forming shield walls and baton rushing certain kinds of protesters, containing and monitoring others into a protest zone they could control. They absolutely refused to allow any crowd to march peacefully past the E precinct, preferring to kettle and arrest any group forming outside of the SPOG headquarters or any other place they saw fit. They depoliced the CHOP and funneled vigilantes into the same area, Dude, where you there?

The cops were dealing with rioters who refused to disperse.

They were targeting the most violent protesters in an attempt to separate them from the nonviolent and to protect the nonviolent from the violent.

And this doesn’t even touch on the fact that the Seattle Police Department had absolutely nothing to do with the murder of George Floyd.

There was no reason for the rioters to take to the streets of Seattle as George Floyd was murdered over 1,000 miles away, in a different city, by a member of a different police department.

@7 that's pretty much what Chief Diaz and Bruce Harrell think about the citizens of Seattle: 'shut up, sit down, respect the badge, don't talk back, we know what's best for you'. If you have to deal with the SPD on a daily basis it's pretty obvious they only care about protecting property and enforcing laws that you didn't get to write.

People who actually live here; like those who have to park their car, walk across the street, go to parks, drink in public houses, and don't wear uniforms have to deal with these control freaks who regard them as the enemy. All they want is to define who is 'nonviolent', who is a 'vagrant', who is 'loitering', it's pretty obvious they are after people who look like George Floyd and people in Seattle know this.

@8
" If you have to deal with the SPD on a daily basis...."

....there's a good chance you are a criminal.

Most people in Seattle, most people in America, rarely interact with any police officer.

" it's pretty obvious they only care about protecting property and enforcing laws that you didn't get to write."

Yea that's actually the job description. That is what I as a citizen of Seattle want the SPD to do. Protect property and enforce the law.

And actually I did get to write those laws. By voting for Seattle City Council members, and Washington State Legislators.I had a hand in crafting those laws. I may not agree with them 100% but they are the laws that my chosen representatives have enacted.

Maybe I'm a crazy left coast elitist liberal but I think it's a good thing that we have passed laws; making theft illegal, making assault illegal, making vandalism illegal....

"People who actually live here; like those who have to park their car, walk across the street, go to parks, drink in public houses, and don't wear uniforms:

I live here and while I don't own a car or drive, I do frequent public houses, cross the street, ride the bus, and go to parks, and I rarely ever see a police officer. Actually I think the last time I interacted with an SPD officer was a couple years ago when I saw Sergio Garcia at the salad bar in the Ballard PCC. I stopped and thanked him for his campaign to replace Mike O'Brien on the City Council.

I think it's pretty obvious the Seattle Police Department took the consent decree seriously, as there have been no serious bias incidents in the 12 years since the shooting of John T. Williams.

I'm so happy that you never see cops, I'm guessing your life in Ballard hasn't been criminalized like Che Taylor, Charleena Lyles, ect. Just don't protest in the street, do what you're told, don't act like a person of color, carry on my friend, you're life is charmed.

Che Taylor? Really? He was an armed drug dealer and a rapist actively fleeing from police and posed a threat to the entire community.

Charleena Lyles? Really? An insane person who lured officers into an enclosed place so she could ambush them.

Lumping them in with people like Floyd and Garner, who truly were victims of police abuse, just belittles your cause and drives away any potential allies.

@11 just stop.

What you hear about things on KOMO & KIRO is not the truth.

Were you there actively in the protests or as a legal observer? I assume not, as it was clear as day that the police were the main instigators in the majority of situations in the summer of 2020.

Even outside of active protests, SPD continued to harrass and people they knew were activists while they were even just walking on the street in the middle of the day.

It’s also on record that they purposefully created fake reports of Proud Boys in the area in order to seed fear and distract.

They repeatedly used chemical weapons and blast balls regularly even after there was a ban placed on it, which not only caused physical damage to people (who are more important than property) but also seeped into homes of people in the neighborhood. They have assumed absolutely no responsibility for this.

Good choice... now if we can get back to policing our city, upholding the law, arresting criminals, vagrants and that lot .... we might actually have a city one would enjoy living in. Those of us who pay taxes, own homes, abide the law and expect to be able to walk down a street without violent crime, drug deals, violent protests which trash downtown businesses will welcome law enforcement.

@12... Just stop... you are simply baiting the police and pretending the situation lends itself to singling out an observer from a violent protestor. NEWS FLASH... it doesn't work that way.

Hopefully in the future, there will be "no ban on tear gas, blast balls etc" and they will let fly on violent, law breaking protestors who set fires, destroy property, interfere with the lawful commands of an officer of the court to disperse. If you happen to be in that crowd, you might expect to get sprayed or hit by blast balls or bean bags.... when you walk into harms way... there are consequences,...

@12 “Were you there actively in the protests or as a legal observer?”

Of course not I’ve lived in Seattle long enough to know that LARPing Anarchists like you and pdonahue would use the protests as an excuse to start a riot and reinactment of the WTO protests, just like you do every May Day.

Sounds like you were there so let me ask you what the hell you think you accomplished?

Other than catharsis for yourself all your riots did was help Republicans gain 15 seats in the HoR in 2020, and set back attempts at police reform a couple of decades.

@12 You have to admit @15 makes a lot of good points.

You've done more to shift the balance of power to the republicans than any other group in Seattle history.

Funny how fate tends to bite one in the arse.... we commend you on your fine efforts.