Seattle has become so dangerous that the city can no longer protect its own employees, with security guards now escorting them after they finish work.
King County's new 'walking bus' will debut on November 15, and see council workers based in Downtown Seattle and nearby Pioneer Square escorted to a nearby train station and ferry terminal each evening.
An announcement on King County's official website says: 'King County is launching a 'Walking Bus' pilot program where county employees can join their colleagues and a Facilities Management Division (FMD) Security Escort each evening walking to the King Street Station and the Coleman Dock from the downtown campus.'
No provision has been made for private sector workers also based in the same area.
The announcement also makes no mention of spiraling crime in the Pacific Northwest city, which has seen a recent 35 per cent spike in shootings this year compared to last, and a 76 per cent increase compared to 2019. Those figures come amid a push among woke residents to defund the police.
But the danger the city fears its workers are in is further underlined at the bottom of the announcement. It states: 'The Walking Bus pilot program is in addition to security escorts offered by FMD Security Officers, who can escort you for several blocks from the building you work in, from downtown buildings to Goat Hill Garage or immediate vicinity bus stops.'
It is unclear how the guards themselves will be able to defend themselves. King County security staff are issued pepper spray and bulletproof vests as standard, having had their batons and handcuffs removed
King County staff will now have an extra layer of protection on their commute home from security guards with the Facilities Management Division. Any city workers employed outside of King County or private sector workers in the area will still be left to fend for themselves on their commutes home
The announcement was made as Carmen Best, the city's first black female police chief, said she thinks the defund the police movement is finally dying out, and that even liberal residents of Seattle want to see more cops.
Best resigned in September 2020 after the City Council slashed the department by 100 officers following pressure from Black Lives Matter protests.
Since then, she said, most people have wanted to see a greater police presence throughout the city – especially after a summer of violent crime that saw shootings in Seattle spike by 35% since the previous year.
Speaking with Fox News, she said, 'You don't hear it as much about defunding the police department. Because people want safety. It doesn't matter what race they are, they want to be able to call 911 and know if they're a victim of a crime that someone is going to show up and try to resolve it.'
King County employees will now have security guards escort them to their cars or public transportation hubs each evening after work amid a spike in crime. The move comes as Seattle's former police chief Carmen Best said that residents are eager to see more cops on the streets
Best resigned in September 2020 after the City Council slashed the department by 100 officers following pressure from Black Lives Matter protests
Unlike Seattle police, however, security guards with the county's Facilities Management Division are only allowed to carry pepper spray and wear a bulletproof vest while on patrol. Police above are patrolling during a Black Lives Matter protest in summer 2020
The Seattle City Council slashed the department by 100 officers following pressure from Black Lives Matter protests last summer. Above, police are patrolling a protest at the time
The Walking Bus program is one of the steps local officials have taken to approach the city's spike in crime, though Best said that moves to reduce police enforcement have far outweighed measures to boost public safety.
When she resigned from her post over a year ago, she said that the city council's budget cuts had left in a 'position destined to fail.' The city cut 100 positions at the time and the force has since lost 250 more, 100 of which were due to a Covid-19 vaccine mandate that forced employees to leave their jobs if they didn't have the jab by October 18.
The city also slashed her salary, which she told Fox News was 'attack on me personally because I was disagreeing with the policies that they were putting out about defunding the department; laying off officers so arbitrarily.'
She added, however, 'that's not the reason I ultimately left. It was that I just couldn't stay there in an organization where they were going to strip so many officers of their jobs.'
Best said that she values the important of recognizing issues in policing and learning from past 'transgressions' that spurred the Black Lives
