CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the Seattle Police Department; banning the ownership, purchase, rent, storage, or use of crowd control weapons; and adding a new Section 3.28.146 to the Seattle Municipal Code.
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WHEREAS, The City of Seattle supports the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as essential democratic rights; and
WHEREAS, on May 25, 2020 officers of the Minneapolis Police Department brutally killed George Floyd, while he was handcuffed and in their custody; and
WHEREAS, in Seattle and in cities across the country, people joined a protest movement against this and other police violence, particularly protesting the police violence disproportionately targeting African American people; and
WHEREAS, in Seattle, tens of thousands of community members have joined mass demonstrations for black lives and against police violence on May 30, 2020 and on subsequent days; and
WHEREAS, the SPD has responded to these protests against police violence with crowd control weaponry including lachrymator agents commonly known as tear gas and pepper spray and explosive devices such as blast balls and stun grenades; and
WHEREAS, Seattle's Office of Professional Accountability reported on June 3, 2020 that they had received 15,000 complaints of police misconduct related to the SPD's response to these protests; and
WHEREAS, testimony from protestors and other protest witnesses, along with complaints filed with the Office of Police Accountability suggests that some SPD officers were instigating and escalating violent confrontations with these protests; and
WHEREAS, the use of tear gas in war is banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, which set forth agreements signed by nearly every nation in the world, including the United States; and
WHEREAS, infectious disease experts warn that the use of tear gas and other lachrymator agents will increase the spread of COVID-19; and
WHE...
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