Seattle police board up precinct

Someone spray-painted over the word “police” on a Seattle precinct building to say, “Seattle People Department.” Police officers on Monday packed up equipment, removed barricades, and boarded up the East Precinct, where protesters have engaged in several standoffs since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis two weeks ago. KOMO-TV reported that, while no police were visible in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, a representative for the department said officers were still answering emergency calls to the precinct. Demonstrators have begun calling the surrounding neighborhood the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” and camped there overnight on Tuesday, The Seattle Times reported.

How are city officials handling the situation? Officers used tear gas to disperse crowds overnight on Sunday after the mayor and police chief had said they would put a monthlong moratorium on the practice. Some city council members joined protesters on Monday, and several have echoed calls to cut the police budget in half and reinvest the money in affordable housing and public transit. A group connected to Black Lives Matters sued the Seattle Police Department on Tuesday over its crowd control tactics.

Dig deeper: Read Marvin Olasky’s analysis of calls to abolish the police and what effective reform could look like.