SEATTLEâ police and crime victims say theyre being left behind as Mayor Katie Wilson focuses on clashes with ICE while repeat offenders continue to drive crime across the city.
“I think the center focus on that right now is ICE,” Officer Kent Loux, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), told Fox News Digital in an interview.Â
“It is the immigration,” Loux said. “It’s this federal feud that the mayor’s office is having with the federal government. That is the confusion. I think if she wants to have her feud, have it. Leave SPOG out of it. We do not need to be a part of it, we have been apolitical on all these demonstrations. We clearly can demonstrate that. We are not worried about taking a side. We’re not wanting to take a side, but putting us in this crossfire physically or potentially politically just isn’t fair to SPOG members.”Â
Shortly after taking office on Jan. 1, Wilson announced on Jan. 29 a policy requiring the to “investigate, verify, and document any reports of immigration enforcement activity.”
The announcement stated that “if dispatched to a location where apparent immigration enforcement activity is underway, officers will document the activity with in-car and body-worn video, validate the status of apparent federal law enforcement agents through official identification, and secure scenes of potentially unlawful acts to gather evidence for transmittal to prosecutors.”Â
Loux told Fox News Digital that while Seattle law enforcement officers do not investigate immigration status and that “it is of no importance to us,” Wilsons stance is “confusing.”Â
“The current city’s policy on us investigating ICE is very confusing for officers,” Loux said. “What does investigating mean? What does identifying mean? This is a disastrous policy that is potentially putting officers and federal law enforcement officers pitting against one another. Not just maybe a physical crossfire situation, but also a political crossfire situation.”
According to Loux, the citys law enforcement officers are already struggling in a less-than-ideal environment.
“The members of the Seattle Police Department are trying their best,” Loux said, “They’re out there working, they’re making arrests every day. They are doing the work. Understand, please understand, that the criminal justice system is much larger than just the police officers. We are hitting obstacles with King County Medical Jail declines. We’re hitting obstacles with prosecution, with judges releasing people.”
“We are spinning our wheels, and it really is trying on us,” Loux added. “Please understand we are hundreds of officers short. And we have people working extra shifts all the time to just get to minimums. So we are working, delays are sometimes significant. We’re trying to improve that as best we can, but people are â we are stretched thin.”
Melanie Roberts is the granddaughter of Ruth Dalton, an 80-year-old professional dog walker who was murdered in a carjacking on Aug. 20, 2024, by Jahmed Haynes, a repeat convicted felon who had served time in prison for vehicular homicide, robbery, and assault. Roberts told Fox News Digital that she
