Seattle’s Crime Crisis is Directly Affecting Firefighters, First Responders
Seattle, Washington’s high crime rates are now directly affecting firefighters and first responders who have been targeted by vandals that are slashing tires outside of fire stations.
A report published by the Post Millennial found that 8 tires were slashed among 4 vehicles outside of Station 8 in the Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle. “Captain Andreas Raas told Discovery Institute’s senior fellow Jonathan Choe that the person or people responsible only targeted the vehicle of Seattle Fire Department (SFD) personnel at Station 8 in the Queen Anne neighborhood,” the outlet noted. “Though someone got into the vehicles, nothing was taken.”
Surrounding buildings are not equipped with security cameras and therefore local authorities have not yet been able to identify any suspects in the vandalism.
“It would just be nice to feel safe at your workplace,” Raas added.
Nearly 26,000 property crimes have been reported in Seattle this year, and police have been saddled with restrictions and limitations on their ability to enforce the law throughout the highest violent crime spike in the state’s history. Earlier this year, the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) celebrated having “one of the lowest incarceration rates in the nation,” after closing a state prison despite rising crime rates and record homicide rates.
Throughout the summer of 2020, while Black Lives Matter riots raged throughout the city of Seattle, police precincts were burned down and taken over by violent protesters who declared the location an “autonomous zone” named “Chaz.”
Since that time, criminals have been emboldened to target first responders in liberally run cities that defunded the police in the name of social justice.
Just last month, the Post Millennial reported that an individual was arrested after intentionally throwing a brick through the windshield of a moving Seattle Fire Medic truck that had its lights and sirens on at the time. Other criminals have targeted stationary firetrucks to steal the expensive equipment on board.
“On July 20, while firefighters were battling a warehouse fire in the Chinatown-International District (CID), they interrupted a theft while it was in progress and managed to prevent anything from being taken. Fire units are becoming known targets for thieves,” according to the Post Millennial. “That same month there were also two separate incidents of people attempting to steal fire engines while crews were responding to calls.”
Several first responders in Seattle have resigned amid growing safety concerns as residents in the lawless city continue to target police and intentionally manufacture chaos. In response, the city recently launched a pilot program that seeks to hire unarmed social workers who will be called “crisis responders,” able to respond to 9-1-1 phone calls in the place of trained police officers.
