Three reasons SPD's response to the ICE protests has been limited so far
And why that probably won't last.
When Los Angeles erupted into a full-scale uprising against ICE last weekend, many expected the same to happen here. While there have been several large demos and militant actions in the previous week, we have yet to witness the same pitched battles between police and protesters seen in other cities or here in years past.
Thus far, the Seattle Police Department has been relatively restrained. That’s not to say we haven’t seen several extreme acts of violence from rank-and-file officers, but there are clear signs that the department’s command is being cautious.
Riot police deployments have been brief, with highly specific objectives. The first was a raid at the federal building, in which several SPD vans rolled up Marion. Cops hopped out, pepper-sprayed someone, and fired off a few pepperballs. Then they got back in their vehicles and left. The handful of Department of Homeland Security officers guarding the building were left to their own devices for most of the day and night as protesters barricaded the exits using Lime bikes, meeting minimal resistance.
The largest deployment was on Wednesday, when a squad of about 100 task force and Community Response Group members rolled down the same hill to clear the way for the fire department to extinguish a dumpster fire. Most of the 1,000-plus crowd fled. Police pushed the rest around for about an hour, then demobilized shortly after 11 pm without fully dispersing the remaining demonstrators. And on Saturday night, SPD sent a smaller group on foot — no bikes this time — to disrupt demonstrators outside the federal building. They left relatively early again.
SPD’s behavior in each of these incidents is a far cry from 2020, when the East Precinct was staffed around the clock and cops would chase protesters around Capitol Hill until the early hours of the morning. Let’s look at some possible reasons why.
Avoiding a 2020 Repeat
Not to give them too much credit, but SPD has likely learned something from the George Floyd protests. Namely, they’ve apparently discovered the simple truth that police escalation makes protests grow.
In 2020, Seattle police pointlessly gassed protesters and pelted us with blast balls for over a week until they burned through millions in overtime and ran out of gas. Rather than deter protesters, this inflamed public sentiment against the cops and attracted more and more people to come to Cal Anderson every night.
Moreover, they had to station hundreds of officers in one place, day and night, where they became targets of demonstrators’ outrage. People were mad at the police, and SPD gave them a constant fresh supply of cops to yell at.
The focus of the protests this time is the federal building in the heart of downtown, rather than Cal Anderson Park, which is much easier to redirect traffic around. From this perspective, the hit-and-run tactics make clear sense. SPD doesn’t want to provoke larger demonstrations in the city center.
Consent Decree Pressure
Another factor that’s almost certainly informing SPD’s tactics now is the federal consent decree. After more than a decade of federal oversight, the department was found to be compliant with nearly all the provisions of the consent decree except for crowd management practices.
In February, the city passed a crowd management ordinance that limits the use of blast balls and tear gas to situations where there are imminent “threats to life safety” and only when the mayor has declared a state of emergency.
The department’s reckless and prolific use of gas and blast balls in 2020 prompted the previous federal monitor to resign in disgust. Many of the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit that was settled for $10 million last year suffered severe burns from the devices.
SPD also amended its crowd control policies to include a six-phase dispersal matrix. The Office of Police Accountability recently disciplined a captain for failing to abide by it during an environmental protest at the Amazon headquarters, and it seems like the commanders of the citywide protest task force are following it so far.
These protests are the first real test of SPD’s compliance with the crowd control portion of the consent decree, so they’re treading lightly because they see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Limited Surplus Officers
While we don’t believe SPD has a “staffing crisis” and reject wholeheartedly any claims to the contrary, it is clear that the reduction in officers since 2020 has affected SPD’s ability to muster hundreds of riot cops on short notice.
In 2020, then-Chief Adrian Diaz formed the Community Response Group to respond to demonstrations. At the time, it had 100 members. Now, it’s a quarter of its former size. The department also has a protest task force composed of patrol officers from various precincts. We don’t know how large it is precisely, but SPD’s response at the federal building last Wednesday probably represents nearly its full strength—about 100 officers.
Will This Change?
Newly hired (but still not confirmed) Chief Shon Barnes has said he will protect the First Amendment rights of protesters against ICE deportations. He claims he’s willing (and fully expects) to “go to jail” for this. That sounds noble, but the flip side is that Barnes, SPD commanders, and city leaders now feel pressured to demonstrate that they can keep protests in line without federal intervention.
Barnes’ words echo those of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who sent swarms of LAPD officers to suppress protests in her city violently, and President Trump sent in the National Guard and Marines anyway.
Last week, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed a joint statement with Governor Bob Ferguson and other city and county elected officials, imploring people to protest “peacefully,” adding that they expect “local law enforcement will manage all protests with professionalism, and without interference from the federal government.”
If serious unrest happens in the city in the coming weeks, it’s not hard to foresee two things occurring. First, Gov. Ferguson will mobilize the National Guard before Trump beats him to it. Second, Mayor Harrell will declare a civil emergency, opening the door for SPD to break out the blast balls and tear gas.
When both of those things take place, the gloves will be off and the Seattle Police Department will be back to its horrible old self, again.