Documents Show Seattle Mayor Considered Handing East Precinct Building Over to BLM Group

(Seattle, WA) -- Newly released documents show former Mayor Jenny Durkan considered handing the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct building over to a Black Lives Matter activist group during racial injustice protests in June of 2020.

According to The Seattle Times, Durkan's administration drafted legislation that would have relocated the precinct's operations, and transferred the building to Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County. It was around the time that police abandoned the East Precinct building amid nightly protests-allowing protesters to occupy the area that later became known as Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP.

A spokesperson for Durkan says the mayor dropped the idea after determining "it was neither feasible nor in the best interest of public safety."

Durkin ultimately issued an executive order declaring CHOP unlawful assembly, and authorized police to clear the streets.