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Seattle's police chief said she's resigning because of a 'lack of respect' paid to her officers and not budget cuts

carmen best
  • Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best explained why she was resigning at a Tuesday morning press conference.

  • Best announced her resignation on Monday, hours after the City Council voted to defund her department by $3.5 million, but she said her decision to leave "is not about the money."

  • "It really is about the overarching lack of respect for the officers — the men and women who work so hard, day in and day out," Best said at the Tuesday press conference.

  • The $3.5 million cuts make up less than 1% of the police department's $409 million annual budget, but the city council signaled more cuts would come.

  • Best did not go into further detail in her comments, but the Seattle police have had a tumultuous past few months patrolling the city's Black Lives Matter protests.

  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Seattle's outgoing police chief told a news conference on Tuesday that she is resigning not due to budget cuts to her department, but because of a lack of respect for her officers.

Chief Carmen Best, the first Black woman to lead the Seattle Police Department (SPD), announced her decision to resign on Monday, shortly after the City Council voted to reduce her department's budget by $3.5 million and suggested that more cuts would come soon.

This led many to believe that Best, who was an outspoken critic of the proposed cuts, was resigning in protest. But during the press conference, she said that wasn't the case.

"This is not about the money. And it's not about the demonstrators," Best said, referring to Black Lives Matter protesters who assembled outside of her house earlier this month.

"Be real. I have a lot thicker skin than that. It really is about the overarching lack of respect for the officers — the men and women who work so hard, day in and day out."

defund seattle police

Best did not go into further detail about what she meant by a lack of respect for her officers, but the Seattle police have had a tumultuous few months as they policed Black Lives Matter protests in the city in the wake of George Floyd's death.

For nearly a month, protesters took over the area surrounding the SPD's East Precinct building, kicked officers out, and designated it a police-free zone, which they named the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP).

Best also told Tuesday's press conference that she couldn't bring herself to let go of 100 officers, as the City Council's Monday resolution called for, KIRO 7 reported.

She read a letter written to her by a Black man who recently became a police officer, saying she couldn't bring herself to lay him off.

"He is one of the people that will probably not keep a job here. And that for me, I'm done. Can't do it," Best said, according to KIRO 7.

Outside of the press conference, a KING 5 reporter asked if her decision had anything to do with the City Council's initial proposal to cut her salary by six figures. Best said it wasn't.

In the end, they City Council reduced Best's salary, but only by 6%, according to KOMO News.

"If people think on any level that I'm here for the money, forget it. That's not the case. I can make more in other places," she said.

"The fact of the matter is I love the city, I love the police department, and I would stay if I thought it would help us. But I really don't at this point, the relationship is fractured."

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