A recent national survey reveals that Seattle, Washington tops the list of U.S. cities where citizens feel pressure to relocate due to crime-related concerns. This is, unfortunately, the outcome of the city’s failed progressive strategies.
The U.S. Census Bureau, which carries out The Household Pulse Survey in collaboration with other federal agencies, found that “Seven percent of adults in the greater Seattle area” have had a solid feeling to move because of crime over the past six months.
This 7 percent, representing approximately 227,000 individuals, is the highest ratio among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the country. Southern California’s Riverside-San Bernardino region ranked second with 5.6 percent, followed by Chicago at 4.9 percent.
A Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center legal fellow, Zack Smith, told Fox News Digital regarding the survey, “Regrettably, Seattle has embraced a number of the lenient crime policies favored by many liberals today.” In Seattle, homicides surged 24 percent last year, motor vehicle thefts increased 30 percent, and overall crime rose 4 percent.
Earlier this year, the city’s mayor shifted his stance and advocated for more police funding for the first time since budget cuts in 2020 after the George Floyd protests.
As a result of the “defund the police” movement, police staffing in 2022 plummeted to its lowest point in three decades, with numerous officers retiring or transferring to other departments.
In the summer of 2020, Seattle’s government virtually relinquished control of several downtown blocks to Black Lives Matter activists, who created the CHOP, initially called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or CHAZ, and declared it a “police-free area.” Subsequently, crime soared in this region, culminating in the fatal shooting of a teenager, leading his father to sue the city for negligence.
Furthermore, local business owners have been warning for years about the surge in crime that is forcing them out of business and how the sight of shuttered storefronts has become a familiar scene in Seattle.
Along with rising crime, city officials in Seattle have adopted a lax stance on prosecuting drug offenses, evident in June when the city council rejected a bill that would have allowed prosecution of public drug use and possession. Smith, who also co-authored the book “Rogue Prosecutors: How Radical Soros Lawyers Are Destroying America’s Communities,” told Fox News Digital that the predictable results of these policies are higher crime rates and a community where living and conducting business is more challenging.
He added, “Seattle led the ‘Defund the Police’ movement, and local authorities initially pledged to slash the police budget by half. However, they were forced to retreat from this bold pledge in the face of escalating crime.”
Smith concluded, stating, “So it’s regrettable, but not unexpected, that a significant portion of Seattle’s residents feel insecure in their neighborhoods.”
