More than 200 Seattle police officers have left the job over supposed ‘anti-police’ climate

The Seattle Police Department chief is calling it a ‘staffing crisis’

More than 200 Seattle police officers have left their jobs over what they claim is an anti-law enforcement climate, racial injustice protests, and riots currently taking place in the city.

Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz acknowledged the problem on Tuesday after more than 66 officers left their jobs in 2021, calling it a "staffing crisis".

"We are at record lows in the city right now. I have about 1,080 deployable officers. This is the lowest I've seen our department," he said.

In addition to the 66 leaving this year, Mr Diaz revealed that more than 180 police officers quit in 2020, which has fueled the staffing crisis in the department.

Police officers left for a variety of reasons, including some retiring early, while others took policing jobs in other cities or moved to a different profession outside of law enforcement, according to exit interviews, KING-TV in Seattle reports.

Mr Diaz said that his department was hiring more community service and crime prevention officers to handle non-criminal calls amid the current police shortage, but he added that wouldn't be enough for what the city required.

"I'm hoping that it starts to level off," he said. "I do see that this year we could have a significant amount of people leaving."

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan acknowledged the current lack of police officers in the department in a statement released by her office.

"Despite an increased focus on recruitment and retention, the Seattle Police Department continues to lose sworn officers at a record pace due to ongoing budget uncertainty," the statement read.

"Based on exit interviews, we know the Council's threats of continued layoffs or cuts are having a direct impact on decisions to leave the department," the statement continued.

The Seattle City Council was considering a new budget cut of $2.8m to the police department. About $800,000 would instead be transferred to other city departments that support the police department.

This budget consideration comes after the council already trimmed the police funding last year amid nationwide protests about police brutality towards people of color. At the time, activists applauded the reduction of police budgets and encouraged the city to further alter the funding.

A council member said on Tuesday that the current budget cuts up for consideration "are from salary savings from officers leaving and do not reduce the number of officers SPD can hire," KING-TV reports.