A restaurant owner in Seattle, Washington, said Thursday he has lost faith in city leaders after being the victim of the 23rd break-in since the “defund the police” movement began three years ago. Told.
“I have completely lost confidence in the City of Seattle, SPD, City Council members and State Representatives,” he said on KTTH’s Jason Lantz Show.
The owner of the facility requested anonymity for fear of being targeted by activists, according to Lantz’s report. Lantz previously said he was inundated with negative reviews on Yelp after speaking out against the city’s crime crisis.
Surveillance footage of the Feb. 3 robbery, shared by Lantz, a Seattle-based conservative radio host, shows the robbers using an object to break through the glass of the store’s front door.
After a struggle of about 10 minutes, the thief gained entry with the door lock and frame “violently removed,” according to a responding officer’s incident report.
Unfortunately, the building’s alarm system did not go off when the burglars broke in, and did not go off until a passerby reported it and the police arrived.
“The only suspect, wearing a black hooded jacket, a black balaclava covering his face and gloves, immediately began checking in front of the bar before me and the police officer raised the alarm. “I started checking around the counter where it sounded, but only his presence was present,” the incident report states.
Surprisingly, nothing was stolen from the restaurant.
Officers suggested the man may have been searching the safe. It is unclear whether the intrusion was targeted or a coincidence.
Lantz noted that other Seattle businesses have also been victims of repeated crimes.
A robbery at gunpoint followed another robbery in an international district, resulting in a loss of $14,000.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choir suffered four burglaries in four days, and Seattle’s smoking areas were targeted seven times in just one month.
Shoplifting was a daily occurrence at Target in downtown Seattle, where many of the products were kept in locked glass cases. Some businesses in the downtown and Belltown areas admitted they no longer rely on police to respond to crimes because they occur so frequently.
Last year, the city of Seattle reversed course and increased funding for police for the first time since the 2020 budget cuts. Since then, crime has skyrocketed, with homicides increasing by 24%, car thefts increasing by 30%, and crimes increasing by 4%. The whole crime of last year.
A 2023 national survey found that Seattle led the nation in the percentage of people feeling pressured to quit their jobs due to concerns about crime.
According to data from the Household Pulse Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and several other federal agencies, “7% of adults in the Seattle metropolitan area” will have to “move” due to crime in the first six months of 2023. “I felt a lot of pressure not to do it.”
That 7% equates to about 227,000 people, the highest percentage among the nation’s 15 largest metropolitan areas.
The Seattle Mayor’s Office, City Council and Public Safety Commission did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
