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17 Dec, 2020 12:58

Seattle politician who defunded police calls cops after being targeted in attack that could be decriminalized by her own proposal

Seattle politician who defunded police calls cops after being targeted in attack that could be decriminalized by her own proposal

A Seattle councilwoman who voted to slash the city’s police budget called the cops after her home was attacked, local media reported. Ironically, the culprit could avoid charges under a plan introduced by the politician.

Councilwoman Lisa Herbold phoned 911 on Friday after an unidentified man threw a rock through a window of her West Seattle home, according to local outlet My Northwest.

A neighbor who witnessed the attack said the culprit was an “unathletic” white male who was wearing a black hoodie and jeans. Unfortunately for Herbold, if the perpetrator is eventually identified he could potentially be let go if the city adopts the councilwoman’s own criminal code reforms. 

Herbold is currently co-sponsoring a proposal that would make Seattle the first municipality in the US to excuse misdemeanor crimes if they are linked to poverty or addiction, or if the suspect suffers from “symptoms of a behavioral health disorder.” According to Washington state law, a “mental disorder” can be caused by “emotional impairment” which affects a person’s “cognitive or volitional function.” My Northwest noted that anyone who claims to have suffered from an anxiety attack could be given leniency under Herbold’s proposal.

Herbold previously defended the reforms as a way to reflect Seattle’s “values.”

“It’s giving people an opportunity to tell their stories and giving judges and juries the opportunity to hear those stories and make a decision based on the values of our city,” Herbold told the City Council's Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. 

However, when contacted by Fox News, she said that her proposal had been mischaracterized by media and insisted that there are “no crimes that I am ‘effectively pushing to make legal.’”

Whatever her intentions, Herbold has been a vocal supporter of initiatives to reimagine how Seattle maintains law and order. 

In September, she and other City Council members voted to override Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of budget adjustments that cut the city’s police department funding by $3 million. 

In a statement from last month, Herbold said the council was pursuing a “new approach towards public safety, an approach that does not assume that more officers means more safety.”

Seattle is one of many cities across the United States which saw efforts to strip police departments of resources following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police in May. In July, the city reported a 525 percent spike in crime, reportedly due to the lawless and short-lived “autonomous zone” established by anti-police protesters. 

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