A Seattle, Washington, restaurant owner said Thursday he had lost faith in the city's leadership after his business suffered what he says is the 23rd robbery since the “defund the community” movement began. police” three years ago.
“I have lost all faith in the city of Seattle, SPD, Council members and state elected officials,” he said on KTTH's Jason Rantz Show.
The owner of the establishment asked to remain anonymous for fear of being attacked by activists, according to Rantz's report, which said he had previously been inundated with a large number of negative reviews on Yelp after speaking out against the crime crisis in the city.
Surveillance footage from a Feb. 3 robbery shared with Rantz, a Seattle-based conservative radio host, shows a thief using an object to break the glass of the business's front door. After struggling for approximately ten minutes, the thief entered, leaving the lock and door frame “violently dismantled,” according to an incident report from the responding officer.
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Seattle experienced a spike in crime that included a 24% increase in homicides, a 30% increase in motor vehicle thefts, and a 4% increase in overall crime after slashing police funding in 2020. ((Photo by Karen Ducey/Noah Riffe/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))
Unfortunately, the building's alarm system did not sound when the burglar entered and was not activated until police arrived after a passerby reported the crime.
“That lone suspect dressed in a heavy black hooded jacket, with a black balaclava covering his face, was wearing gloves and quickly began checking the front of the bar and then around the counter where myself and the officers had activated the alarm “Only his presence had never set off the alarm,” the incident report reads.
Surprisingly, nothing was stolen from the restaurant. Officers suggested the man may have been looking for a safe. It was unclear whether the robbery was targeted or a random incident.
Other Seattle businesses have also been victims of repeat crimes, Rantz said.
An International District was robbed at gunpoint following another robbery that resulted in $14,000 in losses. Meanwhile, the Seattle Men's and Women's Chorus suffered four robberies in four days and a Seattle tobacco store was attacked seven times in just one month.
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Some business owners have admitted they no longer call police in Seattle after their calls were ignored. (GENNA MARTIN/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
A Target in downtown Seattle used to see daily thefts before many products were stored behind locked display cases. Some downtown and Belltown-area businesses admitted they no longer ask officers to respond to crimes because of their frequency.
Last year, Seattle changed course and increased funding for police for the first time since cutting funding in 2020, followed by a rise in crime that included a 24% increase in homicides, a 30% increase % in motor vehicle thefts and a 4% increase in overall crime last year.
A 2023 national survey shows that Seattle leads the country in the percentage of people who feel pressured to leave because of concerns about crime.
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Data from the Household Pulse Survey, conducted by the US Census Bureau and several other federal agencies, show that “7% of adults in the Seattle metropolitan area” “felt pressure to move.” due to crime in the first six months of 2023.
That 7%, representing about 227,000 people, is the highest percentage of the country's 15 largest metropolitan areas.
The Seattle Mayor's Office, City Council and Public Safety Civil Service Commission did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
