With a severely depleted Seattle Police Department , business owners are forced to pay for private security to help deter crime. Collectively, businesses are spending millions extra just to do business safely in Seattle.
“The private sector in Seattle is spending millions of dollars a year to attempt to compensate for the negative impacts to public safety from the defund police movement,” Scholes explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.“With property crime continuing to be a significant issue in SODO, hiring private security is a necessary reality for many of the businesses and properties in this area,” Goodman told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.
“We take those tips super seriously. And we obviously can’t, you know, nobody’s going to help you out down here. I mean, there’s no help,” Boone told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “So when we do get these tips, we’ve had to hire private security guys that will stay the night here. We did this a few times where it’s three days or something. We leave the shop, and they come in and stay the night, a few people. And I mean, three days is $10,000.
“There’s not a lot of places that either can afford , even get close to affording to put any extra money in anything besides trying to keep their doors open, and replace their windows. And from what I’ve gathered from Pioneer Square , they have a couple of guys walking around with pepper spray. It’s hardly effective,” Boone said.Businesses have been forced to turn to private security to mitigate the consequences of an understaffed police department.