A community without any cops

The results of Seattle’s “experiment in community self-policing” are in, said Gregory Wallance, and they are “a cautionary tale for police defunding.” The Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone, or CHOP, had been described by its leftist advocates as an idyllic police-free haven where love and community would prevail. But five shootings and two deaths have very quickly turned CHOP into a lawless “urban dystopia,” with police unable to conduct proper investigations. Businesses and residents of CHOP have filed a lawsuit against Seattle for its “unprecedented decision” to abandon the neighborhood. With garbage trucks blocked from entering the zone, reeking trash has piled up. Graffiti covers storefronts, and music and fireworks continue late into the night, keeping residents from sleeping. Drugs are openly sold and used. Local businesses have shut down because their employees don’t feel safe. Now Mayor Jenny Durkan has vowed to retake CHOP, but protesters are lying down in front of bulldozers sent to remove the barricades and demanding the city cut its police budget by 50 percent. Communities badly need meaningful police reform, but Seattle has shown what a city without cops becomes. Other communities “had better take notice.”