A Seattle police officer wrote a scathing 15-page resignation letter to the city's chief of police, Adrian Diaz, accusing the department of being a "circus" with "boisterous clowns running amok" and having allowed criminals to run the city.
The former police officer, who officially retired on August 1, said she refused to fill in a mandatory exit form, preferring instead to write a letter addressed directly to Diaz.
Jessica Taylor, who writes about first joining the Seattle department in 1998 and serving for over 23 years, said her job "meant everything" to her, but things changed after Diaz came into office.
In the letter, which was shared with The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle radio station KTTH, she blamed the chief for "the failed leadership that has brought this department and this city to its knees," claiming the SPD "has transformed into a cesspool of corruption."
She calls for an independent agency to investigate Diaz's actions, accusing him of at least one violation of protocol—using his badge to attend a Taylor Swift concert last month.
While Taylor admits that the department was struggling before Diaz became its chief, she said that his "failed leadership has accelerated this city's downhill slide straight to rock bottom," though she added that this was partially due to "the toxic mix of the Seattle City Council's absurdity, the spinelessness of the Mayor, the leniency of the prosecutor's office."
She said the city's council members have lost touch with the real challenges of the city.
North Precinct officers recently donated and delivered some much needed baby supplies to the Pediatric Interim Care Center in Kent. Sergeants Lauren...
"Their priority is playing politics and pandering to radical ideologies rather than genuinely serving the city's and its residents best interests," she wrote. "Their absurd policies have turned Seattle into a playground for anarchists and criminals, and they seem utterly unconcerned with the devastating consequences of their actions. If you haven't noticed, the criminals are running this city."
A 2021 year-end crime report from the SPD shows that violent crime in the city rose by 20 percent, one of the highest levels in over a decade. At the same time, robberies rose by 18 percent and aggravated assaults by 24 percent. In 2022, the overall crime rate in the city grew by 4 percent compared to the previous year, with a 24 percent rise in homicide, a 4 percent rise in rape, and a 5 percent rise in aggravated assault, according to the SPD.
Taylor also accused Diaz of failing to motivate new applicants to join the SPD and failing to keep officers on the job, as well as lacking "concern for the well-being of those who put their lives on the line daily." She wrote that the SPD is understaffed and the long hours in the job and the stress of it take their toll on officers.
As of March 1, 16 employees had left the SPD since the beginning of the year, and only 10 have been hired to fill those vacancies, Seattle news station KING-TV reported at the time.
Taylor closed her letter by saying that any action taken against her for writing and circulating the letter "will be seen as apparent retaliation and harassment."
She added: "You are a vindictive, power-hungry individual, and I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you. You offered me an opportunity for an honest exit interview, and here it is. I will always stand up for what's right and what I believe in ........even if I am standing alone."
Responding to a request for comment by Newsweek, a spokesperson for the SPD said in a statement: "While we don't address personnel issues, the Seattle Police Department is working alongside our city partners to restore the department to over 1,400 officers. We want our officers to feel valued and respected for their hard work every single day. We are committed to highlighting that work on a routine basis."
Update 8/11/23, 5:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a comment from the SPD.
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