Police departments operate as active political forces, not just passive enforcers of the law.

Seen that way, Seattle organizers are in the opening stages of a long campaign against Seattle PD. The cop union getting expelled from our county& #39;s AFL-CIO federation is the first win.

The next step has to be defunding the Seattle Police Department to rubble. This is a longer, much less "exciting" fight that will need to take place iteratively.

Seattle operates on a biennial budget. What is defunded today can reappear 2 years later.

Or 2 years after that.

The Seattle Police Officer& #39;s Guild is out of the King County Labor Council, but that doesn& #39;t mean they& #39;ll just go away.

Having finally been expelled from the progressive circle of trust (for now), look for their leadership to go on the offensive:

Unbeknownst to many, Seattle has a robust ecosystem of right-wing media: widely-read blogs, extremist conservative commentators with national profiles, seemingly neutral apologists on the evening news, and centrist pundits who unknowingly pasteurize racial oppression.

Sensing their declining political capital, I suspect the city& #39;s right-wing + the police establishment (and its apologists in Durkan& #39;s office) will start to lash out in really vicious ways. We have to celebrate our wins when we get them, but it& #39;s also important to remain vigilant.