http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/2...trations-with-citys-politics-report-says.html
Seattle cops flee the force in 'mass exodus' due to frustrations with city's politics, report says
At least 41 cops have left the Seattle Police Department this year, many of them reportedly citing frustration with the city's politics and a perceived lack of support from local officials.
A source in the department told
Q13 FOX some 20 officers left and sought employment at other law enforcement agencies.
The source also said younger officers "don’t feel appreciated" and the number of those leaving who felt “frustrated over city politics is higher than usual.”
“Worker bees on the street, they don't feel appreciated. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” the source told Q13 FOX.
The Seattle Police Guild, the police labor union, which includes “all of the officers and sergeants on the Seattle Police Department,” according to its
website, called the departures a “mass exodus” that would affect safety.
“Less officers on the streets, less safe for the citizens -- and when you have all these officers you have invested all this money in and they are leaving for Tacoma, Olympia, Pierce County and Snohomish County,” Seattle Police Officers Guild Vice President Richard O’Neill said.
He added: “I have never seen the number of officers who are leaving and the way they are leaving.”
O’Neill said many officers felt a lack of support from city officials.
“It's just depressing to serve in a place where many city council members who are coming out at times with negative comments about the police,” O’Neill said.
The Seattle Police Guild said officers have not received a pay raise in three years due to contract negotiations. But O’Neill said the officers didn't leave because of the money issues -- they just became fed up with Seattle politics.
“I’ve been here since 1980, I’ve never seen the city in the condition it is in. It’s because it’s been allowed on many levels,” O’Neill said.