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Police and Public Safety

Mayor Durkan Launches Offensive Against Sawant and CHOP After Protest Outside Her Home

This morning, as police swept the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) of tents, barricades, protesters, and journalists, it become clear Mayor Jenny Durkan was...

Seattle Council Studies Other Cities Defunding Police Departments

Against the backdrop of national discussion around how to reimagine public safety in the United States, Seattle's local government leaders have been moving forward...
Mayor Jenny Durkan flanked by Andre Taylor at Monday press conference on the CHOP shooting. (Seattle Channel)

Mayor Durkan Pledges to Close the CHOP and Reopen East Precinct, Chastising ‘Agitators’

Mayor Jenny Durkan promised to disperse the Capitol Hill Organized Protest and reinstall police inside East Precinct "in the near future" at a press...

CHOP’s Juneteenth ‘Black Out’ Disrupted by Shooting, One Black Man Dead

Black organizers planned a Black takeover or "Black Out" of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) during Juneteenth. However that celebration of Blackness was...
The view of Fifth Avenue with a cordon of police officers brandishing billy clubs protecting the block in front of city hall and a stream of protests headed down James Street.

MLK County Labor Council Expels Seattle Police Guild as Contract Showdown Looms

The Martin Luther King County Labor Council voted Wednesday to remove the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) from its ranks, citing a need for...

Seattle Council Bans Chemical Weapons and Other Brutal Crowd Control Tactics

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) repeatedly tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed crowds during the first two weeks of protests, but the Seattle City Council sought to close...

What Autonomy Can Mean for the Capitol Hill Organized Protest

The power in urban design lies its ability to provide a lens into the future. It allows communities to project themselves, their families, their...
People look on a cordoned off Pine Street just before protesters add "Black Lives Matter Way" in big block letters. (Photo by author)

SPD Hopes to Reclaim East Precinct from CHAZ, but Protesters Say Finders Keepers

Like a phoenix rising from an ashy war zone, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone ("CHAZ") emerged after the Seattle Police Department (SPD) abandoned the East...