Comments

1

So the same council that voted 7 to 2 in support of a resolution to defund the police by 50%, when presented with a resolution to fund hiring bonuses is nervous about such an untested and possibly reckless idea?

2

Bonuses should be limited to new hires who commit to live within the Seattle city limits.

3

Setting aside the underlying issue, why is Herbold so scared to make decisions? Her go-to approach is kicking the can down the road. If it was up to her, we'd still be debating whether to repair or replace the West Seattle Bridge.

4

How long before she demands to speak with the manager?

This kind of unhinged, divorced from reality behavior is absolutely what her Nextdoor loving voter base wanted.

Seattle is getting the representation it deserves. A delusional Karen of a representative is actually pretty on point, the idea that Seattle is a progressive leftist city is outdated. Welcome to Seattle, home of the wealthy entitled suburbanite.

5

"Since March, Nelson has been pushing the idea of allowing the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to offer hiring incentives."

The council has been debating this issue since November 2021. Hannah knows this because she's covered it: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/11/01/62486023/durkans-25000-bonuses-for-cops-is-the-councils-problem-now

6

In light of the potential mental health harm, you should receive hazard pay for attending these (virtual) meetings, Hannah. I cannot f'ing imagine! TY for the reporting

7

@1, @4: The defund side lost, completely and catastrophically, in last November's elections. Defund proponents, including most loudly the Stranger, still haven't comprehended the size and totality of that defeat. Hence their continued attacks upon a duly-elected CM who understands the need to hire, as quickly as possible, more new SPD officers. She crushingly defeated the Stranger's defund candidate, and the Stranger simply will not forgive her for that.

9

how 'bout Incentives
for Mask Wearing when
indicated by Public Health

how 'bout Incentives
for NOT beating up
or mowing down
the Citizenry

like 10% of the last year's
Payouts? that could be
some Real CA$H

just Think of the $avings

10

So Herbold's solution is to hire a "well paid" recruiter to convince candidates to join the SPD? What is this person going to do that isn't being done now? If you do that the recruiter is going to get paid regardless of whether they perform or not and will be a long term expense. Hiring bonuses however only get paid out if someone actually gets hired and completes the training so you may not even spend the entire amount. To the point of whether hiring bonuses are effective the fact that almost every company deploys them to some extent should tell you what you need to do. Based on previous articles Herbold herself wasn't questioning the effectiveness of bonuses but wanted to know if they should be used more widely for other city positions. This whole thing is such a train wreck that is 100% caused by the toxic workplace the previous council created.

11

SPD was overfunded since 2016 but no new hires.

It's the Chief who's not hiring.

Obviously we need to blame Mayor Harrell for the increased graffiti in the U Dist, Wallingford, and Fremont as he jacks up our taxes to subsidize the inefficient downtown.

12

@2: I'd go with that, provided their rent or mortgage was subsided.

15

perhaps some of the more
Hot-headed ones* might be
replaced by less-antagonistic
members of the Community Sup-
porting System Staffers or whomever

as in don't bring tanks and WMDs
to a non-violent neighborhood altercation

Escalation
is not always
Necessary af
help Human Beings -
we're usually pretty Sharp -
figure it out amongst Ourselves

*the Expen$ive af (settlements-wise) ones
or let the Po-po secret ballot the Ranks clean

16

@13 Yes, that's exactly why Nelson doesn't participate in votes of that nature:

"In fact, he [Pedersen] and Nelson both voted no on a resolution to support unionization efforts at Starbucks based on their deeply held belief that the council shouldn’t virtue-signal with resolutions, which typically have no actual power." https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2022/04/01/69771097/councilmember-nelson-wants-signing-bonuses-for-cops-even-though-we-dont-know-if-they-work

I'm not sure why Hannah omitted that explanation in this piece, but it seems like that was an editorial decision intended to make Nelson look bad.

17

"Herbold also noted that her proposal is a bill, and so, unlike Nelson’s resolution, it would actually do something instead of virtue-signaling."

While having the Stranger oppose virtue-signaling by Seattle's City Council would be a really, really, REALLY welcome change, to make this very very VERY welcome change, a change which should be made as quickly and completely as is humanly possible, the Stranger would first need to learn the difference between a Council resolution on a topic over which the Council has no actual say, and a Council resolution on a topic which is very much the Council's core business. It would seem the Stranger still has a ways to go before it learns this distinction.

18

Paying more for cops is not an "unproven strategy".

The LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND works perfectly well when applied to buying apples as to hiring cops.

What is an unproven strategy is sending unarmed social workers out into the field and defunding the police while trying to keep the city safe. We now know this is a proven strategy for disaster as as you can see in crime statistics, homelessness, economic failure and on the streets.


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