The SPD is not the only department struggling with staffing ‘We’re screwed’ This crime surge is here, and it’s real, and it’s only going to get worse.” And then I think, more importantly, it’s the community that we serve professionally on a daily basis. “And that doesn’t bode well for the current officers that are here, in terms of having a safe environment to work in. ![]() “It’s going to take at least a decade, at a minimum, to get to the level of 1400 to 1500 people at a minimum,” Solan warns. Other law enforcement experts contacted by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH concur. Solan argues it will take a decade to get the department to the staffing it needs to police a city the size of Seattle. Solan doesn’t know how the department will recover at this pace. SPOG projects that number will be 60 by the end of the year. Unfortunately, however, recruitment efforts are not yet delivering results.Īccording to an internal document obtained by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH, the SPD has only recruited or re-hired 41 officers to date. And it’s very difficult, but it’s going to take strong leadership on both sides to get something accomplished to protect the city from a complete disaster.” We’re trying to work through and manage post defunding. ![]() And then they have all these special events, the stadiums, sporting events, concerts, just trying to contain the crowds, traffic, all this stuff. People are getting burned out with just augmenting for patrol watches, because there’s just so much work out there. I mean, we’re already at or below minimum safe status levels every patrol shift. Solan warns that he’s most “fearful of the 350 that are eligible to retire” and that “we’re very close” to a decimated SPD. “These are catastrophic losses,” Solan says. But as of August 28, the SPD only had 877 deployable officers, according to SPOG. ![]() Now, the city revised its numbers down to 1,400. Before the start of the department’s mass exodus in 2019, which was hastened in 2020, city leaders hoped for between 1,500 and 1,600 officers.
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