Those views of crime weren’t formed in a vacuum. The Seattle Police Department’s 2021 crime report showed there were 5,340 reports of violent crime in 2021, up 20% from 2020’s 4,466 reports. There were 42,049 reports of property crime in 2021, a 9% increase from 2020’s 38,714.
Public safety and policing are also a central topic among Seattle politicians. City Attorney Ann Davison was elected in November on a tough-on-crime promise for more prosecutions. Councilmember Sara Nelson has made hiring more police officers one of her highest priorities. One of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s first actions in office was to call for a police crackdown downtown and in the Little Saigon neighborhood and
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