Carmen Best and city’s mayor strongly opposed police cuts OK’d by City Council following weeks of Black Lives Matter protests on city’s streets.
Seattle’s Police Chief Carmen Best is stepping down, multiple sources tell the CBS affiliate there, KIRO-TV. One source calls the development “devastating.” The move came to light made the same day the City Council approved reducing the department’s ranks by as many as 100 officers through layoffs and attrition, note’s KIRO’s Gary Horcher: Cuts to the department have been supported by demonstrators who have marched in the city following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but strongly opposed by Mayor Jenny Durkan and Best. Best, the city’s first Black police chief, said in a Monday evening email to the department obtained by KIRO that her “retirement” will be effective Sept.2 and that Durkan has appointed Deputy Chief Adrian Diaz as the interim chief. Council members had approved the cuts Monday. “I am confident the department will make it through these difficult times,” Best said in the email. “You truly are the best police department in the country, and please trust me when I say, the vast majority of people in Seattle support you and appreciate you…. I look forward to seeing how this department moves forward through the process of re-envisioning public safety. I relish the work that will be done by all of you.
