Seattle inspector general rips police for amplifying 2020 'autonomous zone' danger
Seattle’s Office of Inspector General released an 81-page review slamming how the police handled the riots of 2020, focusing on its handling of the Capitol Hill Occupied Zone. The report, released Tuesday by city inspector general Lisa Judge, focuses on 23 days in June, shortly after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, which set off protests and riots across the country. Seattle’s summer of unrest was highlighted by an eight-block "cop-free" zone known as the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest or the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone that demonstrators established after police abandoned the East Precinct building in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The inspector general’s office found the occupation revealed a dysfunctional relationship between the city administration, led by then-Mayor Jenny Durkan, and the police department, led by then-Police Chief Carmen Best.