It's staffing, but it's a little more complex than just COVID/defund the police. This has been a long time coming. The Seattle City Council and previous mayor

It's staffing, but it's a little more complex than just COVID/defund the police. This has been a long time coming. The Seattle City Council and previous mayors have spent many years prior fucking around with public safety. Sawant was calling the police "murderers" well before COVID. If you're a police officer, why would you bother with a city council that is hostile to you and citizens that go along with that enable that? Police officers were already fleeing to the suburbs where they have been paid as well, safer, and governments are slightly more sane. It finally took homeless camps everywhere and random violence/theft to move into the whiter areas of the city for people to take notice.