SPD Suffering from Lack of Officers?

Posted Thursday, December 3, 2015 by Andrew Charles Huff

Are Seattle Police Officers slow to respond to property crimes such a vehicle prowls? If so, the blame might be a shortage of available officers. What most people might not realize is the Seattle Police Department simply doesn’t have the personnel to respond to certain reports of crimes. Seattle police union President Ron Smith describes the precincts as “staffed to the bare bones.” Smith noted that when he started with the department 22 years ago, each squad routinely had 12 to 14 patrol officers. Now he says there are often only five or six patrol officers per squad. He says SPD just doesn’t have the bodies needed for a police force. Unfortunately, this is becoming a true safety issue for Seattle.