Democratic Mayor Katie Wilson of Seattle is denying she ordered police to no longer arrest drug users Monday after the police union claimed she issued a directive requiring diversion.
Wilson, who won the mayoral election in November on the strength of late mail-in ballots, and Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans campaigned on “progressive” policies to address crime, the Seattle Times reported. Wilson responded to the allegations from the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) during an interview with Fox 13, a Seattle TV station.
“Well, we had we had an interesting kerfuffle this morning around SPD, as I’m sure aware,” Wilson said during an interview with Fox 13 reporter Alexandra Guzman, laughing and later adding, “To me, this whole episode underscores how rumors work, you know. There’s been no policy change, we’ve discussed no policy change and somehow, we woke up to the news this morning there had been a policy change.”
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In a Jan. 1 memo, Chief Shon Barnes of the Seattle Police Department announced that most drug cases would be sent to a pre-trial diversion program, according to Seattle Red, an AM radio station in the city. Evans sent a similar memo, according to the Seattle Times.
“Effective immediately, all charges related to drug possession and/or drug use will be diverted from prosecution to the LEAD program,” the email read. “All instances of drug use or possession will be referred to Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD)—a program designed to redirect low-level offenders in King County from the criminal justice system into supportive social services.”
SPOG president Mike Solan criticized the proposed order, calling “suicidal empathy,” Seattle Red reported.
“The recent naive, ignorant political decision to not arrest offenders for open drug use in the City of Seattle is horrifically dangerous and will create more death and societal decay,” Solan told Seattle Red host Jason Rantz. “It embodies an enormous flaw in those in our community who think that meeting people where they are who are in the throes of addiction, is the correct path to lift them up.”
When Guzman asked about Solan’s comments, Wilson seemed to brush off the criticism.
“Maybe Mike Solan and I need to have a good talk,” Wilson said.
Solan announced in SPOG’s Dec. 31 episode of its podcast he would not be running for reelection as the president of the police union.
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