Seattle police officers are leaving the city amid the calls for defunding them. The Seattle City Council voted on Monday to cut down the budget of the city’s police department. The council voted 8 to 1 to cut down the budget of the police department by 18%. The move will mean a reduction in the manpower of the department and in its capability to respond to emergencies.

Police officers are afraid of the consequences of defunding, and they are opting to leave now. The city government has announced that as of October 31st, more than 130 police officers have already left. More are on their way out.

Seattle city mayor celebrated the decision to defund the police. “I applaud the City Council for taking a more deliberate and measured approach to the 2021 Seattle Police Department budget than occurred this summer, which led to the resignation of former SPD Chief Carmen Best.”

The decision was also hailed by Nikkita Oliver; a Black Lives Matter activist who is one of those responsible for the short-lived Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (or CHAZ) last summer, where several people were killed.

“These are all really exciting things that have been won after many, many years of mobilizing and partnering together,” Oliver said. “They’ve been won because of the uprising and defense of Black lives, and the many people who put their feet to the ground, who have made calls, sent emails, and organized their communities,” she said.

The city has also hired an ex-pimp to be its “street czar” and offer guidance on alternative policing. Activist Andre Taylor, a former pimp, is given a salary of $150,000 a year and an office paid for by city hall to tell cops how they should do their jobs. Before that Taylor was also paid $100,000 for hosting a panel discussion.

“Me, as a Black man has the right to be paid for my genius or for whatever my organization can provide,” Taylor said. “Black people as a whole have not been in a place to be compensated for their genius or their work for a very, very long time.

No wonder cops are signing in droves in Seattle.