Quote:Seattle police officers were effectively forced to abandon the city’s East Precinct after protesters overtook the six blocks surrounding it. The area has now become an “autonomous zone,” known as the CHAZ, and protesters are refusing to abandon it until government officials meet a list of their demands.

The demands include the total abolition of law enforcement and youth prisons and dropped criminal charges against all protesters, some of whom have been violent rioters. Meanwhile, Seattle officers are reporting complaints that they’ve received from residents within the CHAZ who are being forced to show ID or leave their homes. And businesses are allegedly being extorted by protesters demanding that they join the cause or get out.

It’s difficult to determine how much of this is true. Protesters have pushed back on the police reports, arguing that all demonstrations have been peaceful. But the fact is: You can’t commandeer an entire section of the city without forcing your way into it and forcing others out of it.

What we do know is that Washington officials have completely lost control of the CHAZ, and they won’t get it back without exerting force. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has tried to negotiate with these protesters without success, and the protesters haven’t shown signs of budging. Peaceful or not, this is anarchy. And the only reason Seattle protesters have gotten away with it is that law enforcement hasn’t been able to challenge them.

This is what happens when you remove policing from the picture. If we do not have a way to enforce our laws, then any number of citizens could do what these protesters are doing and create their own autonomous zones, make up its rules, and force other citizens to obey them. Last I checked, we considered such behavior unacceptable.

And it is, which is why Democrats and other activists should think twice before supporting “defund the police,” a movement that would ultimately like to see law enforcement abolished or at least crippled. If this movement has its way, the lawlessness will not stay in Seattle. It will spread, and it will lead to violence.

President Trump has warned Durkan and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee that if they do not restore order, he will. And so began the political back-and-forth, with Inslee rebuking Trump and Durkan telling him to “go back to [his] bunker.” Meanwhile, the majority of people are looking at Seattle and wondering if there’s still an adult in the room.

There are, in fact, multiple adults in the room, but Durkan has effectively forced them out. She needs to let the Seattle Police Department do its job and restore order or else lose part of her city to protesters who have no interest in playing by her rules.

Link

The longer this lasts, the more it will be replicated.

The quicker this is stopped, the sooner others will end their plans to do it.

I bet it don't spread to here.

Quote:Private security contractor Denise Bamba remembers the point last week when she couldn’t get off the telephone.

It was the Monday after weekend protests occurred in downtown Seattle over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Fortress Security Services, co-owned by Bamba and her husband, Deschamps, was besieged by local businesses seeking armed guards to protect their property.

“My phone shows I logged more than 200 calls that day,’’ said Denise Bamba, adding the couple turned down numerous requests because the company didn’t have enough guards.

Other security companies also reported an uptick in protection requests from businesses of all sizes and residential complexes downtown, in Capitol Hill, Pioneer Square and even Redmond, West Seattle and Tukwila. Fueling the surge, they say, are fears police consumed with controlling protests won’t prioritize property protection.

The push toward private security began during the coronavirus pandemic closures, with businesses fearing break-ins on abandoned streets. It continued even as businesses reopened, with staff sometimes encountering unusually hostile customers seemingly stressed out by the pandemic. Then, things really took off once the protests began.

Deschamps Bamba said commercial construction sites are the company’s fastest-growing clients as vandals and thieves “take advantage of the current climate.” Higher-end residential clients have also sought beefed-up security, including two apartment complexes near the Capitol Hill protests.

“People understand that all of the police resources are geared towards the protests,” he said. “It leaves all of these buildings vulnerable to break-ins and causing problems.”

There’s often little to differentiate private security guards — many hailing from military or law-enforcement backgrounds — from actual police officers, though state law requires they wear at least two visible “security” identifiers. The guards typically sport bulletproof vests over dark uniforms while driving stylized patrol cars bearing high resemblance to police vehicles.

But while some carry weapons including pepper spray, batons, Tasers, pistols and even rifles, many security companies are acutely aware of the stigma attached to excessive force. They train guards to practice “verbal judo” to de-escalate tense situations by talking to people and treating them with respect and courtesy.

And when hired for armed jobs, the companies preach that weapons only be used as a last resort.

The state requires firearms certification for guards carrying guns and generally allows them to use weapons only in self-defense or when a serious felony is being committed.

Chris La Due, co-owner of Homeland Patrol Division Security, said his company’s phones were “ringing off the hook’’ with calls from downtown and Capitol Hill businesses seeking last-minute, urgent protection for “just a few days” once protests began.

Company co-owners La Due, Josh Stivers and Steve Pansini all have former military or law-enforcement backgrounds, as do some guards. But while the company offers armed security, none of its guards deployed throughout the Seattle area — even in places where protests have occurred — currently carry weapons.

The company has its guards go through classes on cultural diversity to avoid racial profiling and other problems that unnecessarily inflame situations.

The guards are taught to never take an aggressive, forceful approach to removing vagrants or other trespassers from a property.

“You start off by saying, ‘How are you doing sir?’ How can I help you today?’ Security is very, very much customer service,” Stivers said.

Business is booming: The company saw a new client surge during the coronavirus shutdowns from apartment complexes, department store chains and small business groups.

Homeland temporarily offered free services to 25 smaller businesses to “give back” to the community. While the intent wasn’t to land them as permanent customers, the company said some short-term clients do stay longer after having their eyes opened to the benefits of private security. Once the protests started, some existing clients ordered extra patrols.

“You talk to probably any business owner in the downtown core, they’ll tell you just straight up that Seattle police response time is not the best,’’ Stivers said of nonemergency calls like property crimes. “It’s slow if it isn’t fire, flood or blood. And I don’t think it’s only Seattle, but just the general response time when you call 911 — it’s a slow response.’’

While Seattle police statistics show they take about six minutes to respond to top priority emergency calls, they’ve conceded their response to lower priority cases — including burglary and property theft — could be better. The median response time for Priority 2 calls — including in-progress property crimes or those that have just happened — was 18 minutes last year, compared with 13 minutes in 2014.

For lower Priority 3 and 4 calls — including break-ins that didn’t just occur — the median response time last year was 49 minutes, compared with 35 minutes five years ago. Police have largely attributed the decline to declines in staffing amid increased crime in a growing city.

Link

You keep chugging on those taxes as well folks. Who'd you vote for last go around? Who ya gonna vote for this go around?

(06-12-2020 05:27 PM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  I bet it don't spread to here.

I bet it spreads here to Portland... Can't wait for the fuckery

Well, the dumb Mayor of Denver yesterday said that those arrested for curfew violations will not be charged. What was the point of putting in a curfew then? They had said that they were only arresting on curfew charges people that were causing trouble. At least give them a $100 citation. It would help with the city budget, which is in shambles due to covid and the rioting.

I didn't have too much bad to say about our Dem leadership until that came out.

OK, next time we have rioting in Denver and the city places a curfew into effect, the bad actors will just say 'I'm not worried at all. They won't enforce it.' Just like a child learns if rules are not enforced, they move farther out of bounds just to test things.

Oh hell, I may have been wrong. They have now threatened to take the capital in Nashville.

Gov Bill Lee said, uh, no you ain't.

Can't wait. I think they may be seriously underestimating the good ol' boy factor.

As long as they do it in leftist utopias I don't give a pshit.