by Bill Moyer

(June 13, 2020) Friday morning, while bannering on the Yesler overpass above I-5, Backbone Campaign's vehicle - a Subaru station wagon with thousands of dollars worth of gear inside - was stolen. Lights and gear for projection, a generator, radios, an expensive battery charger, extension poles; worst of all, my laptop and the 4TB backup drive were all in the car.

Between feeling like I was just punched in the gut and laughing at the irony that at the exact moment that I was expressing Backbone's support for the CHAZ (renamed the CHOP - Capitol Hill Organized Protest) and for defunding and abolishing the police - only a couple hundred feet away a person was breaking into our locked vehicle, hotwired it and drove away with my principal organizing tool and a bunch of tactical gear.  

In shock at discovering the car missing - I spoke to a witness who reported what he had seen, inquired with folks at an encampment about a generator that had been removed prior to the car being stolen, and then called the police. Sure enough - the car hadn't been impounded so I was to wait for an officer to come by to take a report and create a case file. 

Creating a case file is a prerequisite for alerting officers to look out for the vehicle and is a necessary bureaucratic step for initiating any insurance claim.  The dispatcher told me it might take a while and that it would be ok to wait at a friend's house nearby. I was pretty unnerved by the loss of the car but mostly my computer and the gear, so I wanted to do something to try to recover it. Just maybe this was a moment the Seattle Police Dept. could help. 

I waited for 6 hours. Adding insult to injury, they simply didn't show up. The dispatcher then suggested that if I went to a different part of the city that they'd maybe come more quickly - implying that the peaceful marches were impeding their ability to do their actual job. (Not true.)

So I went to a different part of the city and proceeded to sit on the curb for another two hours, waiting to meet up with them. Eventually, I gave up - as I was worried I might not be able to get a bus to the ferry and I didn't want to walk to West Seattle. The next day I had to go back into Seattle to wait some more - when what I really wanted to do is help my colleague Amy organize filling the Backbone box truck with supplies and donations to support the CHOP.

I have already had more than my fill of so-called law enforcement in the past couple weeks. Two Saturdays ago, I personally witnessed police harassing and instigating violence against peaceful protestors. My 18 year-old daughter and I were caught up in a sickening display of police bullying, involving concussion grenades, tear gas, and pepper spray, while attempting to bring a banner to a peaceful rally. Just a few days ago, they were nowhere to be found when a vehicle found an alley to drive down to ram the Seattle youth march. My daughter and her friend were pretty freaked out by that - and noted that there were cops everywhere but where they needed to be, and the cops did nothing to stop the vehicle. 

So, I was not eager to call the cops, but isn't investigating a theft the kind of service we actually pay a lot of tax money for? So I did call.  But when I actually needed the SPD, they were nowhere to be found.

If the police are AWOL when we need them - maybe we don't need them. 

Let's not just defund the police - let's abolish them and reconstitute competent organizations to do the various legitimate services the community needs and deserves. Let's decide how to spend our money on community-based safety, restorative justice, public health, education, and social services.

I have zero faith that the SPD will find Backbone's gear, the car or that they'll accomplish anything of use related to this theft. We filed a report so Backbone can make an insurance claim - but I do so with a pit in my stomach - praying that the SPD doesn't end up shooting somebody over a crappy 2000 Subaru.  

#DefundThePolice #AbolishThePolice #AutonomousZonesEverywhere!