In 2020, there were protests in Seattle, Washington following the death of George Floyd. For a period of 24 days, an area that became known as the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP) was treated as an autonomous zone where the police did not respond to calls. As a result, the CHOP zone became an example of what happens when police stop policing. Dr. Eric Piza and Dr. Nathan T. Connealy largely used data from the City of Seattle Open Data portal, analyzing data from more than one year prior to CHOP with two microsynth models to understand average and seasonal crime trends. Dr. Piza and Dr. Connealy looked at the impact of crime in three areas: (1) the CHOP zone; (2) the two block radius around the CHOP zone; and (3) the precinct at large.
The results showed a significant increase in crime within the CHOP zone, the encompassing two-block area, and the overall East precinct service area during the occupation period. The study suggests that calls to abolish the police compromise public safety.
Although advocates argue the abolishing police would have a positive impact on crime, the science not only does not support this conclusion, it actually supports the opposite conclusion that when police stop policing crime increases dramatically.
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