(Headline USA) The city of Seattle announced on Wednesday that it will void nearly 100,000 parking tickets issued over the past year and refund another 100,000 tickets that had already been paid due to a “bureaucratic breakdown.”
The decision comes after city officials reportedly discovered that Parking Enforcement officers were not legally allowed to issue tickets. Before September 2021, parking officers were employees of the Seattle Police Department. But following the city’s embrace of “defund the police, “which resulted in budget reallocation and resource-shifting, the officers were moved to the Department of Transportation.
However, the city did not secure these officers the special commission permit required for bureaucratic officials to perform law enforcement responsibilities.
Mayor Bruce Harrell directed his administration to properly issue the commissions after making the discovery, and the commissions were delivered in April. That means any parking ticket issued after April 5 are not eligible for cancellation requests.
The mishap will cost the city between $4.5 and $5 million dollars, according to The Post Millennial.
The city’s embrace of “defund the police” has had other negative consequences too. Budget cuts to the Seattle Police Department have reportedly forced law enforcement to put sexual assault cases on the back burner.
Harrell has adopted a “new policing strategy” that prioritizes “visible crime,” including homelessness, KUOW reported.
“Since Harrell assumed office, at least seven patrol officers have been moved over to help empty tent encampments,” a whistleblower told KUOW.
“Seattle officers are targeting . . . people purchasing and selling drugs, and stolen goods from big-box stores.”
“Meanwhile vulnerable crime victims who desperately want and need help from SPD are being put on hold,” the whistleblower, a SPD employee, continued. “And people in the sexual assault unit are left wondering . . . why couldn’t one or two have been assigned to them?”
