VIDEO: Seattle Facing 'Criminal, Humanitarian Emergency' Baker Says amid Crime Wave
People in Seattle are experiencing an emergency, a bakery owner declared as violent crime in the area reportedly hit a 14-year high last year.
Olga Sagan told Fox News she closed one of three Piroshky Piroshky locations recently when shootings and drug use outside the shop made it dangerous for workers, the outlet reported Thursday.
“We have a criminal and humanitarian emergency in the city,” Sagan said.
Concerns over employee safety in the face of soaring crime caused Amazon to offer an alternative location to its downtown building to all who wished to make the switch, KIRO 7 News reported.
Violent crime in the city reached a 14-year high in 2021, a Seattle Police Department (SPD) year-end report found in February.
Per Breitbart News:
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell addressed the report at a Friday press conference and said the police department has been grappling with a staffing crisis and is short nearly 350 officers, KIRO7 reported. The report’s release comes after Seattle voted not once, but twice, to defund its police department, which further exacerbated its staffing shortages. According to the crime report, 911 response times have suffered as a result of the shortage — priority one median response time increased to 7.5 minutes, and the average response time increased to 10.5 minutes.
According to Sagan, downtown Seattle’s main intersection was already known for drug use and criminal activity; however, it was tolerable before the coronavirus pandemic.
She noted that when Piroshky Piroshky and other businesses began reopening, they were dealing with individuals selling, buying, and using drugs, adding that it came to a head with the deadly shooting of a 15-year-old on Third Avenue.
“This is not a good business environment,” the baker told Fox. “That was my message for the last six months, but I honestly have run out of messages to send.”
[embedded content]The Seattle Police Department has announced a plan for law enforcement and public safety, KING 5 reported Tuesday.
The city’s downtown became so dangerous that King County employees were escorted by security guards to various modes of public transportation, Breitbart News reported in November.
Now, Sagan noted, “It’s a complex issue. I hope that maybe this mayor can approach it productively from all kinds of perspectives, from legislation to services to policing.”
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